Ka Pe‘ahi Lono: Monthly Message for December 2024

Date/Time sent: 12/02/2024 3:00 pm

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! Hauʻoli Lono i ka Makahiki!

The Makahiki Season in Hawaiʻi is marked by the rising of the Makaliʻi (Pleiades star cluster) on the horizon at sunset. This is the time of Lono when we reflect and renew – reenergize! It is also the time of celebrating our pilina/relations giving thanks for the cordage that binds us as ʻohana/family. I am deeply grateful for the joy that you bring to the lives of our students and for the many life lessons we, as the UH West Oʻahu ʻohana, have experienced together!

As we bring both the fall semester and the calendar year to a close – we come to a natural moment of reflection, respite, and rejuvenation! It is a time to celebrate all the good and the wonder in our world as we gather around our home fires and embrace our loved ones.

This has been a fabulous year at UH West Oʻahu! Indeed, there’s much to look back on with gratitude and pride! Faculty, staff, administration, students, alumnus, and community partners have all shared gifts of passion, skills, resources, and much more to make this place the best place to work, to study and teach, and to grow! Mahalo nūnui! So, at this time, it is appropriate that we also recommit ourselves to doing all we can do in 2025 to strengthen our student-focused and career exploration programs, to enrich and reinforce our community partnerships, to grow our student enrollment, and to continue to be fiscally responsible. There is so much more we can do to ensure the health and well-being of the families and communities we care so much about!

Some special activities to calendar:

Our 2024 Mid-Year Commencement, Dec. 14, 9 a.m. in the UH West Oʻahu Courtyard. Please do not forget to register your participation.

Our Spring 2025 Spring Convocation and Professional Development on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Check-in will be between 8 and 8:30 a.m. (pick up a drink and a snack). The program (a mid-year update) will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. This Spring’s Professional Development will include: (a) scholarly presentations from faculty, (b) information and safety demonstrations, and (c) hands-on cultural learning. Lunch will be served followed by unit meetings. Registration (so we can get a lunch count) and more information is forthcoming. Remember, faculty report date is Thursday, Jan. 2, so if you are unable to attend please send a note to your Vice Chancellor with a cc to the Chancellor.

Our 2024 Campus Finance Presentation is now available via this recording.

Please take a moment to scroll down. By request, I included Dr. Manu Meyer’s thoughts on Makahiki (originally printed in 2023) and thought-provoking gifts of leadership and care from Vice Chancellor Harald Barkhoff and Dr. Louis Herman.

I wish you and your loved ones the very best of this holiday season! Mahalo hou for all you do to ensure that we pūpūkahi i holomua!

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. Health officials are keeping watch on the latest variants and any rise in cases and their potential for causing serious illness.

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

Every project, big or small, leads to new experiences and teaching moments that enable us to continue to do what we love – and for that we are so grateful. (Gratitude Statement)

Here are our November highlights you might have missed:

Hana Lawelawe (On Leadership)

Hauʻoli Lono i ka Makahiki

Makahiki Message from Kūlana o Kapolei, Dr. Manu Meyer

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 (coming soon to Makahaiwaʻa) bringing you ideas and events that kept Kūlana o Kapolei busy and joyful! Lono-i-ka-makahiki!

ulu ka leʻaleʻa,
Manu

GIFTS OF LEADERSHIP: Caring for each other and caring for our environment.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, Vice Chancellor Barkhoff shared an article about the impact of gratitude in living a life of happiness and joy, and to increase your longevity! As you know, this gift of gratitude is important to every member of our UH West Oʻahu ʻohana. I witness many of our faculty, staff, and students weave gratitude into how you live and work! Here’s the link to the article, enjoy!

As many of you know, Dr. Louis Herman’s scholarly work and lifelong commitment to the healing power of “mother earth” echoes in his 2013 book, “Future Primal: How Our Wilderness Origins Show Us a Way Forward.” This search for truth, healing, and peace beats strongly in his future, soon-to-be published, book and in his continued work with Craig Foster, Oscar- and BAFTA-winning filmmaker. Dr. Herman shared a compelling short film that is profound, thought provoking, and inspiring. Here is Craig Foster’s collaboration with Jane Goodall, a five-minute film they made together Mother Nature in the Boardroom (on Vimeo).

Hoʻomanaʻo Mai

Updates on enrollment and outreach

For all continuing students – an advisor is available if you need help registering for Spring 2025. There is an advisor on duty from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. through drop-in advising otherwise known as Express Advising. Or students can schedule an appointment with their assigned advisor.

Winter Break Campus Hours

Please note the following closures and other schedule changes for services for winter break (Monday, Dec. 16, through Friday, Jan. 10). Campus hours during the break will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The campus will be closed on the following observed state holidays: Wednesday, Dec. 25 (Christmas), and Wednesday, Jan. 1 (New Year’s).

UH West O‘ahu Bookstore is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, Dec. 2 through Dec. 20. The bookstore is closed Monday, Dec. 23, through Friday, Jan. 3. It reopens 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 6. Click here for more info.

UH West O‘ahu Dining Hall, operated by Da Spot Health Foods & Juices, is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, Dec. 2 through Dec. 13. Da Spot is closed Monday, Dec. 16, through Wednesday, Jan. 8. It reopens 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9, and Friday, Jan. 10.

831 Cafe, the coffee shop in the Academy for Creative Media building, is open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, Dec. 2 through Dec. 13. The cafe is closed Monday, Dec. 16, through Wednesday, Jan. 8. It reopens 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9, and Friday, Jan. 10.

Mail winter break schedule is as follows: UH Mānoa mail runs are daily Monday, Dec. 16, through Friday, Dec. 20; Monday, Dec. 23, Friday, Dec. 27, Monday, Dec. 30, and Friday, Jan. 3; and daily Monday, Jan. 6, through Friday, Jan. 10.

UHWO IT Help Desk is open 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29, and Monday through Friday throughout winter break. Click here for more info.

James & Abigail Campbell Library is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16, through Friday, Dec. 20. The library is closed Monday, Dec. 23, through Friday, Jan. 3, for maintenance. The library reopens 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6, through Friday, Jan. 10. Click here for more info.

UH West O‘ahu Mental Health Services will be open throughout the winter break, but is closed on Wednesday, Dec. 25 (Christmas), Tuesday, Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve), and Wednesday, Jan. 1 (New Year’s). All enrolled students may access free and confidential mental health services during and between semesters. Please email uhwotalk@hawaii.edu to make an appointment. Click here for more info.

Nāulu Center is closed from Monday, Dec. 23, through Thursday, Jan. 2.
Staff will be in and out of their offices from Monday, Jan. 6. Click here for more info.

Nāulu Fitness Center will be open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Wednesday, Dec. 18, but closed on Tuesday, Dec. 17. It will reopen on Monday, Jan. 13. Schedules are subject to change.

Fitness center appointments are made in STAR Balance. To make an appointment:

1. Log in to STAR Balance.
2. Expand Health & Wellness on the left.
3. Select Naulu Fitness Center.
4. Expand Workout Types & Staff.
5. Select Fitness Workout.
6. Select the desired time on the right side.
7. Click Submit.

If you don’t have access to STAR Balance, please email imwest@hawaii.edu or call 808-689-2673 to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome. Click here for more info.

No‘eau Center’s winter break hours (Monday, Dec. 23, through Friday, Jan. 10) will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. In addition to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the center will be closed on Friday, Dec. 27, for carpet cleaning. Click here for more info.