Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 8, 1 August 2011 — Shaping UH into a model indigenous-serving institution [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Shaping UH into a model indigenous-serving institution

A 20-year educator who led the national multiyear Achieving the Dream initiative at Windward Community College during his tenure as Vice Chancellor

of Student Affairs there, has been named Associate Vice President of Student Affairs for the University of Hawai'i system. "It's a very exciting time to be Native Hawaiian," said Lui Hokoana, who ascended to his new post May 20. His wide-ranging responsibilities include involvement with a group of Native Hawaiian faculty members mandated "to look at what does a model indigenous-serving institute look like," he said. After two group meetings, Hokoana said three themes emerged: Hawaiian-language preservation; leadership and Native Hawaiians within the university system; and developing an educational system that addresses needs of the lāhui (nation) - issues in Waimānalo, Wai'anae and other largely Native Hawaiian communities. The faculty group is revisiting a 1985 Ka'ū Task Force report that made recommendations on how the university better could serve Native Hawaiians in ethnic studies, outreach, faculty representation and other categories. "From 1985 until now, representation of Native Hawaiians on the faculty has grown by 100 percent. However, we're still only 1 percent of the faculty, so there's still more work to do in that area" when one considers there are 14,000, or 23.5 percent, Native Hawaiians in the whole university system, he said. The task to indigenize UH is akin to the dissertation he wrote when attaining a doctorate in education from the Universityof Southern California a year ago. The-140 page document titled "Native Hawaiians and College Success - Does Culture Matter?" is online at http://bit.ly/q5fTAf. Also, Hokoana helped establish two breakthrough initiatives on his native Maui - Hālau A'o alternative-education program in public schools, and Pūnāwai afterschool program aimed at homeless students. Both programs still operate at Lahainaluna High School and Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, respectively. Hokoana feels those efforts and his current mission to indigenize UH serve Native Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike. "With the progression in my career, I am finally at a plaee where I have an understanding of how to implement change and not only empower Native Hawaiians, but truly empower all students," he said. —Kekoa Enomoio