UH West Oʻahu Chancellor Maenette Benham utilized an innovative approach to the Spring 2017 Convocation/Professional Development Day – integrating hands-on participation and collaboration among faculty and staff to drive the day’s activity.
Chancellor Benham conducted a “Knowledge Cafe,” where faculty and staff shared thoughts about their place within the campus and community and told “their stories” via sketches with crayons on butcher paper covering tables in the Multipurpose Room. Following robust discussion and reflection, tablemates arrived at a collective goal – and then came up with individual commitments for the next six months.
The Vice Chancellors and Chancellor Benham shared their reflections of the day’s activity and their own personal commitments with the entire room.
Vice Chancellor for Administration, Kevin Ishida, committed to better support faculty and staff in different areas, and to continue to listen and understand how the different programs function to better support them.
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Judy Oliveira, discussed the interconnectedness of the different areas of the campus and how it impacts her area. She committed to building a sense of pride in the campus.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Jeffrey Moniz, spoke of the diverse backgrounds of the members of the campus community. He reminded the audience of the UH West Oʻahu mission statement, adding that UH West Oʻahu is an “and” institution. He committed to helping to maintain space for multiplicity, inclusion, and diversity.
Based on the day’s conversations and feedback, Chancellor Benham committed to building trusting relationships. She asked faculty and staff to fully participate, to “pūpūkahi i holomua”, to move the campus forward together in a productive, positive manner with respect for one another even in the face of disagreements. She committed to working with campus executives to locate ways to communicate how the institution works saying, “You may not want to know how the sausage is made, but there might be parts of that process that might help you to understand how UH West Oʻahu works. Understanding this will help us to build a healthy community, to see the bigger picture, and connect to one another.” Chancellor reminded us that through difficult, challenging and forward-looking conversations we at UH West Oʻahu can build innovative programs that build our student’s capacity and strengthens the communities we serve.
Chancellor Benham closed the conversation with “E ʻEleu mai Kākou!” or, “Together, Letʻs Go!”
See the flickr album from PD Day.