Ka Pe‘ahi Lono: Monthly Message for December

Date/Time sent: 12/04/2023 11:30 am

UH West Oʻahu Value Proposition

We prepare 21st Century leaders, career creators through integrated, transdisciplinary programs where learners and teachers, together, discover and innovate and engage diverse communities to create a vibrant and socially just world.

Section divider made up of two canoe paddles.

Hoʻokāhi ka ilau like ana (Wield the paddles together)

Aloha mai kākou e UH West Oʻahu ʻOhana!

This holiday season I wish you all the opportunity to embrace our ʻāina and feel its warm embrace. I wish for you and your ʻohana good health, joyous memories, and nights filled with stars. A precious gift that we can all share is the generosity of spirit — the precious gift of kindness! We must Inspire Kindness as Kathryn Good writes. I share her 15 ideas to practice kindness during this season.

5 Ways to Be Kind to Your Community

Be a good neighbor.
Support local businesses.
Remember the caretakers.
Be generous.
Help people.

5 Ways to Be Kind to Your Friends and Family

Eat and drink well.
Have family time.
Reconnect.
Pick up the phone.

5 Ways to Be Kind to Yourself

Organize.
Get outside.
Stay calm
Read.
Feel your emotions.

As it is a busy time of year, this month’s Ka Peʻahi Lono is short. Please scroll down as Dr. Manu Meyer shares our Hauʻoli Lono i ka Makahiki message and other important campus reminders.

Our Mid-Year Commencement, Dec. 9, 2023, is this week! Commencement is this Saturday at the UH West Oʻahu Courtyard starting at 9 a.m. Guests who attend the ceremony are required to have a ticket. Each graduate receives six (6) guest tickets and two (2) parking passes. Non-ticketed guests are invited to join their graduates on the Great Lawn following the ceremony for lei giving. The ceremony will also be live streamed (find link on westoahu.hawaii.edu). Please see the Commencement page and FAQs.

Our Spring 2024 Convocation will be held on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Grab a coffee/cold drink and a snack. Between 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. you are invited to talk story with colleagues about their scholarly efforts. There will be tables and posters set up throughout the room introducing you to the brilliant work your colleagues, across all our divisions, are doing in and with community, and the scholarly endeavors of our students. (Hint: There will be prizes!) Our program will begin at 9:45 a.m.

Each Vice Chancellor and the Director for Strategic Directions, Assessment and Accreditation will present a summary of what they have learned, what they and their unit has accomplished, and where they see their units next landfall. Lunch bentos will be provided, so please rsvp your attendance. The flyer will be sent out soon.

Our 2023 Campus Finance Presentation is now online. Here are the links to the video and the PPT.

“E ʻeleu mai ʻoukou!” Step lively, let’s move together!

E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor

Health and Well-Being Reminder

Keep in mind, kūkūlu kaiāulu! Please strengthen our community with your passions, respect for one another, and patience! Please respect an individual’s personal choice to wear a face mask. Mahalo to everyone, for your patience and empathy, your good work and commitment to care for one another!

Although we are no longer in a public health emergency in regard to the COVID-19 virus, please stay vigilant. Consider getting your COVID booster, flu shot, and RSV vaccine soon! Health officials are keeping watch on the latest variants and any rise in cases and their potential for causing serious illness. UH West Oʻahu updated our COVID-19 Guidelines for the Fall 2023 semester.

If you test positive for COVID-19:

Isolate for 5 days.
After 5 days, you may return to work or classes if you have been fever-free for 24 hours.
Wear a mask for an additional 5 days around others.

You can notify your instructor or supervisor that you tested positive for COVID-19 or that you have been exposed but it is not required. You should let them know if you will be out sick as you would for any other illness that would cause you to miss class or work time. Masking is optional on campus and in offices, except where required, for example, in certain healthcare-related clinical situations. Again, please respect an individual’s personal choice to wear a face mask.

Important Highlights

Here are our November highlights you might have missed:

Hana Lawelawe: On Leadership

Hauʻoli Lono i ka Makahiki

MAKAHIKI MESSAGE from Kūlana o Kapolei

Lono-i-ka-makahiki! Happy Makahiki Season! May the three principles of winter – Peace, Gratitude, and Excellence – enter your home and heart. Here are three ideas to practice for the next four months, and they come to remind us that as the natural world has seasons, so do we. The potential of mindfulness helps us develop a deeper awareness of how to embody principles, and how that embodiment helps our world evolve. As the elemental forms of Lono fill our skies – dark heavy clouds, short rainbows, hard rains – may we be moistened with this practice and know that “As above, so below” – aka: What is within our thinking can be practiced in our lives. Simple message for this Winter Season. We here in the Islands mark this time with gatherings of gratitude that express our excellence with the quality of what is exchanged. This is old-style gifting where lei hala marks the New Year, and songs fill our homes, and aloha ʻāina work continues. Yes, it is indeed the Makahiki Season of Hawaiʻi (my favorite time of year).

So, as we all prepare for Winter Break, please know that we are grateful for your steady excellence, and we honor the collective work we are all trying to achieve. Please, enjoy the Newsletter bringing you ideas and events that kept Kūlana o Kapolei busy and joyful! Lono-i-ka-makahiki!

ulu ka leʻaleʻa,
Manu

Hoʻomanao Mai

Updates on enrollment and outreach:

For all continuing students — an advisor is available if you need help registering for Spring 2024. There is an advisor on duty, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. through drop-in advising otherwise known as Express Advising: bit.ly/advkiosk. You can also schedule an appointment with your assigned advisor: https://westoahu.hawaii.edu/academics/advising/.

December Facilities Schedule

Winter Break Campus Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Closed to public on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1

Library Hours:
Dec. 11 to 15: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Dec. 18 to 29: Closed for maintenance
Jan. 1 to 5: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Campus Events during Winter Break
Dec. 14 to 15: HI Food Summit
Jan. 4, 2024: UH West Oʻahu Convocation