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Ka Pe‘ahi Lono: Monthly Message for April

Date/Time sent: 04/03/2021 4:20 am

Aloha mai kākou e UH West Oʻahu ʻOhana!

Nearly ## (you insert the number) years ago we remember our high school or college graduation. Walking across the stage engulfed in that awesome feeling of accomplishment and pride!! For many of us it was a seminal moment, one we will always cherish. Our topsy-turvy 2020 made it impossible to celebrate, in-person, with our graduates their seminal moment of academic achievement. Indeed, it was tough and emotional for us all. Today, on a bright April 2021, a year later we are turning the corner —  with more vaccinations in arms — we are beginning to carefully navigate forward a reopening of our beautiful campus.

So, it is time for us to begin preparing to provide that memorable graduation moment for our Spring 2021 graduates. Those students who persevered, who had the grit to finish!

Please join your colleagues and friends at our drive-thru graduation ceremonies on campus, which will allow for some elbow bumping, a graduation photo, physically distanced waves and selfies with faculty and staff, name announcing, and picking up a special gift from the Chancellor! We will balance both health/safety and the joy/tradition of this milestone.

Spring 2021 Drive Thru Celebration
Saturday, May 8, 2021
2 – 5 p.m.

To support and to celebrate our graduates fill out this form today:
https://forms.gle/UE9gXppT8gAenYV38

The link includes the date, time, and general plan
Respond by: Friday, April 9, 2021 at 5 p.m.

As we prepare to celebrate our graduates, we have begun fall 2021 registration. Our enrollment team, which consists of specialists from the OVCSA and faculty and staff from the OVCAA have been working with EAB to significantly increase freshman applications, bridge our transfer students from community colleges, and register our continuing students. Our students will experience a different year with more opportunities for face-to-face, blended hybrid modalities, and fully online courses. We believe that our cautious approach will ensure a safe, flexible, and dynamic learning environment for everyone.

While we anticipate that there might be some bumps ahead, we are confident that our staff and faculty have the ability and expertise to adapt to changes beyond our control. As the health and safety of our campus ʻohana remains paramount, we will continue to follow basic COVID-19 guidelines including face coverings, daily health check-ins, and physical distancing. To view our revised COVID-19 Guidelines please see updated the PDF file and webpage.

In this April Ka Peʻahi Lono, we begin with our celebration of good works highlighting Dr. Louis Herman’s work with filmmaker Craig Foster and how it touched the Mālama Honua voyage. Our Hana Lawelawe section overviews the current work of our Pueo Planning Process campus workgroups. Please scroll down to get important updates on federal funding, our Library, the WSCUC IRR process, Human Resources, Conflict of Interest, and our current Foodbank Drive.

This is a very lengthy newsletter – mahalo for your attention!

Again, mahalo nūnui for all you contribute to UH West Oʻahu!

E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor

A Celebration of Good Works: Kūlia i ka nuʻu (Reach for the Summit!)

My Octopus Teacher: Oceanic Connections O‘ahu to the Cape Peninsula

In this month’s OVCAA contribution to Ka Pe‘ahi Lono, we turn our attention to a faculty member whose collaborative energies have helped UH West O‘ahu forge a direct connection with one of the major cinematic success story of the pandemic era:

Separated by more than 11,500 miles, there are hardly two places on earth more geographically distant than the island of O‘ahu and the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. On the educational and spiritual levels, however, these two sites, rich as they are in marine biodiversity, have similarly fascinating lessons to share with the world, as illustrated in the 2020 film My Octopus Teacher. The cinematic piece, which simply yet profoundly documents the unfolding of a year-long relationship between filmmaker Craig Foster and a single, wild common octopus living in the underwater kelp forests that encircle the cape, recently earned an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Documentary Feature, with the results to be announced on April 25. My Octopus Teacher is also connected to one of UH West O‘ahu’s finest teacher-scholars–Dr. Louis Herman, a South African national, Professor of Political Science, Social Sciences Division Chair, and UH Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching (1995) recipient.

In fact, Foster and Herman have been colleagues and collaborating researchers for more than 20 years, and the UH West O‘ahu professor even provided an interview for the path breaking film, which despite ending up on the cutting-room floor, is accessible here. The relationship between these two scholars helped to connect Foster’s South African marine team with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, culminating in Mālama Honuaʻs 2017 visit to the Cape Peninsula, where Nainoa Thompson and the crews of Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia spent time diving with Foster in the very same kelp forests featured in My Octopus Teacher. When asked to explain the broad-based appeal that the film has enjoyed, Dr. Herman offered the following observations:

“Many of us would perhaps initially relate to the octopus as food, ‘tasty tako poke! What is so surprising about the film is that we are introduced to a particular personality of this ancient species. We see, dramatically, vividly, the octopus as an individual, capable of choice, curiosity and play … As the film develops one starts to feel the whole kelp forest filling with countless little underwater dramas, creatures with brains who hunt, meander, swim, play, create and relate as free beings. In a larger sense the main character in the film is the wonderworld of the whole underwater Eden, plants, rocks, air and water, sea creatures, all bound up in one flourishing community of life, which ultimately connects with our own isolated, troubled species.”

The lessons that My Octopus Teacher offers its viewers resonate deeply with the indigenous-based knowledge and perspectives that buttress the educational experience at UH West O‘ahu. As Professor Herman elucidates, Foster’s documentary refuses to allow its audience to “see the earth as a dead platform for our industrial productivity, a source of raw materials and a dumping ground for our toxic waste,” reminding us instead that “science can help us experience the earth as the ‘Great Mother,’ creating and nourishing all of life, infinitely complex, beautiful and ultimately profoundly mysterious.” Dr. Herman’s pedagogical approach emanates from a vantage point that recognizes human beings as completely integrated within the world of nature rather than existing as something purely external to it, as an entity that “objectif[ies] nature in order to measure precisely, test, predict, and control [it].” That is the core lesson that My Octopus Teacher offers us as well, that we are not merely observers (or directors) but also participants in the experiment of life on this planet. Perhaps humanity will now come to recognize the octopus as more than just food, but also food for thought.

(Contribution from AVCAA Rosenfeld and Dr. Herman)

Check out these stories – further illustrating the brilliance of our faculty, staff and students!

Hana Lawelawe: On Leadership

The Pueo Planning Process: Work Groups

Our Pueo Planning Process webpage has been updated and now provides information on our Work Groups. We have archived our campus forums as well as the work of the Task Force.

Please read the weekly bulletin that provides an update on the progress of each of the work groups. Should you have any questions or would like to engage in the discussions, please contact the facilitators of the work group.

Here is an overview of each of the Work Groups that also includes their tasks and membership.

Business Model and Mindset

Purpose: To develop a renewed budget model and mindset.

  • A first draft revision on the budget model has been developed. Hence, the work of the Business Model group has paused as the other work groups work with the model to refine it.
  • For more information contact either Dr. Walter Kahumoku or Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Ed Keaunui.

Student Recruitment & Student Retention

Purposes: (1) To strengthen recruitment of current student populations as well as targeting new student populations. (2) To increase retention by providing programs for new markets and providing new approaches to improve wellbeing.

  • Work group has generated strategies to recruit adults returning to education, military connected, and transfers from community colleges. Additionally, they have developed strategies to promote the re-enrollment and continued academic success of continuing students. The work group, in subsequent meetings, will be working to refine the strategies and prioritizing them.
  • In addition, the work group is learning more about the revised business model and how to apply to their recruitment and retention strategy development.
  • For more information contact either iVC Jan Javinar or Instructor Reed Young.

Student Learning

Purpose: To build and strengthen mission and post-pandemic critical academic programs by balancing costs, enrollment patterns, student interests, diverse delivery platforms, industry trends, and innovation.

The Student Learning Work Group recently focused on proposals for the investment of one-time relief funds in key areas, in order to effectively respond to impending challenges and proactively address emerging needs. This effort aims our attention at being more efficient as well as generating the revenue needed to offset the reduction in general fund support.  This involves the development of innovative changes and new initiatives, concerning student learning, in light of current and possible future conditions in our state. Examples include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

  • Short-term programs, aimed at working adults, focused on develop skills for the workforce
  • Short-term program credentials that can be applied toward a degree in the future
  • Opening more opportunities for earning college credit through assessments of prior learning gained outside the college classroom
  • Advancing our capacity to provide hybrid, blended learning opportunities that leverage our use of developing technology
  • The redeployment of resources into new scheduling models that better fit working professionals and non-traditional students
  • Building a sense of belonging through the creation of transdisciplinary learning communities that provide problem-based, place-based, and culture-based learning opportunities

The group also celebrated progress, over the span of our work group meetings, in the following areas: (1) the development of a prior learning assessment system for Creative Media; and (2) recent changes in requirements that will remove barriers that prevented students seeking to be teachers from entering the Education Program.

  • For more information contact either VC Jeff Moniz or Division Chair Mary Heller.

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.

The Campus Efficiencies Work Group is focusing on two general categories:

  • Streamlining various campus processes through the use of technology
  • Providing increased professional development opportunities to our faculty and staff

The group is currently discussing potential strategies and will be meeting to learn how to employ the revised business model to support their decision-making.

  • For more information contact either VC Ishida or Sheri Ching (Business Office).

Mahalo to all our work group volunteers!

How does that work? Messages From Across Our Campus

Information Regarding the CARES ACT and CRRSAA ACT:

We are currently in the process of developing an overview of Federal Funding that will soon be shared to the campus community.

From The James & Abigail Campbell Library:

The James & Abigail Campbell Library will be celebrating National Library week this month (April 4-10). The theme is “Welcome to Your Library.”

The theme for National Library Week (April 4-10, 2021), “Welcome to Your Library,” promotes the idea that libraries extend far beyond the four walls of a building – and that everyone is welcome to use their services. During the pandemic libraries have been going above and beyond to adapt to our changing world by expanding their resources and continuing to meet the needs of their users. Whether people visit in person or virtually, libraries offer opportunities for everyone to explore new worlds and become their best selves through access to technology, multimedia content, and educational programs.

Please be on the lookout for our annual survey during this time.

From our WSCUC IRR Writing Team:

Reaffirmation Infographic.jpg

Here is an overview:

  • UH West O‘ahu last received seven years of renewed accreditation from WSCUC, running from spring 2015 through spring 2022.
  • The Institutional Report for Reaffirmation (IRR) is UH West O‘ahu’s official self-study in preparation for its accreditation review.
  • The culminating event–the WSCUC onsite review of UH West O‘ahu–is scheduled for March 2-4, 2022.
  • A preliminary draft of the IRR is being made available to the entire campus community for review and anonymous feedback via a Qualtrix survey. The IRR team absolutely welcomes and appreciates any feedback you can provide. This input will help inform revisions to the draft before final submission to WSCUC in June.
  • The IRR core team is hosting a series of question-and-answer sessions on Zoom between April 8 and April 27. These include a Virtual Town Hall session on Friday, April 23 (11 a.m. to noon), which will be open to the entire campus community.

IRR presentations and Q&A sessions are scheduled as follows:

  • April 8: ASUHWO
  • April 9: Faculty Senate
  • April 12: OVCSA
  • April 21: Senior Management
  • April 21: Division Chairs (Chancellor’s meeting)
  • April 23: Town Hall
  • April 27: Nālimakui
  • TBD: Kapwa (awaiting confirmation)

From Human Resources:

EUTF Open Enrollment April 1-30, 2021

Now is the time to review the health coverage you have for yourself and your family. During the Open Enrollment election period, you can:

  • Add a plan, change from one plan to another, or drop a plan
  • Add an eligible dependent or remove a dependent
  • Change coverage tiers, such as changing from Self to Family or Family to Two-Party

If you decide to keep your current plans, you don’t need to take action. You are not required to complete any forms to continue your current coverage.

If you are making changes, complete and submit the EC-1 via filedrop to aseo@hawaii.edu or mail your completed forms to the UH West Oʻahu Human Resources Office no later than April 30, 2021. Find information, rates and forms can be found at the Hawaii Employer-Union Health  Benefits Trust Fund site.

Island Flex Open Enrollment continues through April 30, 2021

The Island Flex Plan is an employee benefit program that provides employees with a way to pay for their eligible out of pocket health care expenses and dependent care expenses with pre-tax money.

For more information, please view one of the webinars or visit the website of the plan’s third-party administrator, National Benefit Services.

UH Conflicts of Interest and Commitment Forms are due to your supervisor annually by April 15

In accordance with APM 5.504, UH West Oʻahu requires all employees to submit the Conflicts of Interest Disclosure Form (attached) annually to their supervisor, no later than April 15 of each year. The University of Hawaii is committed to promoting identification, disclosure, and elimination or management of conflicts of interest in operations of the University and activities of its employees.

Announcements

Aloha mai kākou UH West Oʻahu ʻohana!

During this unprecedented time, the Hawaiʻi Foodbank needs our continued support now more than ever. The issue of hunger continues to be a major challenge facing our community and the demands on the Hawaiʻi Foodbank are even greater. While the top five needs are various canned goods and rice, which are currently in short supply, please be reminded that monetary donations are also being accepted via the Hawaiʻi Foodbank’s “Online Donation” page – be sure to list UH West Oʻahu as your campus.  Another avenue of support is to purchase the 2021 Hawaii Foodbank T-shirt.

This year, your Hawaiʻi Foodbank coordinators will be trying something new. Food donations can be dropped off at the campus turnaround on:

  • Wednesday, April 14, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  • Friday, April 16, 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, April 24, 9 a.m. – noon

For those unable to do the drop off, volunteers can coordinate a pick-up at your home during the final week of the campaign, April 26 – May 2, 2021.

We look forward to continuing the University’s long tradition of support for the Hawaiʻi Foodbank. More information about UH’s Foodbank Campaign can be found at www.hawaii.edu/offices/president/foodbank. Additional Information on Emergency Food Assistance can be found at the Hawaiʻi Foodbank:  http://www.hawaiifoodbank.org/emergency-assistance.

Please take a moment to consider making a contribution to assist those who are most in need. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Neves at 689-2773 or at cabralch@hawaii.edu or Ryan Perreira at rperreir@hawaii.edu.