Bulletin No. 69
Date/Time sent: 10/18/2021 9:00 amE ala! E alu! E kuilima!
Awaken! Come together! Join hands!
Statement of Gratitude
“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” ~ Henri Frederic Amiel.
Aloha mai kākou!
Making sure that the return and revitalization of our campus this spring semester 2022 is healthy and safe will take the entire UH West Oʻahu ʻohana working together. All students, staff and faculty members are required to be vaccinated, with limited exemptions. In addition, it is important for everyone to adhere to campus protocols to include daily LumiSight UH check-in and campus verification, wearing of masks and visible display of your UH identification, and maintaining a comfortable physical distance indoors. We are all in this together and, together, we will keep our campus safe.
I am humbled by the efforts and sacrifices shared by so many of you in our community. The enormous pivot of placing all our classes online (almost overnight) in March 2020, and the endless hours of training and technical support that enabled all of us – including the naysayers who said they would never teach their course(s) online – to move our work to Zoom and to our dining room tables. And, “kudos” to those faculty, instructors, and staff who this past summer 2021 piloted on-campus, in-person instruction paving the way for more of their colleagues to return to on-campus, in-person instruction this fall 2021. I sincerely appreciate all that each of you do – despite the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic – to help UH West Oʻahu continue to provide a first-class education, conduct high-caliber research and engaged scholarship, and offer impactful outreach and community engagement.
I appreciate your efforts to assist our campus executive team to address the challenges we currently confront as we work to return and revitalize our campus for spring semester 2022. We are working carefully, thoughtfully to meet these challenges. Many institutions of higher education in the country, including our island peers (Hawaiʻi Tokai International, HPU, Chaminade, BYU Hawaiʻi), faced this same dilemma as they planned their return to campus this fall semester 2021. We have been monitoring their reopening process and are studying information, scenarios, and guidance from the CDC and the UH System Health and Wellness Task Force. Our decisions and plans are predicated on this counsel.
A special “shout-out” to those faculty and instructors who are stepping-up to the kāhea/call to return to on-campus, in-person instruction (hybrid to fully in-person) to ensure the best experience possible for our students. I encourage more faculty and instructors to return to revitalize the life of our beautiful campus. As I have said before, the spring semester 2022 will look and feel different, but it is our first step forward. It is incredibly important that we unite in embracing the protective actions necessary to create a safer environment on campus to better support our students, each other, and the communities we serve. This is about personal and professional responsibility; holding ourselves accountable to our mission and for the welfare of others. This is about being Pueo Strong.
We need you — students, faculty, staff, everyone — to do your part to protect your health and the safety of our community as we return and revitalize the life of our UH West Oʻahu campus!
Mahalo nūnui for taking the time to review this week’s bulletin.
E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor