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Ka Pe‘ahi Lono: Monthly Message for February

Date/Time sent: 02/01/2021 10:20 am

Aloha mai kākou e UH West Oʻahu ʻOhana!

We have embarked on our next journey around the sun with vim and vigor leading with stronger online learning opportunities for all our students (early college, undergraduate, and outreach)! This is attributed to the brilliant work of our instructional faculty and staff, student support faculty and staff, our distance education and IT specialists and staff, our students assistants and campus leadership! Mahalo nui loa!! Through it all we’ve been vigilantly addressing the health and safety impacts of COVID-19. As you know, in Hawaiʻi, vaccinations have been managed by the Hawaiʻi State DOH in partnership with our hospital systems. UH has been working with the DOH to schedule vaccinations for our campus communities. I will keep you informed – see the weekly bulletins and campus alerts — when our turn comes up and I urge you to participate. Vaccination is essential to protect you, your family and our community. Effective public health protection depends on broad participation. Please continue to follow the Pueo Promise by wearing a mask and maintaining physical distance until there is widespread immunity. Our daily lives will not be able to return to normal until then.

This month’s Ka Peʻahi Lono begins with gratitude for all your wonderful contributions. I then provide two (2) important informational points under the heading of “Hana Lawelawe”. The first is focused on the leadership of our campus community engaged in the next phase of our Pueo Planning Process, and the second, is focused on the implications of the new federal act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (CRRSAA), and its impact on higher education. I have changed the “How does that work?” column with “Messages from across our campus”, so, please scroll down and read a message from the OVCAA regarding our WSCUC Accreditation and the UH System Office of Human Resources message on telework during the pandemic. Another new column, “News that may be of interest to you”, presents two links. The first is a copy of Gov. Ige’s state of the state address, and the second is a copy of a Star-Advertiser editorial that speaks to the financial status of the University of Hawaiʻi.

E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor

A Celebration of Good Works: Kūlia i ka nuʻu (Reach for the Summit!)

The January 20th U.S. Presidential Inauguration brought to us the inspired clarity of 22-year-old Amanda Gorman. Her uplifting and thought-provoking poem, The Hill We Climb, challenged us all to think deeper, to reach-out more graciously, and to “be” better more enlightened people. This was the catalyst for Kwame Alexander, NPRs poet in residence, to challenge listeners to create a collective poem. To mahalo each of you for the extra miles you have traveled to contribute to the vitality of UH West Oʻahu and to celebrate the good works of our students, here are a few stanzas of the poem — please see link for the entire poem.

I dream a world that sounds like a gentle “good morning,”
like “sleep tight” at the end of the day,
like Ella scatting,
a world filled with a universal song.
A hallelujah of joyous rejoicing, in this moment’s gift of life.

I dream of that world
The one that lifts the silenced souls from shackles.
Where vision cannot be smothered beneath my eyes beyond my reach
Where what lies waiting aches to teach

a safe world
for children whose skin is darker than mine.
A beautiful sunrise after the night,
Equity, kindness, color and light.
For my daughter’s daughters; for my son’s sons.

Celebrating the work you do:

 

Hana Lawelawe: On Leadership

The Pueo Planning Process: Work Groups

Our Pueo Planning Process webpage has been updated and now provides information on our Work Groups. We have archived our campus forums as well as the work of the Task Force.

Plan Process graphic illustrating the campus input, task force, and work group order.

Here is an overview of each of the Work Groups that also includes their tasks and membership.

Business Model and Mindset

Purpose: To develop a renewed budget model and mindset.

Explanation: Given that much of the cost of higher education is fixed—particularly in personnel, operations—when a reduction in state funding occurs an institution like UHWO must develop a Business Model and operational mindset that ensures its financial solvency and ability to be partially self-sustaining. This group will revisit and renew the current Business Model articulated in the campus’ Strategic Action Plan (2018) through thoughtful, intentional conversations that will help UHWO pivot from high dependency on state coffers to a status that blends existing funding with solid revenue generation.

Group members: Walter Kahumoku (facilitator), Ed Keaunui (facilitator), Camonia Graham-Tutt, Suzy Johnson (student), Frank Kudo, Adrian Lee, Leslie Lopez, Leslie Rush, Linda Saiki, Keith Sakuda, and Eli Tsukuyama.

Student Recruitment & Student Retention

Purposes: (1) To strengthen recruitment of current student populations as well as targeting new student populations. (2) To increase retention by providing programs for new markets and providing new approaches to improve wellbeing.

Explanation: By bolstering access to current and “new” student markets through digital tools and other strategies, UH West Oʻahu will seek to increase the number of traditional freshmen as well as non-traditional learners to our programs. A second and equally important part of this group’s work will be to recommend retention efforts that combine the expertise of Student Affairs and Academics to increase student success. Initiatives will look to improve student time management, career possibilities, financial literacy, engagement, wellbeing as well as academic expertise and career readiness.

Group members: Jan Javinar (facilitator), Reed Young (facilitator), Loea Akiona, Sarah Chase, Michelle Cohen, Ken Inouye, Lelemia Irvine, Holly Itoga, Laurie James, Dylan Keaweehu, Loke Kenolio, Nalo “Shu” Lago (student), Katie Landgraf, Caton Liang (student), Veny Liu, Joe Mareko, Nicholas Mitchell, Leslie Opulauoho, James Oshiro, Ryan Perreira, Kealohi Perry, and Lynette Williamson.

Student Learning

Purpose: To build and strengthen mission and post-pandemic critical academic programs by balancing costs, enrollment patterns, student interests, diverse delivery platforms, industry trends, and innovation.

Explanation: To generate a set of robust investment initiatives this group will first be introduced to an in-depth analysis of the costs associated with personnel and academic programming. This will provide a more accurate/data-based understanding of workload, instructional costs, enrollment patterns, programs that generate revenues and programs that don’t, identification of mission critical programs, and the efficacy of different delivery platforms. Other key data points include operational costs, student interest, current and future job markets and industry trends, successful and innovative programs employed at other campuses, and others. Such data will form the foundation for a revised academic plan.

Group members: Jeff Moniz (facilitator), Mary Heller (facilitator), Kaʻiulani Akamine, Kauʻi Merritt, Rebecca Carino-Augustin, Matt Chapman, Michael Furuto, Sharla Hanaoka, Michael Hayes, Louis Herman, Cathy Ikeda, Michiko Joseph, Stephanie Kamai, Kristina Lu, Jon Magnussen, Therese Nakadomari, Christine Park (student), Princess Soares, Robyn Tasaka, Kaylee Torres (student), Rouel Velasco, and Marnelli Ulep.

Campus Efficiencies

Purpose: Strategize to build a more strategic workforce to maximize our skill and talent base is focused where it can have the greatest impact in the near and long-term.

Explanation: The focus is to generate efficiency recommendations that will increase effective, efficient operations across the campus—Academics, Administration, and Student Affairs.

Group members: Kevin Ishida (facilitator), Katherine Aumer, Sheri Ching, Michelle Ferguson, Lori Foo, Daphne Fox (student), Kelly Fujino, Brient Hutchinson (student), Kay Nagata, Donna Shaver, Lisa Spencer, Nancy Nakasone, and Esther Widiasih.

Mahalo to all our work group volunteers! Should you have any questions or would like to engage in the discussions, please contact the facilitators of the work group.

Understanding How The New Federal CRRSAA Will Impact Higher Education

An overview of the new federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (CRRSAA) and its impact on higher education was provided by EAB to their clients (of which UH is one) to help us begin to understand what the latest relief package means and begin to work out how it may support the work of our campuses to address the impact of the pandemic. EAB has outlined the law’s major components below.

How will the CRRSAA impact the higher education industry?

At a high level, the Act’s higher education provisions are similar to the existing relief vehicles created in the CARES Act, with several notable modifications as follows:

  1. The Act appropriates about $8B more in total dedicated funding for higher education institutions ($22.7B vs. $14.2B). While this is a marked increase, it is significantly less than what the industry requested or was allocated in other relief proposals (e.g., The HEROES Act). The requirement that the same amount as allocated in the CARES Act go to financial aid will diminish funds for institutions but is a more favorable breakdown than the 50% mandate in the CARES Act.

  2. The funding formula for all institutions accounts for part-time students in both the Pell and total enrollment calculations. In contrast, the CARES Act’s formula only factored in full-time students. This will provide more money to community colleges and regional publics than the CARES Act did, as those types of institutions tend to enroll more part-time and Pell students.

  3. Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) institutional allocations can be used to defray lost revenue and provide student services tied to the Pandemic. This should give institutions greater flexibility in how they spend their allocations (since the more narrowly defined uses in CARES were limited to expenses tied to the emergency remote instruction shift). This change will also be applied to any unspent institutional CARES funds.

  4. For-profits are excluded from receiving institutional funds. This will leave more money for non-profit and public institutions than the CARES Act, which included proprietary institutions in the allocation. Aid is still set aside for students of proprietary institutions.

That said, while this act eases some of the limitations of the CARES Act, it does not address all of its shortcomings. For example, it fails to provide support for state budgets. Further, it imposes some new restrictions that will be detrimental to some institutions. Notably, institutions subject to the excise tax on their endowments (excluding work colleges) will see a 50% penalty imposed on their allotment—all but guaranteeing they receive less funding than they did in the spring if they elected to accept it.

Finally, as with the CARES Act, the legislation leaves some room for regulatory interpretation by the Department of Education (ED) and could result in further stipulations being imposed on fund usage in the months ahead. There may be more volatility this time around, given differences in policy approaches between the outgoing Trump Administration and incoming Biden Administration. Leaders should be prepared for a Biden ED to potentially revise the regulatory guidance on relief fund uses, especially where it pertains to eligible students for emergency financial aid.

If you want to learn more about what EAB shared see the attached overview.

Messages from Across our Campus

Message from the Office of the VC of Academic Affairs
Presented by AVCAA Alan Rosenfeld

The Path toward Reaffirmation

Where has the time gone? For many of us, it seems like just yesterday that UH West O‘ahu received a clean bill of health from its accrediting body, WSCUC, in the form of seven years of continued accreditation. Alas, that was March 2015 and the current cycle is nearing its conclusion. While there are many key dates coming up in the ongoing quest for WSCUC reaffirmation, we should all mark our calendars for the culminating site visit, scheduled for March 2-4, 2022. Of course, there is much work to be done between now and then. A drafting hui has been hard at work composing the critical Institutional Report for Reaffirmation, a preliminary draft of which will be presented in March to the campus Executive Team and the WSCUC Steering Committee, whose membership is as follows:

  • Maenette Benham, Chancellor
  • Jeffrey Moniz, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
  • Jan Javinar, Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
  • Kevin Ishida, Vice Chancellor for Administration
  • Alan Rosenfeld, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Accreditation Liaison Officer
  • Walter Kahumoku, III, Executive Assistant to the Chancellor
  • Sheri Ching, Fiscal Manager
  • Lokelani Kenolio, Enrollment Management Director
  • Gloria Niles, Distance Education Director
  • Terri Ota, Academic Program Specialist
  • John Stanley, Institutional Research Director

The draft Institutional Report for Reaffirmation will then be made available to the larger campus community, with an opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to provide feedback in advance of the final draft submission deadline (to WSCUC) on July 1. Many thanks in particular to our core drafting and support team whose members are currently hard at work composing this report: Gloria Niles, Christi Palacat, Yasmine Romero, Rebecca Romine, Alan Rosenfeld, and John Stanley. Thanks as well to the Component Group Leads and Co-Leads (Beverly Baligad, Chancellor Benham, Sheri Ching, Stephanie Kamai, Jan Javinar/Robyn Tasaka, Walter Kahumoku, Gloria Niles, Alan Rosenfeld, and Leslie Rush) as well as the numerous Component Group members whose efforts this past spring and summer helped light the path forward for the work of our drafting hui today. Finally, a big mahalo to all of you who have provided documentation and even crafted specialized reports to serve as critical supporting evidence for the larger Institutional Report.

We all know that accreditation entails a continuous cycle of inquiry, evaluation, and improvement, so our quest for reaffirmation obviously encompasses contributions from each and every one of us. While the challenges of the pandemic are visible to all, UH West O‘ahu still has so many achievements and so much progress to celebrate. Let us keep our campus mission and our vital role in this community lodged firmly in front of our eyes as we march towards the goal of renewed accreditation! Pūpūkāhi I Holomua!

Message Regarding Telework Policy

The UH Telework Policy sits on OHR’s locked (employees only) website. With regard to faculty, this policy is only applicable to those who under normal conditions and are required to have a physical presence on campus during set working hours.

Please note:  Expectations When Teleworking

Employee must identify one remote work location. Any change to the remote work location must be approved by the employee’s direct supervisor, i.e., Vice Chancellor, Division Chair, Director or Manager.

Out-of-State Work

In terms of being out of state while working for UH, we have discussed with UHPA and clients the risks of approving out of state work. (Please note that there is actually a State statute requiring State employees to be in the State but exempts UH). OGC recommends hiring legal counsel in that other state, since we cannot advise regarding the laws of another state, including workplace safety, tax laws, reporting requirements, etc.  The legal risks to employees as well are well-acknowledged.

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In addition, as we have advised in the past and continue to advise: the practice exposes a sovereign institution (with sovereign immunities) to the courts of another jurisdiction (another sovereign institution).  Effectively, UH is doing business in that other state, and then becomes subject to the laws of that state, even though we are a sovereign. Private institutions do not have this bridge to cross. For this reason, we (UH administration) should not be condoning as a normal business practice the employment of employees working in another state. Exceptions that acknowledge the responsibility of having employees subject to the laws of a foreign jurisdiction, and that there is risk of being hauled into the court of another state (and expenses of hiring counsel in that state) without any defense / compliance mechanism for even remotely acknowledging the laws of that state and how they apply to us and our employees, can be made by Provost/Chancellor (query about decisions being made at a lower level). Otherwise, one alternative to approving exceptions, like ASU uses, is to hire a PEO to hire the employees. Another obvious alternative is to hire people who live in the State.

Announcements

Announcements from UHWO Business Office

Requirement to Enroll in Direct Deposit:

During October 2020, the University System announced a goal of 100% employee direct deposit participation by December 31, 2020 to assist with curtailing expenses related to the production and distribution of physical paper checks.  To enroll, go to the Hawaiʻi Informational Portal, the State of Hawaiʻi’s online payroll system: https://hihpsso.hip.hawaii.gov.  A UH username and password will be required to sign-up for direct deposit.

Employees who wish to continue to receive a paper paycheck must request for an exception via the Direct Deposit Exception Request form located at http://www.fmo.hawaii.edu/payroll/.  All exceptions will require the approval of Chancellor Benham and President Lassner.

Check Printing Schedule Change:

Due to significant budget restrictions and to take advantage of efficiencies gained by electronic payments, effective October 1, 2020, the Disbursing Office is only issuing paper checks twice a month (generally, the 15thof the month and the last business day of the month).  However, electronic payments to students, employees and vendors will continue to be processed on a daily basis.

Students, employees, and vendors are encouraged to sign-up for digital delivery of payments via eRefunds, ePayment, or Vendor ACH Payments.  The following links have been provided to give you more information to assist you with signing up for electronic payments:

University of Hawaiʻi Foundation (UHF) – Rollout of Concur:

UHF has recently rolled out Concur to allow for the automated processing of procurement transactions.  The “Check Request Form” and the “Requisition for Purchase Order” is now completed through Concur.  All active Account Administrators and Support Staff were automatically granted access to Concur and offered training through UHF a few weeks ago.  The Business Office will also be issuing campus guidance shortly.

Reminders:

As we are approaching the holiday season and calendar year-end, here are a few reminders:

News that may be of interest to you:

Refer to our weekly bulletins or our news site Ka Puna O Kaloʻi for more information, updates, news, and announcements.