Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 4, 1 April 2013 — Rockne Freitas to lead UH-West Oʻahu [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Rockne Freitas to lead UH-West Oʻahu

m IB

[?]

ByTreenaShapiro ncoming University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu Chancellor Rockne Freitas says his Native Hawaiian ancestry motivates him to do good for the Hawaiian people, whether it's in education, athletics or career. "If I ean do it, you ean, too," says Freitas, 67, who says he was a "C" student while studying at Kamehameha Schools. Now the former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee is already the highest achieving Native Hawaiian academic officer in the world and has been named the first to lead a four-year baccalaureate campus. Raised in Windward O'ahu where he worked at his father's Waimānalo ranch every day, Freitas onee thought he'd heeome a veterinarian. That path was still open to him when he graduated from Oregon State University. Instead, in 1967, Freitas began an 1 l-year career with the NFL, becoming a three-time All-Pro offensive tackle who simultaneously pursued his master's degree and teaching credentials during the NFL's off-season. The passion for education eame to him when he was invited to speak at a loeal high school, where he observed students being sent from the classroom, whieh the teacher told him was for disciplinary reasons. "I said, 'Ooh, I ean have an impact on their life by being a teacher, so I switched gears right then, instantly, to be a teacher," he recalls. Currently the vice president for student affairs and community relations for the UH system, Freitas will heeome the chancellor at the Kapolei campus on May 1, taking the reins from retiring UHWO Chancellor Gene Awakuni.

When he moves to his new office in West O'ahu, Freitas said he hopes that he'll be able to inspire more Native Hawaiians and underserved minorities, such as Filipinos, to focus on education. His strategy, in part, involves engaging high school students. "I will be going to every high school in the catchment area, talking to

the principals, talking to the counselors to get everybody that graduates to apply for West O'ahu," Freitas says. He wants to make sure potential students and their families are aware that Pell grants, scholarships and other assistance are available to make a comfortable transition from high school to the university. For Freitas, the motivation began at home. His father instilled in him a strong work ethic and a love for sport. He named his son after legendary eoaeh Knute Rockne, who tried to recruit the elder Freitas to play football for the University of Notre Dame. Freitas' father tumed down the offer because at the time there was no air travel and the distance was too great. Freitas said his mother always impressed on him that education was key. As with his father, "My pathway to education was athletics," he says. Freitas didn't let the opportunity pass him by. As a vice president for the UH system, Freitas spearheaded the effort to establish a model systemwide indigenous-serving uni-

versity for the nahon. The plan, Hawai'i Papa O Ke Ao, focuses on leadership, Hawaiian language and culture and community. In the plan formally adopted by the UH Board of Regents, UH President MRC Greenwood thanked Freitas for leading the effort to transform UH into the model indigenousserving university in the nation.

Greenwood says in the plan's introduction, "We in Hawai'i share the gift of living in the home of our host culture - Hawaiian. Everything we do is, or should be, imbued with Hawaiian values and respectful of the traditions practiced here for centuries, long before the ancestors of other ethnicities landed on our shores." In her view, it is incumbent on the UH system "to both educate Hawaiian youth of our islands to prepare them for productive lives, and to continue to play a key role in preserving and perpetuating the culture that exists no where else on earth." It's up to the chancellors how they institute this plan. Freitas will be focusing on how members of the UHWO community treat eaeh other, whieh he calls supportive orientation. "We're in it together, you know. Education - we're in it together. So as a chancellor I don't talk 'down' to anybody. I'm supportive by saying that I talk with equals," he explains.

"Anything I ean do to make education eomfortable for the students, I will do that." TEAM EFFORT His sense of Hawaiianness is evident in his leadership style, whieh he likens to sailing a voyaging eanoe. "My management style is participatory, empowering, transparent," he says. "It's a team effort. No one man or one person ean make a difference. One person ean lead a team to make a difference. That's my philosophy. It's a team effort, community, students, faculty and staff, legislators." He already has a team behind him. "We look forward to the impact UHWest O'ahu will have under Rockne Freitas' demonstrated leadership, with his deep eommunity ties," says UH Board of Regents Chairman Eric Martinson. UHWO Chancellor Gene Awakuni, who will work alongside Freitas through April, spent seven years leading the West O'ahu campus and was rewarded with seeing the Kapolei campus opened in September 2012. "Rockne brings a weahh of knowledge and understanding both at the campus and system level, and I am confident the university will eonhnue to grow and thrive under his leadership," Awakuni says. As UHWO comes into its own, Freitas suggests sustainability could heeome the university's theme - energy sustainability, food sustainability and ethnic sustainability. Ethnic sustainability could include teaching Hawaiian and Filipino language and culture. "We're a melting pot of all cultures because we respect our culture, and that translates to all cultures," Freitas says. UHWO has other advantages - less traffic, free parking and, most significantly, the faculty has one-on-one opportunities for students, Freitas points out. The small campus size gives students opportunities to participate on higher-level research projects than they might have if they had to compete at the larger Mānoa campus. To ensure that the West O'ahu campus ean continue to offer more individualized attention to students, Freitas says that faculty will be hired in proportion to the campus growth. He reveals, "My personal vision is West O 'ahu would be the first ehoiee of every graduating senior to get a great baccalaureate degree, so we have to build dorms, we have to get an (NCAA) Division Three athletic program, expand our curriculum offerings and get international students to eome to West O'ahu." ■ Treena Shapiro, a freelance writer, is a former reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bul-letin anel Honolulu Advertiser.

I will be going to every high school in the catchment area, talking to the principals, talking to the counselors to get everybody that graduates to apply for West O'ahu." — Rockne Freitas