UH Hilo Chancellor and Executive Leadership Team deliver 2025 State of the University Address

Here are the remarks and slides from Chancellor Irwin and the Executive Leadership Team’s 2025 State of the University Address delivered Sept 10.

Click/tap slides for full size.

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Bonnie D. Irwin, Chancellor

He ʻelele au na ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Hilo, e hāpai aʻe nei i kēia ʻōlelo Hōʻoia ʻĀina, he honua ʻōiwi ʻo Hawaiʻi nona ka poʻe ʻōiwi o ka ʻāina, ʻo ia nā kānaka Hawaiʻi.

Me ke aloha nui au e hāpai nei i kēia Hōʻoia ʻĀina ma ka hoʻokipa ʻana i ka poʻe a pau e kipa mai ana i kēia lā, ma kēia ahupuaʻa ʻo Waiākea, ma ka moku o Hilo.

ʻO Hawaiʻi nei nō kēia ʻāina. Welina pumehana kākou.

On behalf of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, it is with profound reflection that I offer up this Hōʻoia ʻĀina, Land Acknowledgement, acknowledging Hawaiʻi as an Indigenous space whose original people are today identified as Native Hawaiians.

With much aloha, I offer up this Land Acknowledgement in welcome to all gathered this day, in the land division we call Waiākea, in the district of Hilo.

This land is Hawaiʻi itself. A warm greeting to all of us.

Fall 2025 Enrollment

Aloha and Good Afternoon.

I am pleased to welcome us all back to a new year and a new semester. There is much to celebrate this year and much still to work on in fulfilling our kuleana to our students and our island.

We rolled out the proverbial red carpet for our new students this year, with a full slate of orientation events, the successful Welina Bash last week, as well as some renovations to and painting of buildings and some sprucing up of the grounds.

Fall 2025 Faculty

Our faculty have been engaged in professional development around community engagement and career readiness, and some will be serving on newly formed AI task forces and committees.

Fall 2025 Staff

Our staff council continues to thrive, and our staff headcount has increased from last year, helping us to support students and get the word out about the great work we do.

Trends: New Freshmen and New Transfer Students

The numbers are not final yet. We are still a couple of weeks before census, but here is what I can tell you today.

While our total enrollment is down slightly from last year, we have had the largest increase in new freshmen in four years (18.8% as of 9/10/2025), outpacing in percentage both Mānoa and West Oʻahu. Transfers are up slightly. Hawaiʻi resident students are up and those of Filipino, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander origin, among others, are also up. This shows the good work of our admissions staff, fanning out across the state to tell the story of UH Hilo. As our work with Echo Delta expands this year, we expect to see even stronger numbers next fall.

Trends: 1-Year Retention Rates and Graduation Rates

The freshman to sophomore retention rate for 2024 was the highest in our history, and both 4-year and 6-year graduation rates were up.

I’ll get back to you after census about the 2025 rates, but so far the signs are positive.

Extramural Contract & Grant Awards

Grants earned hit the highest mark in over a decade, and though the total is somewhat misleading, as I will get to in a moment, these numbers reflect a lot of good work on the part of faculty and staff.

We may very well expect a downturn in RTRF [Research, Training, and Revolving Funds] funds next year, as many federal agencies are cutting back on allowable indirect costs, but we will not let that stop us from continuing the good work of applied research in our community.

Federal Impacts

The federal executive orders, funding and personnel cuts, and other changes have certainly had an impact on our work over the last several months.

You will see some different language on our websites, as we pivot from discussing equity to support for all students. Our values remain the same, however, in that we are here to make sure that each student gets the support they need to thrive, both at UH Hilo and when they graduate.

We lost our LSAMP [Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation] grant, which provided research stipends for undergraduates across the Pacific. Both UH Hilo and all our partner institutions are working on ways to provide these valuable experiences for undergraduates in other ways.

We were lucky in that the most concerning changes to student financial aid were amended in the federal funding bill earlier this year, but the UH System continues to monitor new EOs [Executive Orders], ensuing court cases, and any actions which may impact our core operations. We’re working across the [UH] System to ensure that our processes are consistent, and students are treated fairly, regardless of which campus they are on.

WSCUC Visit and Recommendations

Finally, we had a successful WSCUC visit in April. The visiting team as well as the commission noted the hard work we had done on our various plans, and had one major recommendation: implement!!

Sitting on the Commission this summer, I learned that notices of concern and special visits are becoming more frequent across the WSCUC membership, as many of our colleagues are facing the same challenges in enrollment and budget that we are.

I will now turn things over to the members of the Executive Leadership Team, so that they can outline their priorities for the year within the framework of our strategic plan and the [UH] System strategic imperatives. Time permitting, I’ll be back later to talk about some of the actions being undertaken at the system level and their impact on UH Hilo.

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Pele Harman, Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement

Our university has already said who we aspire to be.

The creation of my position is one way in which we have moved from aspiration to action.

Shared Kuleana

The work of this team, myself included, is grounded in three guiding documents:

• Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao UH Hilo Campus Plan (2020–2021), which calls us to become a Hawaiian place of learning;
• the Hoʻolōkahi UH Hilo Strategic Plan (2025–2035), which centers kuleana, student success, and community partnership;
• and the UH System Strategic Plan (2023–2029), which advances equity, excellence, and place-based innovation.

My role exists to braid those commitments together and operationalize them in a visible, tangible way.

Top Priorities

From those documents, six priorities guide our daily work:

• Increase Native Hawaiian leadership and representation: strengthen hiring pathways, mentorship, and decision-making roles.
• Elevate ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and cultural proficiency: expand training, normalize everyday use, and build capacity across units.
• Strengthen ʻāina-based and community engagement: connect learning and research to our island partners throughout our Moku o Keawe and beyond.
• Institutional accountability to kuleana: align policies and budgets with values; set clear measures and report progress.
• Support student success with cultural foundation: from onboarding to graduation, ensure belonging, mentorship, and resources.
• Advance Indigenous scholarship and research: champion faculty/staff projects, student research, and community-informed inquiry.

Visible Projects Putting Priorities Into Practice

To make these priorities real, we’ve focused on high-impact, visible efforts:

• Kīpaepae ceremonies to welcome cohorts, dignitaries, and new hires: grounding events in ʻāina, language, and protocol.
• Mālama ʻāina days with campus and community partners: learning by doing, strengthening pilina with place.
• ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi normalization: signage, email/meeting practices, and Uluākea workshops for staff and faculty.
• Kīpaepae Protocol and cultural proficiency training: short modules for units and leadership teams tied to Hoʻolōkahi goals.
• Kuleana and Community courses: link students to cultural resources, places, and connect scholarship to service.

Together, these efforts move us from words on paper to daily practice, so UH Hilo truly lives as a Hawaiian place of learning.

Enrollment (Fall 2021 through Fall 2025, pre-census 9/2/25)

Over the last four fall terms, UH Hilo’s total headcount saw an 18% decline since 2021. The story inside that line, though, is important: year-over-year changes have slowed from –7.5% to now –0.7% this fall (pre-census). In other words, the curve is bending toward stability.

Native Hawaiian enrollment shifted from 1,065 in 2021 to 880 this fall — about –17% across the period — but we see a meaningful change this year: +4.0% growth from 846 to 880, our first year-over-year increase since 2021 (pre-census). This uptick aligns with efforts to welcome and retain students through targeted initiatives as a whole campus.

Across all the enrollment shifts, Native Hawaiian students continue to make up roughly one-third of our student body. The share moved from 31.65% last fall to 33.14% this fall (pre-census) — a +1.49 percentage-point rise and close to our period high. This tells us our mission as an Indigenous-serving institution is not just aspirational; it’s reflected in who we serve.

Native Hawaiian Student Persistence and Completion

This final slide that I present tracks persistence and completion for our Native Hawaiian students. What it is telling us is:

• Second-year retention averages 61.2% — about 6 in 10 students return for year two. Retention has fluctuated around 60–65% by cohort, which tells us the first year is the pivotal window for support.
• Four-year graduation averages 27.2% — roughly 1 in 4 students finish on time.
• Six-year graduation averages 38.3% — about 2 in 5 complete within the federal standard.

Importantly, some cohorts have performed well above these averages — even surpassing 60% graduation — which proves what’s possible when belonging, advising, and resources align. You’ll hear more about what we’re doing to move these lines and push the bar forward from VCAA Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa, but amongst them:

• Strengthening first year efforts through: New student orientation onboarding, ʻohana engagement, culturally grounded peer mentoring, and place-based learning.

Our kuleana to convert the first-year foothold into sustained momentum so that more of our Native Hawaiian students, our students not only return — but cross the finish line on time is the goal that we are working toward.

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Lei Kapono, Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Aloha kākou.

ʻOi kau ka lā, e hana i ola honua.
While the sun yet shines, do all you can.
While there is earthly life (ola honua), do all you can.

I have served in this role for approximately four months and I have truly gained a deeper sense of appreciation for the critical role that the Division of Student Affairs plays in our students’ journey here at UH Hilo.

Students such as our:

• Prospective students
• Transfer students
• International students
• First time freshman students
• Hawaiʻi residents
• Continuing students
• Traditional and non-traditional students
• Undergraduate and graduate level students

Just to name a few!

Empowering Student Success and Fostering a Sense of Belonging

Creating a sense of belonging and safe spaces for all is paramount. We advocate for mental and physical health, ensure access to basic needs, and foster meaningful social connections.

We design and offer opportunities for students and families during their transition to UH Hilo. For example, new student orientation, freshman year experience activities and peer mentors, and our Student Support Services Program.

We foster an environment that is nurturing, inclusive, and encourages students to embrace and celebrate their successes.

Evaluating and establishing appropriate spaces to ensure an inclusive environment that encourages and promotes various student means of expression such as the location of the Pacific Islander Student Center, the LGBTQ+ Center and the Women’ s Center all located on the third floor of Campus Center.

We are currently evaluating the Veteran’s Student Support Resource Center space that was just established at the start of this semester and is located next to Disabilities and Access Services on the second floor of the Student Services Center.

Empowering Student Thriving and Elevating Student Wellbeing and Support

We are establishing the Care Team comprising dedicated professionals who collaborate with stakeholders to shape an inclusive and compassionate strategy for behavioral intervention and student wellbeing.

We continue to establish spaces where students can access a diverse range of collaborative support services and resources.

Empowering Operational Excellence and Staff Wellbeing

We continue to collaborate with our Student Enrollment Management consultants to design and implement a comprehensive strategic student recruitment, engagement, and enrollment plan.

As a division and as individuals, collaboration and innovation are the driving forces behind our endeavors. We foster cross-campus initiatives that promote student success, cultural education, and professional growth.

In this month we honor our Mōʻī Wāhine Liliʻuokalani who always put the wellbeing of her nation first.

“E ʻonipaʻa i ka ʻimi naʻauao.”
“Be steadfast in the seeking of knowledge.”
“Be firm in the pursuit of wisdom.”

She encouraged resilience and dedication to learning; a reflection of her own passion for education and her commitment to her people.

As such, similar to what we instill in our students:

• Embrace your resilience. Pick yourselves up and keep going in the face of adversity. Challenges continuously prepare you for what’s ahead. Mistakes are valuable life lessons to learn from. Moving outside of your comfort zone promotes individual growth.
• Pay it forward in small and big ways. We all know how it feels when we receive a smile in passing, a simple aloha or hello, and a random check-in from colleagues and what an impact that has in paying it forward. I so appreciate the many hands that helped prepare the grounds and housing in general before, during and after move in day and am ready to pay it forward. A shout out to housing staff, ʻImiloa staff, Auxiliary Services, and Athletics!
• Accomplishments, big and small, should be celebrated.
• Lastly, love and appreciate yourselves, especially any flaws or imperfections you think you have, it is what makes us all unique and ready for the world.

Have a fabulous academic year!

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Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa, Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

E nā hoa i ākoakoa mai ma ke kino a me ka Zui, aloha ʻoukou.

I don’t have a beautifully written script to read to you, because over this past year I have been deeply engaged in a process — and I feel committed to the things I am going to share today. It begins with this slide: “It’s a kākou thing.” Everything we accomplish happens because of our collective effort — faculty, staff, students, and our community. Together, we lift what happens here at the university. Our goal is better to understand the complexities and issues of our campus landscape and set clear priorities and actions, so we can move our waʻa (canoe) forward together to our envisioned destination.

And so, this year, building on the State of the University, our goal is to clearly communicate some of those trajectories so we can move forward together in ongoing conversations and work.

Fall 2025 Undergraduate Students

Bonnie shared some broad demographic data earlier, and I’d like to focus on our undergraduate students — since they make up the majority of our campus. 73% are between the ages of 18–24, meaning we serve a substantial traditional student population coming directly from high school. An additional 11–12% are in the 25–34 range, so overall, nearly 85% of our students are under 35. We are also seeing steady growth in early college enrollment, with numbers rising each semester.

These patterns raise important questions: What are the successful modalities we are using to teach? How are students accessing and experiencing what we offer? How do we ensure connections and relevance to the curriculum? Looking closely at these demographics helps us plan more effectively for the future.

In addition, how do we reach further into our communities — across the island and especially in more rural areas? I believe we have huge opportunities to contribute to the workforce. But to do that, we need to be more planful and strategic, because we’re juggling many moving parts that need a balanced approach.

Data Snapshot

Here’s a look at some of the data that I wanted to share with you. As I’m talking about this, think about what kinds of impact we have made in the work that we do.

For this fall’s incoming cohort, there are about 53% of students who are first-time freshmen. That’s a good, healthy chunk of new students with an 18.6% notable increase. 85% of them are full-time students. This data can guide us in how we design and deliver our programs. We know that 39% of our incoming cohort are transfer students, and we have multiple programs that actually have more transfer students than first-time students. So it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. We need to be flexible in how we serve students, plan and implement our curriculum, and make learning accessible to meet the different and diverse needs.

Our retention rate over the last five years has fluctuated between 67.7% and 72.8%, and this semester it is around 61.2%. As the Chancellor mentioned, 80% is a good number to aim for. That first-to-second-year transition is critical for our enrollment. Numbers may begin high in their first year, but the challenge is finding more ways to support, mentor, and guide students so we can retain them into their second year and help them persist through to graduation.

Here is what we know about some of our online offerings where students are struggling. There are about 90% of our introductory courses between 100 and 200 level that are DFW (a grade of D or F, or withdrawal) courses, with 28% of the lecture courses online, 11% taught synchronously, and 17% asynchronously.

For our FG courses — Global and Multicultural Perspectives requirements — 55% are completely online, and 36% of those are asynchronous. Many of these courses are taken by students in their first year. So, while our students are here on campus, how does that impact their overall college experience and sense of connection so they truly feel this is their place?

All of this raises questions about balance — how much in-person engagement are students getting, and how does that shape their belonging at UH Hilo?

Academics: Building a Base Understanding

Last year, in addition to harmonizing the strategic plans (which were already shared), we also brought together several groups from across campus — faculty, students, staff, and administrators to problem-solve around student success. One of our student success initiatives was called Kaʻi i ka Wēkiu, and several recommendations emerged from the four committees that comprised that effort. One example was the Kuleana and Community group, which recommended strengthening the institutionalization of that course — something we are further investing in this year.

Alongside that, as we looked at our data, we also sought outside assistance. Echo Delta developed a strategic enrollment management plan. AdAstra conducted an analysis of our course scheduling, and we learned a great deal from it. Good Rebellion did a UH Hilo landscape analysis. AASCU contributed to the Campus Belonging Student Services and Motivate Lab Student Voices projects. And this summer, we also participated in a Policy Summit, because many of our policies date back to 2006 and need to be revisited. So, we are taking a fresh look at all of these areas to support the work we’re doing.

Another step we took was providing every department with a program profile, including current data — such as the percentage of transfer versus first-time students. Along with that, we gave departments a template and asked them to create retention plans.

And I imagine one of the questions you’re asking right now is: With all that work, what happened?

Academic Priorities: Advancing Student Success and Institutional Alignment

Let me share with you the five priorities. After looking at the data and with the support and conversations we’ve had, we decided that, first, we need more focused conversations and an action plan around these ideas if we want to move the meter. And these are the five goals that we’ll be working on together. I don’t believe this is a one-year process — it isn’t. It’s really a two-year process for us to see some traction on our efforts. Because, as you all know, once you start discussing curriculum, we must plan one year in advance before any changes can begin. Some of us will spend this year making adjustments, while others may need longer, and that’s okay. The important thing is that we put plans in place, with strategic efforts, to keep moving forward, guided by our data and our wisdom through experience, to get them accomplished.

Here are the VCAA priorities:

• Advancing program retention plans. We will share more about that in the next slide.
• Aligning department goals with the college’s vision/mission and our campus strategic priorities. We spent a long time on the versions of our strategic plan and landed in a place where we feel good about it. But we need to align and further connect all those pieces, so they make sense with the results we’re looking for at a department, college, and campus level.
• Course scheduling. We will also be optimizing course scheduling to support student progress and ensure timely completion.
• Strengthen curriculum mapping for applied learning and program coherence. We have multiple programs that have high numbers of transfer students; some may need four-year maps, while others need additional two-year maps. But we need to be better about scheduling based on the curriculum maps we set, as it is our guiding recommendation to students from which they can plan and depend on as they persist to graduation. As part of this initiative, we will also explore other opportunities that we want to be strategic and conscious about communicating in the curriculum maps. For example, exchange opportunities. Where would programs suggest that happen? We have hundreds of opportunities for students, great for our local students, to spread their wings a bit and experience new opportunities from other vantage points that we may not be able to provide. Where would that be? In addition, service, applied learning and research experiences, milestones, and program capstones.
• The last is to evaluate and advance certificate pathways to enhance relevance and workforce readiness. We’ve been talking about the idea across the system with credentialing, and there are possibilities to look beyond academic subject certificates — toward stacked, embedded, and theme/interdisciplinary certificates. We can explore how these fit together, strengthen one another, and elevate the value and readiness our degrees provide.

Advance Program Retention Plans Through Data-Informed Strategies and Best Practice

I’d like to conclude with the first initiative, which we will begin next week.

One of the things that you will see is an email coming out to all of the department/division chairs, because we would like to do a farther reach, a broader reach, and bring all of our chairs across all of the units into discussions around these five initiatives through a new committee we will call the ACT or Academic Chairs Team.

We will begin with the retention plans. We looked across all of the retention plans submitted, and there were groups, themes, and similar pocket areas of interest that were suggested across the retention plans. We have narrowed it down to three areas that we will focus on this year. One is a need to have some targeted tutoring for DFW courses. Another was peer mentoring circles. And the last was giving faculty some time to rethink applied/experiential learning for first-year students.

We have carved out a budget, and we will be gathering department chairs from across all college units to address retention. Like I said, it’s a kākou thing, we are going to press the gas a little bit with a little bit more clarity about where we’re going, but we need to do that together. We want to be strategic, mindful, and build on the things that we know are working really well, while rethinking the areas where we need to have more conversation and collective discussion to achieve academic success for our students.

Mahalo.

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Kalei Rapoza, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs

Aloha kākou!

It is a privilege to stand before you today as we embark on a new fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2026, a period that holds immense promise and opportunity for the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. As Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, I am deeply committed to ensuring that our administrative functions operate with the highest levels of efficiency and serve as a foundational pillar supporting the ambitious vision laid out in our UH Hilo 2025-2035 Strategic Plan.

Our collective success hinges on a robust and responsive administrative core. For FY26, our goals and objectives are carefully crafted to enhance our operational excellence, foster a thriving campus environment, and strategically allocate our resources to propel UH Hilo forward.

This coming fiscal year presents us with opportunities to strengthen our foundations and build for a resilient future. Our collective efforts will center on three critical areas: optimizing our budget development process, making strategic investments in our capital improvement projects and infrastructure, and empowering our people and fostering a thriving culture.

Fiscal Stewardship and Strategic Resource Allocation

Our first critical pillar focuses on prudent fiscal stewardship and strategic resource allocation. In an evolving economic landscape, it is paramount that we manage our financial resources with utmost responsibility and foresight.

Objectives for FY26:

• Optimizing Budget Management: We will implement a refined budget model that directly aligns our financial allocations with the core priorities of the 2025-2035 Strategic Plan, particularly supporting the our Strategic Enrollment Management Plan and Kaʻi I Ka Wēkiu initiative. This includes rigorous review of expenditures. proactive identification of cost-saving measures, and budget and program efficiency.
• Clearer Justification and Metrics: Every budget request should clearly articulate its direct contribution to student success, research excellence, or operational efficiency. We will emphasize measurable outcomes to ensure our resources are allocated where they can make the greatest impact.
• Strengthening Financial Transparency and Accountability: We are committed to fostering an environment of transparency in our financial processes. This means clearer reporting, accessible information, and robust internal controls to ensure accountability at every level. Adhering to our annual budgeting process that we developed in FY 25 is critical. We will also be stressing the critical need for communication at and between all levels of our campus.
• Flexibility and Adaptability: While we seek stability, our process must also allow for agility in responding to unforeseen challenges or emerging opportunities. We will build in mechanisms for mid-year adjustments and reallocations where necessary.
• Sustainability and Resilience: Developing financial models that project revenues and expenditures over a three-to-five-year horizon will help us identify potential fiscal cliffs and develop proactive strategies to ensure long-term financial health.
• Strategic Resource Allocation: Multi-year planning enables us to fund strategic initiatives that may require sustained investment, rather than just one-off allocations. This supports our long-term academic and research goals.

Campus Infrastructure: Renew, Improve, Modernize

Our second pillar is dedicated to modernizing our infrastructure and leveraging technology to create a more efficient, sustainable, and secure campus. A modern university requires modern tools and facilities.

Objectives for FY26:

• Upgrade Campus IT Infrastructure: We are prioritizing investments in our digital backbone, enhancing network capabilities, ensuring cybersecurity, and critical software systems to support teaching, learning, and research.
• Advance Campus Sustainability: Building on our commitment to the ‘āina, we will accelerate initiatives to improve energy efficiency, reduce waste, and implement sustainable practices across our physical plant operations, contributing to a greener and more resilient campus.
• Enhance Campus Safety and Security: The well-being of our students, faculty, and staff remains paramount. We will continue to invest in and refine our campus security measures, emergency preparedness protocols, and environmental health and safety standards to ensure a safe and conducive learning and working environment.
• Renew, Improve, Modernize: The state of our campus grounds and facilities are an important piece to our recruitment and retention of students and employees, as well as our Hilo community. Over the last three fiscal years we have had a tremendous amount of support from the Legislature to address deferred maintenance and improve conditions in facilities. Using tuition revenue we will continue to fund exterior painting projects for buildings, including on-campus Housing. Reallocation of positions to support grounds maintenance is also occurring.
• Enhancing Campus Experience: From student common areas to administrative workspaces, we will seek opportunities to improve the overall campus experience, fostering a more productive and engaging environment for everyone.

Empowering Our People and Fostering a Thriving Culture

Our third and equally vital pillar centers on empowering our dedicated workforce and fostering a thriving, supportive campus culture. Our people are our greatest asset, and their well-being and professional growth are integral to our success.

Objectives for FY26:

• Streamline Human Resources Processes: We will focus on optimizing our HR systems and processes, from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and retention, to ensure we attract, develop, and retain top talent.
• Invest in Professional Development and Wellness: We will expand opportunities for professional growth, skill enhancement, and holistic well-being for all administrative staff, recognizing that a supported workforce is a productive one.
• Cultivate a Culture of Service Excellence and Collaboration: Administrative Affairs is a service division. We will continuously strive for excellence in our service delivery, fostering a proactive, responsive, and collaborative approach in all our interactions with the campus community. We will actively seek feedback and implement improvements to enhance the “Bruin experience” for everyone.

These three pillars — Fiscal Stewardship, Modernizing Infrastructure, and Empowering Our People—are not isolated initiatives. They are interconnected and designed to collectively strengthen the operational foundation of UH Hilo, allowing our academic mission to flourish.

As we look to Fiscal Year 2026, I am confident that by working together, with transparency, accountability, and a shared commitment to our strategic plan, we will continue to build a resilient, innovative, and thriving University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Your dedication and hard work are invaluable, and I look forward to achieving these goals with each of you.

Mahalo.

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Amy Kalili, Interim Director for University Relations

Building Our Story: A Comprehensive MarComm & Relations Vision

As we work toward UH Hilo’s strategic priorities, we recognize a clear need for coordinated marketing communications and relations functions.

For the first time in UH Hilo’s history, we’re working to create a comprehensive campus-wide Marketing and Communications (MarComm) function designed to support our enrollment and strategic plan goals. Having the right communications infrastructure allows us to expand the reach and impact of the exceptional work happening at UH Hilo. Whether it’s groundbreaking research, a student landing their dream job, or program innovations changing lives, we want to share these stories strategically and consistently in ways that reach our target audiences and broader ʻohana.

This coordination will directly support our retention and enrollment outcomes while strengthening connections with alumni, community partners, and prospective students.

Building Capacity: From Vision to Implementation

Building this comprehensive function requires developing our team’s capabilities and capacity. Our goal is making University Relations (UR) a reliable resource for communications support — including communications, marketing, graphics services, web services, and event coordination.

Our immediate priority aligns with the SEM [Strategic Enrollment Management] consultant work Echo Delta will begin, focusing on marketing strategies that increase enrollment and retention. We’re developing an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan to ensure campus outreach efforts work together rather than competing for attention or sending mixed messages. The goal is building sustainable capacity that serves our communications needs while supporting our institutional priorities.

Strategic Alignment: Supporting Our Institutional Priorities

Both our Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan and Strategic Plan specifically call for enhanced marketing and communications functions. SEM focus areas one and five address aligned messaging, branding, and marketing, while Action Item 6 under Goal 5 of our Strategic Plan — flagged as a current priority by campus leadership — centers on branding, marketing, and outreach.

We’re actively participating in implementing these priorities alongside VCSA Lei Kapono, AVCSA Brian Wissman, Admissions Director Kati McGinnis, and Native Hawaiian Engagement Director Pele Harman as part of the SEM implementation team. University Relations is taking particular responsibility for advancing the marketing priorities as our immediate focus.

Strengthening Our ʻOhana: Engagement, Events, and Excellence

We’re working to build momentum in sharing stories that define the UH Hilo experience with strategic insight. Gathering, analyzing, and using data — particularly engagement metrics — to determine what actually resonates with and grows our audiences is a shift we’re embracing.

This isn’t necessarily just about creating more content, but ensuring the stories we’re already telling truly connect with those we want to reach. Recent social media posts and Kūkala Nūhou stories have achieved some of our highest engagement levels in months. Whether we’re attracting prospective students, engaging alumni, or connecting with community partners, we want to know what stories actually move people to action. As we enhance our digital strategy and event support, we can use these insights to grow our UH Hilo ʻohana strategically.

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Chancellor Irwin’s concluding thoughts

Many years ago the UH System developed a Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao Plan to strengthen our role as a Native Hawaiian serving institution. One of the priorities of that plan was developing Native Hawaiian leaders. I think you have just seen five stellar examples of Native Hawaiian leadership here at UH Hilo.

Systemwide Initiatives

In addition to all the work we are doing on campus to forward our strategic initiatives, the pace of change at the [UH] System is certainly brisk. A lot of things are in motion right now, and though it might create some anxiety in the short term, in the long term it is intended to provide a stronger system, stronger campuses, and better support for students. As these initiatives develop, we will be providing more information for the campus. You will have seen that the long-awaited Banner update has been postponed until December. We want to get this right, and IT is working carefully to make sure the transition goes smoothly.

In the area of [UH] Systemness, NCHEMS [National Center for Higher Education Management Systems] has made some recommendations around once again separating Mānoa leadership and system leadership. It seems that most people want this to happen and the Regents will be assembling a permitted interaction group to receive recommendations. Here at home, we will be looking at how we might enhance services we share with our neighbors at Hawaiʻi Community College.

Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we all work, and our data science faulty will be participating in [UH] Systemwide steering committees and task groups to create a larger presence of AI in the curriculum so that our students acquire needed skills, and we can become more efficient in our operations. This does not mean that AI will take away jobs, but rather that AI will enable us to do those jobs more efficiently. Many of these efforts will be led by Ina Wanca, who started recently as the Chief Academic Technology Innovation Officer of the system.

With the implementation of EAB Navigate 360, we are seeking a common standard of care across the 10 campuses. We are seeking improvements to transfer, a better look at student success holistically, and better retention and graduation rates. One of the projects is working with the National Institute for Student Success (NISS). Starting with UH Hilo and Honolulu Community College, NISS will identify changes we might implement to make the college journey smoother for our students.

The [UH] System has undertaken a gap analysis of curriculum to determine what new programs we need, which will open up additional opportunities for UH Hilo as well as other campuses.

The Goal

Noteworthy accomplishments over the past year and a flurry of activity as we move ahead, but this remains the goal: Happy thriving graduates, prepared to build the future of Hawai’i.

I mua!

Through it all, we will work hand in hand with partners to create a stronger university and community. We are the university of Hawaiʻi at Hilo but also of Hawaiʻi Island and for Hawaiʻi. We will move forward with aloha and determination toward a brighter and stronger future.