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Ka Pe‘ahi Lono: Monthly Message for January

Date/Time sent: 01/09/2023 11:00 am

Aloha mai kākou e UH West Oʻahu ʻOhana!

Faculty and staff at the spring 2023 convocation.

On Friday, January 6, we hosted our Spring Semester Convocation. Mahalo again to everyone for your time, your attention, and your shared ALOHA! You can access a copy of the Powerpoint Presentation. The recording of all the presentations will be available at a future date.

If you would like to learn more about any of the presentations please contact (see below) the presenter. Presentations:

Below, I provide a synopsis of the Chancellor’s presentation, Looking Forward to Spring 2023.

E ʻeleu mai ʻoukou!

This is our 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.

Our value proposition is one of stewardship. Stewardship of the communities we serve. Stewardship through investing in strengthening our people, programs, and pathways that enable our students to achieve their life, family and career aspirations. Investing in people, in our relationships/pilina within our campus community and with the communities that we serve is key to fulfilling our value proposition. We must engage in and sustain caring and respectful relationships. This is imperative to our reclamation of the momentum we had going into 2020/pre-COVID. The last two years have challenged our efforts and slowed us down – but we cannot use COVID as an excuse. It now needs to be a rallying call. The forward movement of our campus, today, depends on our unity, our individual and collective actions to do what we must do to regain our momentum and once again steward our communities.

Over the past six years we have introduced into our collective university mindset, guiding principles that define the “why” and the “how” of “what” we do. Those of you who attended our fall 2022 commencement know the importance of the “why”! One of our graduate speakers, Abbie Kahulu Reed, mother to our own Kim Reed (administrative assistant) spoke to her peers advocating that the “why” we go to college is important. Then she called up to the stage all of her grandchildren. As they faced the audience and smiled she pointed to them and said that they were her WHY. It was a Kleenex moment!!

Indeed, our students and future students – the health and wellbeing, and the prosperity of the communities that we serve is our WHY!

Our guiding principles that we have lived with since 2018 drive our decision making, our actions, and our assessment of how we do what we do to live into our “Why”. I begin with:

  • Poʻokela – to strive for/reach for excellence – for examples take a look at our 10 Top Stories for the Year 2022. Look at all your brilliant achievements.
  • Kauhale – to build spaces of critical and empowering hubs that engage dynamic learning and connections for both/and our on-campus and off-campus communities.
  • Hana Lawelawe – to work hard to take knowledge deeper and apply it to make a difference through the work of both faculty and students, and our applied and engaged scholarship.
  • Mālama – to take care of all that nourishes us, the health and well-being of ALL our students and employees, our resources be it financial, equipment, buildings, and so on, and the land mauka and the land here, makai.
  • All that we individually do contributes to our UHWO educative enterprise to create abundance, Waiwai – to create a culture of generosity of spirit, of prosperity, of knowledge generated-shared-and applied, of wisdom that grounds each of us.

I am committed to work every day to ensure that we live these principles. I believe that if we come to work in this principled manner, working every day to strive for excellence in our stewardship, to come with aloha – “the art of understanding/empathy” – that the joy and wonder of learning, of life-long learning, will be present in all our spaces.

“Pūpūkahi i Holomua” has become a call on campus! We need to work together this year – to live into our promise of stewardship for our West-side communities, families, and all our UH West Oʻahu students.

Referring to a line in an oli written about Queen Emma’s journey up the slopes of Mauna Kea, she turns to her entourage behind her to urge them forward saying, “E ʻeleu mai ʻoukou!” Step lively, let’s move together! So, I say to you, UH West Oʻahu ʻOhana:

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

Chinese zodiac Water Rabbit with campus red.

On January 22 we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year, the year of the Water Rabbit. In Chinese culture, the rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity. Similarly, many cultures around the world associate the rabbit to springtime, a time of new beginnings. Much like our favorite pink Energizer Bunny, the symbolic rabbit is spry and energetic, positive and full of life, possibility, and hope. After the non-stop intensity of action and change, that characterized 2022, the Year of the Tiger, it is predicted that we will transition to a new spring, a year we are much in need of.

新年快乐 – Happy Chinese New Year
Xīnnián hǎo (新年好) New Years goodness

E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor

Section divider made up of two canoe paddles.

Health and Well-Being Reminder

The COVID-19 vaccines are still one of the best tools available to protect against the COVID-19 virus. The virus remains a serious health concern, especially for those in high-risk categories. Information on the new COVID-19 bivalent booster, vaccination options for children and vaccination sites near you. 

The new booster is specifically designed to protect against original COVID-19 and Omicron sub-variants. 

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!

Section divider made up of two canoe paddles.

Important Highlights

Here are December highlights you might have missed:

Section divider made up of two canoe paddles.

Hana Lawelawe: On Leadership

Supporting Student Success

Happy New Year and welcome to the Spring 2023 semester!

As we approach a new semester, we would like to remind you of some important information:

FERPA:
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Acts (FERPA) established certain requirements regarding the privacy of student educational records. We highly encourage you to review the UH System overview of FERPA at this FERPA Overview.

REGISTRATION:
Students are responsible for all registration activities through STAR and are expected to complete all registration activities by the published deadlines.

The deadline for students to:

  • Add or register a course and change a grading option is January 17, 2023
  • Drop a course without a “W” grade is February 1, 2023
  • Drop a course with a “W” grade is March 24, 2023

Additional dates are available on the Academic Calendar.

OVERRIDES:
Course overrides may be assigned via MyUH Services in the Faculty Services Menu.

Refer to Registration Overrides for details.
Assigning an override will grant permission for a student to register for a class and students are responsible for registering for the class.

ROSTERS:
Your course roster(s) is available in real-time at myuh.hawaii.edu and includes students who are officially registered for your section.

GRADING DEADLINE:
The grading deadline for the Spring 2023 semester is available in Laulima.

CERTIFYING STUDENT ATTENDANCE:
Supporting student success while adhering to Federal regulations, the Faculty Verification of Non-Participation report helps our institution to comply with the UH System Executive Policy 7.209 certifying student attendance and participation in class by the end of the late registration period.

Additionally, your reporting of students who are not participating in class (No-Show) helps our institution to comply with USDOE Title IV financial aid policy to identify the first day of academic engagement and the last day of engagement for students receiving financial aid. Note: Compliance is required to ensure we can continue to award our students federal financial aid. For step-by-step instructions on how to certify through the Instructor Support App, please visit hawaii.edu/myuhinfo/pv-faculty/.

DUE: Part of Term I (01/09/23-05/05/23) verification and certifications must be submitted between January 18 – January 23, 2023. For all other Part of Term courses, the deadlines are displayed above each of your class rosters in the Instructor Support App.

Feel free to contact us by phone at 808-689-2900, email at uhworec@hawaii.edu, or visit our website at westoahu.hawaii.edu/registrar/.

We wish you a healthy and wonderful Spring 2023 semester at UH West O’ahu!

Section divider made up of two canoe paddles.

Announcements

Teaching Award Nominations

Attention Students, Staff, and Faculty!!

Nominate any Faculty member (full-time or part-time), including Lecturers, Instructional Faculty, Faculty Specialist, or Librarian for the 2022-2023 University of Hawai’i and UH West O’ahu Teaching Awards.

All nominations must be completed by Feb. 1, 2023. You may nominate more than one person by using a separate form for each nominee. Please do not nominate the same person more than once. The name of the awards are:

  • The Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching: $1,000
  • Frances Davis Award in Undergraduate Teaching: $1,000
  • Lecturer Excellence in Teaching Award: $500
  • UH West O’ahu Laulima Teaching Innovation Award: $300

Additional information about teaching awards can be found on the OPDAS website.

Thank you for your nomination! All questions should be emailed to tawards@hawaii.edu.

Office of Professional Development & Academic Support (OPDAS)
opdas@hawaii.edu
westoahu.hawaii.edu/opdas