The Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office at UH Mānoa focuses on implementing recommendations from Native Hawaiian reports authored over the last 30 years that guide UH Mānoa in becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning; a place that is responsive to kanaka (Native Hawaiian) communities and reflective of Native Hawai‘i for ALL people to learn, connect, grow, and heal from:
- Native Hawaiian Student Success
- Native Hawaiian Staff and Faculty Development
- Native Hawaiian Environment
- Native Hawaiian Community Engagement
We cannot do this work alone. It is our mission to foster the potential within each of you to positively contribute to our collective kuleana to make UH Mānoa a Native Hawaiian place of learning. These monthly newsletters are meant to keep you connected, highlight your work and continue to inspire you.
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GOALS:
- Native Hawaiian students are holistically supported from recruitment through post-graduation.
- Best practices are gleaned from efforts to support Native Hawaiian students and are applied to student success strategies for all students across the campus.
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Native Hawaiian Student Data
By Kawehionālani Goto
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First- Year Persistence Rate Trend Data |
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GOALS:
- Native Hawaiian staff & faculty are holistically supported from recruitment through promotion and leadership development in every unit across the campus.
- All staff & faculty at UH Mānoa are more knowledgeable and culturally rooted in Mānoa and Hawai‘i.
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Celebrating the Transformative Work of UHM Faculty:
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Re-envisioning Stewardship of Hawaiian Ancestral Sites |
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Congratulations JABSOM's Department of Native Hawaiian Health |
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Congratulations to JABSOM's Department of Native Hawaiian Health partners and Washington State University on being awarded a $15 million grant towards a new project battling disparities associated with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups, as well as American Indian, and Alaska Natives. For more information please read the full article here https://jabsom.hawaii.edu/projectnear/.
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Congratulations to Donna-Marie Palakiko, the 1st Native Hawaiian Nurse to be Hired in a Tenure-Track Position in the School of Nursing
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GOAL:
UH Mānoa campus is a physical, cultural, spiritual, and interactive environment that exemplifies the values of ‘ohana and community, mālama ‘āina, and kuleana; thereby, perpetuating Native Hawaiian values, culture, language, traditions, and customs.
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Aloha ʻĀina Fridays Fall 2021 Recap
By Makanalani Gomes
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Participants plant maile on Maile Way on UHM campus |
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This past fall 2021 we hosted a total of six Aloha ʻĀina Fridays, offering students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to engage in furthering their understandings and wonderings of aloha ʻāina while in community with ʻāina and each other. Out of the six events three were dedicated to our in-person Mālama ʻĀina Fridays, events that we hold in partnership with Nōweo Kai from the Campus Arboretum. Over the span of the three events, we planted approximately 20 maile on Maile Way, and also clean and cleared areas around Queen Liliʻuokalani Building and Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.
Our other three events were hosted via zoom, including a webinar featuring Tiny Kuahu creator Kauila Kanakaʻole and fellow creative Kuʻulei Perreira-Keawekane. We also held two dialogue circles. Here's a participant's reflection:
“I learned that there is a community here committed to listening to others, sharing experiences, and seeing things from others' perspectives.”
We are grateful to all the minds and hearts that participated and continue to learn and grow with us! This spring semester we will be taking a slight pause with current programming in light of the ongoing COVID surges and focusing our time on planning for new opportunities. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy! We look forward to reconnecting soon!
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National Day of Racial Healing |
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On January 18, 2022, our UH Mānoa Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center lead team shared a statement recognizing the 2022 National Day of Racial Healing. The statement included practical ways to engage in TRHT on individual and communal levels. To read the full statement, click here to visit our TRHT webpage.
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GOAL:
UH Mānoa and Native Hawaiian communities are consistently connected and engaged in order that there can be reciprocal teaching and learning for positive impact throughout Hawai‘i.
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Community Highlight:
Mānoa Heritage Center
By Kaiwipuni Lipe
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Each month we will highlight a community or community-based organization that inspires and teaches us about some aspect of our goal to become a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning.
We invite you to connect and learn more about them, too!
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Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau at Mānoa Heritage Center |
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I first was introduced to Mānoa Heritage Center (MHC) around 2011 while I was working on a project with then-dean Maenette Benham and a team of Mānoa-based programs/educators to create curriculum for children and families that engaged them in Mānoa Valley. The first time I went to MHC I felt like I was stepping into a little bit of magic. It was beautiful and full of so much Mānoa history. I couldn't believe that after spending nearly all my life in one way or another in Mānoa that I had not visited MHC before. Over the next several years I got to know the mo‘olelo of MHC, the Cooke family, and Kūka‘ō‘ō Heiau much better. Such gifts! Then a little over a year ago the current executive director, Jessica Welch, reached out to me and I was re-connected with MHC and the beautiful new learning center that had been built in the last 10 years. Jessica and I became quick friends and colleagues as we discovered our shared love for Mānoa and for utilizing all that Mānoa teaches us about building loving and abundant futures for our keiki and mo‘opuna. If you haven't had the chance to check them out yet, please do so at https://www.manoaheritagecenter.org/.
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UH Mānoa, UH Hilo Students Part of Push for More Kānaka in Anthropology |
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Nā Pua Noʻeau's Virtual College Prep Event for High Schoolers |
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Hawaiʻi high schoolers are invited to We Go Kākou, a free informational virtual session filled with swag, games, prizes, and hands-on activities for haumāna (students) considering college.
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NĀ LAMAKŪ O KE ALOHA ʻĀINA
Kanaka Highlight Series
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Picture of Kiara Leonaniokamahina Tomie Arakawa-Taum the Highlighted Student |
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Kiara Leonaniokamahina Tomie Arakawa-Taum
Birthplace/Hometown:
Honolulu, Oʻahu
High School:
Mid Pacific Institute
UHM Degrees acquired:
BA Hawaiian Language, 2020
BA Biochemistry, 2020
Current Occupation (s):
Medications Specialist, Kōkua Kalihi Valley (KKV)
Student, National Institute for Medical Assisting Advancement at KKV
Certified Pharmacy Technician, Longs Kaimukī
1. What inspired/inspires the path for your academic major?
I started my academic career with an undecided major at the University of Portland. Throughout my first year of college, I took a variety of core classes such as intro level science classes and intro level fine arts. However, the subject that I fell in love with was chemistry. I decided that I liked a certain part of chemistry which was biochemistry and declared that as my major. When I returned to Hawaiʻi to study at UHM, part of my requirements was to take a language for two years. Since I grew up going to Pūnana Leo o Kawaiahaʻo and Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Ānuenue, I felt that the only language appropriate for me to take at UHM was Hawaiian Language. While in Hawaiian 202, my Kumu asked me why I was not a Hawaiian language major and told me, “you have a kuleana to your people.” When your Kumu tells you that you have a kuleana, there is nothing else to do but to listen. That day, I filled out the paperwork and declared Hawaiian Language as my second major.
2. What are your future goals in your work?
Throughout my academic career, many would ask me how I would use two such seemingly different majors in a career that would make me feel fulfilled. As of recently, that has taken shape into working to become a medical physician. To me, this is a goal that encompasses both Biochemistry and Hawaiian Language because I am able to look at the human body as a whole. Biochemically, I understand the mechanisms of the body. Through a Hawaiian perspective, I understand how the human body connects to people and more importantly to the ʻāina. I hope to become a physician that diagnosis and treats each person through these lenses.
3. We believe that at the heart of a Hawaiian place of learning is aloha ʻāina: the constant care for and reciprocation with Hawaiʻi’s people, places and practices. How do you see your time at UH shaping the way you aloha ʻāina?
Being at UH, I was able to connect myself back to language, my moʻokūʻauhau, and to figure out how I will continue to aloha ʻāina in my career. One semester, I took lāʻau lapaʻau with Kumu Keoki. While in that class, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. At first, it was hard for me to understand that there was a problem in my life that I could not fix and the only thing that kept me grounded was making lāʻau for my mother. Kumu Keoki guided me through this process. I was using all of my time -that I was not in class- going on hikes, going to the ocean, paying more attention to the ʻāina that was around me so that I could find the plants that I was looking for. Then, I learned that my ancestors were kahuna lāʻau lapaʻau in Kohala Waimea. Being at UH during this time in my life, I was able to reconnect to the ʻāina and to my ʻohana. Being at UH, I witness how western and cultural medicine can coexist in this world. Being at UH, I learned that by following my goals in becoming a physician I will be practicing my version of aloha ʻāina.
4. What does UHM as a Hawaiian place of learning mean to you?
Our Kūpuna looked at the world differently and we can see this in the culture and the language, if we can learn through this perspective we can continue to gain knowledge with aloha ʻāina at the core of our existence. Our Kūpuna were not afraid of learning from others, learning about the world, and learning from the ʻāina. To me, UHM as a Hawaiian place of learning should be a space where we, as people of Hawaiʻi, can gather and have access to knowledge while staying rooted in our Hawaiian values.
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