Ka Pe‘ahi Lono: Monthly Message for May 2024

Date/Time sent: 05/01/2024 11:00 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!

In this month’s Ka Peʻahi Lono, we feature statements of gratitude from your new campus executive team. It has been a year of recovery, revitalization, and growth! Please scroll down to the Hana Lawelawe section to hear from our campus leadership. There were three key priorities this year that have been a focus of your campus team. They include:

Revitalize and strengthen our Enrollment Management Team and Strategy.
Establish a Comprehensive Accreditation and Assessment Process and Critical Use of Data.
Increase on-campus student engagement to include in-person classes, conferences, workshops, and special events.

There has been a good deal of productive work by directors, division chairs, and lead faculty and staff across all our units. Some efforts required a full reset and others required tweaks here and there. The work is ongoing but every day we can celebrate our baby-step achievements.

Graduation is just around the corner! Time to celebrate the accomplishments of our brilliant graduates! This 2024 Annual Commencement will again be celebrated at the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of UH Mānoa — we will bring our special west side spirit and flair. I’ll see YOU there!

Hereʻs a graduation reminder and update:

The 2024 Annual Commencement at the SimpliFi Arena, Stan Sheriff Center in Mānoa, is this Saturday, May 4, starting at 9 a.m. We’re delighted to present a celebration of our graduates’ accomplishments with lei-giving festivities at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex (football stadium) following the commencement program. Additionally, we are pleased to feature TWO student speakers, Jahnna-Marie Kehaulani Kahele-Madali (BA Humanities, Hawaiian-Pacific Studies) and Dave Ian Domingo Sebastian (BA, Humanities, Philosophy) who will share their inspirational stories about their respective journeys. We will honor our dear Dr. Linda Randall, who will be retiring, as one of our Faculty Marshals.

We’re excited for our candidates for graduation and are grateful for our faculty, ambassador volunteers, and all those who will contribute to making this a memorable and uplifting experience for all. Check out our Commencement FAQs, for information on directions, parking, and what you can/cannot bring into the arena. Tickets and parking passes are NOT a requirement for this commencement.

Email uhwograd@hawaii.edu if you have any questions.

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

As we roll through the closing of another spectacular academic year, I would like to mahalo you again for stepping up and being a partner in our recovery efforts. Enrollment is on an upward trajectory – and while we have to continue to be intentional and relentless – we will soon surpass our pre-COVID numbers! We are learning how to best provide our classes, i.e., in-person and blended, hence, utilizing our campus more efficiently. We have been guided by and inspired by a new team of campus executive leadership who have worked diligently to be both thoughtful and inclusive while listening to our community partners, the communities we serve.

ANNOUNCEMENT – PLEASE ADD TO YOUR CALENDAR:

UH West Oʻahu Fall 2024 Convocation
DATE: Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024
TIME: 8:30 a.m. – noon
LOCATION: C-208

Morning coffee, tea, water, and snacks
Healthy lunch bento

Please scroll through this May Ka Peʻahi Lono to the Hoʻomanaʻo Mai section. There are several important reminders and a short list of summer campus repair and maintenance efforts.

Wishing you all good summer thoughts and adventures!

E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor

Keep in mind, kūkulu 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!

Important Highlights

Here are our April highlights you might have missed:

Our Spring 2024 Kūkulu Kaiāulu Building Community Quarterly Impact Report features the international work of our Global Engagement team led by Tim Park.

Hana Lawelawe: On Leadership

Messages of Gratitude

ʻU hola ʻia ka maka loa la (To spread forth, open the most fine quality mat)
Pūʻai ke aloha la (Exchange/share as potluck or aloha)
Kūkaʻi ʻia ka Hāloa la (Exchange as greetings (between man and wife and descendants))
Pā wehi mai nā lehua (To adorn with the lehua flower)
Mai ka hoʻokuʻi a ka hālāwai la (From East to West; sunrise to sunset, we are discoverers, navigators, take care of our ʻāina)
Mahalo, e ke akua (We thank our creators)
Mahalo, e nā kūpuna la ea (We thank our ancestors)
Mahalo, me ke aloha la (We thank you with love)
Mahalo, me ke aloha la (We thank you with love)

Mahalo nūnui to our executive campus leadership – hoʻomaikaʻi! I asked each of the new members to provide me a reflective statement of their first year with UH West Oʻahu. Here are their statements of gratitude.

Mōhala ka pua, ua wehe kaiao.
The blossoms are opening, for dawn is breaking.
-ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 2179

Jessica Miranda, Executive Director for Strategic Directions, Assessment, and Accreditation
I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside our UH West Oʻahu community. Each one of us contributes to fulfilling our mission of providing a student-centered education. Mahalo to all our UH West Oʻahu faculty and staff who have worked alongside me this year in leading assessment planning in their programs and units. It is an honor to witness so much aloha and care for our students and UH West Oʻahu community. Me ka mahalo nui, Jessica.

Dave McDonald, Vice Chancellor for Administration
Mahalo nui loa to everyone who worked together to meet the needs of our current and future students. We have collaborated on many projects across the university including Onizuka Day, We Go West, the Food Pantry, and the recent Research Symposium. Each of these events has shown the power of ʻohana and we are better for these and the many other activities that support our shared success. I am grateful for this past year and excited about the years to come.

Dee Uwono, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
I am immensely grateful to the UH West Oʻahu ʻohana including the students, staff, faculty, and colleagues who welcomed me with open arms and showered me with love and support since the very first day I set foot on campus. Mahalo for your unwavering dedication, passion, and collaboration in creating a vibrant and positive environment for our students.

Camonia Graham-Tutt, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
On July 1, 2023, I began my role as the interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs (IAVCAA) at UH West O’ahu. Now if you know anything about me, you might assume that one of the first things I did to prepare for this role was to see what I would be wearing to work. I’ll share that you are partially correct. What might also be interesting to note is that having a steadfast devotion to the work I do at UH West O’ahu, coupled with professional development opportunities such as PELP (Presidential Emerging Leaders Program) and countless other leadership activities helped to prepare me for this amazing opportunity.

Over the course of this year, I have learned more about the detailed pieces of our campus, how when woven together can and do make us a mighty force. I view my experience as the IAVCAA as similar to the steps of weaving lei (I admit I am still a novice at this practice, but I’m trying and progressing). First, being welcomed with intentionality into a specific space for a specific purpose (i.e. we are each here to do something special for our campus, our ʻohana). Second, acknowledging that all you have is really all you need (i.e. having a willingness to show up and ask, “How can I help?” is sometimes the greatest skill any of us can possess). Third, giving your very best at anything you do (i.e. to do your best as your authentic self). For me, weaving these items together, like weaving lei as an expression of aloha, has resulted in an experience that I will always cherish.

Fast forward to today, I would like to mahalo our entire campus: our students, student leaders, lecturers, faculty, division chairs, staff from every inch of our campus, campus leaders and the executive team for the trust you have placed in me. Mahalo for a seat at the table, for believing in my abilities and giving me this opportunity to learn and grow.

The best is yet to come! – “Dr. C”

Harald Barkhoff, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
I’m so very grateful

for the opportunity to be part of UH West Oʻahu ʻohana and community
for the heartwarming welcome I received when I joined
for the Aloha spirit I feel every day
for the trust in me to learn, understand, and fulfill my kuleana that comes with my new position
for being able to return home
for surfing in warm waters and amazing waves
for loving and being loved.

Hoʻomanaʻo Mai

Please give generously to the Hawaiʻi Foodbank

The Hawaiʻi Foodbank has kicked off its Annual State Employees Food Drive, which runs through mid-May. The issue of hunger continues to be a major challenge facing our community, affecting those most vulnerable among us, and the University of Hawaiʻi ʻohana is not immune from this issue. With the higher cost of food and the elimination of emergency allotments provided to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries, the Hawaiʻi Foodbank is bracing for higher demand of their services.

Drop off items from Monday through Friday, between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Administration Building Lobby or the Nāulu Center, call 808-689-2673 if you need assistance with drop-offs.

The five most needed items are monetary donations, canned proteins, canned meals, canned fruits and vegetables, and bags of rice. Please note that monetary donations are also being accepted via the Hawaiʻi Foodbank’s Online Donation page – be sure to select UH West Oʻahu! Mahalo for your generosity!

Mahalo! Onizuka Day of Excellence

Collage of images from Onizuka Day of Exploration on campus with a helicopter, a Boy Scout wearing a VR headset, and an inflatable whale in the library.

We were honored to host the Boy Scouts of America’s Onizuka Day of Excellence on our campus. And, while it was difficult to ascertain the final numbers (estimation is about 6,000) the campus was energized with the dreams of exploration and inquiry. Did you get to see the THREE helicopters that landed on our great lawn? Mahalo to all UH West Oʻahu ʻOhana who made this a very special day!

For more photos and a story about Onizuka Day of Excellence please go here.

Human Resources: For Faculty and Staff

Annual Conflict of Interest and Commitment (COI) Disclosure Forms – Due May 15, 2024.

Summer Campus Work

Information Technology

AV equipment is being replaced in laboratory classrooms. We are upgrading the Lab classrooms to digital connections to match what is in the regular classrooms. The project will start after finals and should be completed by the end of this year.
The IT Help Desk is performing a technology inventory. The IT Help Desk will be conducting a visual confirmation of all UH West Oʻahu technology including grant equipment. The IT Help Desk will contact everyone to schedule a time to check on their technology.
IT Help Desk is conducting two routine upgrades of all classroom computers. In the early summer, they will be upgrading the software like Zoom to prepare for the summer courses. The second upgrade will happen right before school starts in August to prepare for the Fall semester.

Planning and Facilities

Building C, C-226 – Commence construction upon building permit issuance
Road/Parking Lot Reseal and Various Improvements – Commence construction
Building B, B-155 – Installation of a 16′ whiteboard
Building B, B-137 – (ʻUluʻulu) Replacement of exterior door