Mahalo message from Chancellor Benham (COVID-19 related)
Date/Time sent: 03/27/2020 3:21 pmAloha mai UH West O’ahu Faculty and Staff!
I want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude to everyone for moving mountains! Dolly Parton said, “If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!” Well, I am confident that we will soon paint many rainbows together! Mahalo nunui ia kakou!
As we collectively monitor the COVID-19 pandemic, the acceleration of cases across the globe and here at home continues to grow. Through it all please know that the University of Hawai’i System and UH West O’ahu leadership continues to meet daily to make the best decisions we can to keep our communities healthy and safe. Hence, our decisions to move all our classes online, close our campus to the public (open to employees and students), postpone commencement and all public gatherings through May, encourage work from home, and find ways to keep the campus running that adheres to physical distancing and safe/healthy habits.
On that note, it is important to MAHALO our grounds and building crew, IT team, security, operations and auxiliary staff, student services, academic affairs staff, library staff, business office and chancellor’s office staff – ALL who show up to campus to keep our university running. We are grateful to you for your service and commitment!
This was the first week of all classes and instruction offered in virtual settings! I want to echo the positive acknowledgement recently shared by the co-leads of our UHPA and UH System Joint committee, VPAPP Don Straney and executive director Christian Fern: “AWESOME JOB!” It took a herculean effort that required every member of our campus community to contribute time and skill to assist one another with extraordinary patience and kindness to take a leap of faith into new ways of learning, teaching, and living into our “new normal.”
To all our instructional and student support staff, I ask that you reach out to your students to ensure that each of them has what they need to complete their coursework and to successfully finish the semester. Remember to check the Distance Education’s COVID-19 site for resources (https://westoahu.hawaii.edu/d
Again, the commitment I have seen to support the success of all our students, keep our campus running, and support one another is uplifting! Please take good care of yourselves and your loved ones. Again, if you need more information, please visit our website at westoahu.hawaii.edu/covid-19.
E malama pono!
Chancellor Maenette Benham