Dr. Jan Javinar, assistant to the vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu, is the recipient of NASPA Foundation’s 2020 Pillars of the Profession award. NASPA is an association of student affairs administrators in higher education.
Each year, the NASPA Foundation recognizes a series of distinguished individuals who have served as leaders, teachers and scholars in student affairs and higher education through the Pillars of the Profession award, one of the foundation’s highest honors.
Each individual is nominated and supported for designation as a Pillar by colleagues, students, friends or others who find them deserving of this honor.
Among Javinarʻs nominators was Dr. Leslie Lynn Opulauoho, UH West Oʻahuʻs Center for Adults Returning to Education program coordinator.
“Dr. Javinar is an active and supportive mentor who positively contributed to my professional career path,” Opulauoho said. “Through his mastery of the student affairs and higher education theory, practice and profession, he has advocated, advised and positively contributed to the professional development of myself and many other student affairs professionals.”
Dr. Doris Ching, emeritus vice president for student affairs of the University of Hawaiʻi System and chief academic officer of the UH System Academy for Creative Media, also nominated Javinar for the honor.
“Through his numerous leadership and responsibilities in student affairs policy for the UH System across four decades, Dr. Javinarʻs positive impact on student affairs in Hawaiʻi has been extensive and significant,” Ching, a 2000 recipient of the award, stated in her nomination letter to the NASPA Foundation Board of Directors.
Ching noted Javinar’s many important duties, including convening and facilitating the work of the UH System Council of Senior Student Affairs Officers, comprised of the senior student affairs officers from all campuses of the university.
According to the NASPA Foundation’s Pillar of the Profession website, the award honors members of the profession who:
- Have provided significant service to NASPA through regional and/or national leadership roles within the Association.
- Have created a lasting impact on the institution(s)/organization(s) at which they have worked, leaving a legacy of extraordinary service recognized by a cross-section of institutional/organizational stakeholders.
- Have demonstrated sustained, lifetime professional distinction in the field of student affairs and/or higher education.
Javinar is among 18 individuals from across the country designated by the NASPA Foundation Board of Directors as a 2020 Pillar of the Profession. This new class of Pillars will be honored at the 2020 NASPA Annual Conference, March 28 to April 1 in Austin, Texas.