Work Groups
As part of the next phase of UH West Oʻahu’s work to “create a campus that embodies Sustainability/Aloha ‘Āina, Innovation & Transformation, and ʻŌiwi Leadership,” this campus will embark on a process of renewal and transformation to advance our ability to be relevant and solvent. This next step will encourage campus stakeholders — students, staff, faculty, and leadership — to join together in efforts to generate concrete, research/evidence-proven initiatives. In turn, these will be implemented, tested, and if proven to advance UH West Oʻahu’s relevance and solvency, become practice.
Guiding Principles
Overall, the four (4) work groups will:
- Be guided by the Chancellor;
- Be chaired by campus leaders;
- Involve UH West Oʻahu Stakeholders—representatives from the campus and community;
- Produce tangible, research/evidence-proven strategies for implementation starting in Fiscal Year 2022 (July-June, 2021-22);
- Work to achieve clear deliverables and completion targets (e.g. dates, what will be produced) via a monitoring and evaluation system.
Work Groups
Business Model and Mindset
Purpose: Develop a renewed budget model and mindset.
Explanation: Given that much of the cost of higher education is fixed—particularly in personnel, operations—and 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 a high dependency on state coffers to a status that blends existing funding with solid revenue generation.
Over the next month, this group made up of key skilled experts with skills—financial, educational, programmatic—will refine the existing UHWO Business Model so that this campus can determine what programs should be continued, invested in, expanded, downsized, or closed to ensure that we are working at peak efficiency and are headed toward financial health and prosperity.
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: Strengthen recruitment of current student populations, pivoting to new student targeted populations. Second, to increase retention by providing programs for new markets and new approaches to improve wellbeing.
Explanation: By bolstering access to current and “new” student markets through digital tools and other strategies, UHWO will seek to increase the number of traditional freshmen as well as non-traditional learners coming into our programs. Outlined by the Taskforce, there are several key recommendations that can be further developed into concrete recruitment initiatives to yield greater numbers of incoming traditional freshmen and non-traditional adult learners. Data used to determine proof-of-concept include enrollment trends, EAB tools and data points, potential untapped markets as well as successful and innovative programs employed at other campuses. These will then be added to the work already in motion to recruit veterans, those transitioning from one career to another, and other untapped markets.
A second and equally important part of this group’s work will be to suggest retention efforts that combine the expertise of Student Affairs and Academics to increase student success among returning students. Initiatives will look to improve student time management, career possibilities, financial literacy, engagement, wellbeing as well as academic expertise and career readiness. The recommendations from the Taskforce serve as a foundation for designing and implementing new retention initiatives that will help students address issues of frustration, failure, and dropping out, improve physical and emotional/mental health as well as increase graduation rates.
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: Build and strengthen mission 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 indepth analysis/audit of the cost associated with personnel and academic programming. This audit will provide the work group 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. Note: the work group will consider the recommendations made by the Taskforce and mission critical strategies already in motion as well as explore transdisciplinary opportunities, expansion of articulations with UHCCs, partnerships with the HIDOE to grow Early College Pathways, and extramural funding that will help this campus achieve the 10 year outcomes found in our Strategic Action Plan.
A key success indicator for this group’s work will be realistic, concrete financial and implementation plans for each proposed initiative. The financial plan should include actual costs, proposed revenue generated and other additional fiscal information—including contingencies. The implementation plan should indicate how the initiative will be designed, implemented, monitored, evaluated, and refined or closed.
Group members: Jeff Moniz (facilitator), Mary Heller (facilitator), Kaʻiulani Akamine, Rebecca Carino-Agustin, Matt Chapman, Michael Furuto, Sharla Hanaoka, Michael Hayes, Louis Herman, Cathy Ikeda, Michiko Joseph, Stephanie Kamai, Kristina Lu, Jon Magnussen, Kaui Merritt, Therese Nakadomari, Christine Park (student), Princess Soares, Robyn Tasaka, Kaylee Torres (student), and Rouel Velasco.
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 of this work group is to generate initiatives that would effectively and efficiently improve campus operations. Critical to this work will be involvement of some/most of this team on the Business Model work group and review of current/Taskforce strategies and recommendations. The hope is to present efficiency recommendations that increase effective, efficient operations across the campus—Academics, Administration, and Student Affairs. One key recommendation made by the Taskforce is to move all operational functions—paperwork, approvals and others—to an on-line format(s). Data may come from personnel analyses—position descriptions and functions, cross-functional/positional capabilities, staff development—APT and Civil Service retraining/repositioning, productivity and output analyses within campus as well as compared to other like-campuses, and others.
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.