‘Dear Santa’ Campaign Doubles Total Letters

Submitted by Circle K International at HPU Executive Board  

With the holiday season in full swing, Circle K International at Hawai‘i Pacific University (Circle K HPU), a Registered Student Organization (RSO), hosted its signature annual letter writing campaign during November and December. An initial goal of 6,000 letters was set, and Circle K HPU has collected 13,141 letters with more on the way. This annual campaign aims to help raise money for Make-A-Wish Hawaii, and for every letter, Macy’s will donate $1.

The 4^th Annual Campaign was led by event chairs Nohealani Benicarlo ’18 and Geraldine Ilan ’21, with the support of the Executive Board including Josh Koh ’18, Nicole Masulit ’21, and Christopher Bartolome ’21. Many of the letters were written by the HPU ‘ohana and friends in the community.

On December 8, Circle K HPU joined Make-A-Wish Hawaii at the Ala Moana Shopping Center Macy’s to present 13,141 letters written by the ‘ohana at HPU. It was also National Believe Day, which meant Macy’s doubled the donation to $2 per letter written. A total of $26,282 will be donated to Make-A-Wish Hawaii and will stay here in Hawaii.

Started in 2014 by HPU alumnus and former Circle K HPU President, Avery Fukeda ’15, the annual campaign at HPU has collected over 23,691 letters, raising approximately $47,382 for Make-A-Wish Hawaii.  Over the past 14 years, Circle K at HPU — one of the longest running special interest RSOs — has recorded a total of more than 11,000 hours of service in 600 projects with help from over 300 members. This campaign is by far Circle K HPU’s largest and longest running service project in the club’s 14-year history.  

For the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, Circle K HPU will celebrate its 15th year at Hawai‘i Pacific University. In conjunction with this anniversary, it will host the 5th Annual Believe Letter campaign, which will be chaired by Geraldine Ilan ’21, soon-to- be alumna Nohealani Benicarlo ’18, and alumnus Avery Fukeda ’15, as Honorary Chair. The goal has yet to be set, but it will definitely help power many more wishes.

For the past 35 years, Make-A-Wish Hawaii has granted over 1,200 wishes for the keiki in Hawaii and has welcomed over 10,000 wish kids who wished to come to Hawaii. The mission of the organization is to grant the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience through hope, strength and joy. At HPU, contact circlek.hpu@my.hpu.edu for more information on how to get involved in making a difference in our community one project at a time.

HPU & HCFL: Eleven-year Friendship Going Strong!

Submitted by Barbara Hannum, HPU Director of Intercultural Education Programs

Hawaiʻi Pacific University recently provided students from Hiroshima, Japan a special custom-designed study-tour experience, the eighth since our inaugural program in 2006. From November 13 to December 1, 2017, a group of 17 students from Hiroshima College of Foreign Languages (HCFL) enjoyed a challenging yet rewarding three-week intensive Hospitality and English Program prepared and coordinated by Intercultural Education Programs Director Barbara Hannum with support from the TESOL Programs and the Dept. of English and Applied Linguistics.

A successful balance of academic and experiential learning, the program featured “English for Interaction” classes designed to build fluency in speaking and listening, customized classes in hospitality, tourism, language, and culture, special topics lectures on hospitality marketing and business strategies in Hawai‘i and the U.S. by Hospitality & Tourism Management faculty Dr. Wendy Lam and Dr. Dae Woo Park, observational visits to HPU classes in business, marketing, and Japanese, cultural presentations by HCFL students to HPU students, fluency-building workshops, and conversation sessions with HPU students and Center for Academic Success tutors. A special cultural lesson and hula workshop was provided by Kumu Tracie Lopes, who taught the group a meaningful hula about Aloha Tower and how to make ti-leaf lei.

The HCFL students also enjoyed a guided tour of historic downtown Honolulu, a visit to the State Art Museum, and a “Waikiki scavenger hunt” to the Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Moana hotels led by Dr. Lam. The two cohorts of students also shared a full day of experiential learning and site visits: one group, comprised of hospitality and tourism majors, received an extensive tour of the Four Seasons Resort, where they learned about strategic branding/target marketing and were also treated to a delicious lunch! From there they traveled to the airport for a guided tour and presentation by Hawaiian Airlines marketing and sales management staff. The other group, comprised of English majors, enjoyed a morning at Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy sharing cultural presentations with HBA Japanese classes and observing other special HBA classes as well. They, too, were treated to a very special lunch and cultural exchange session by HBA administrators, staff, and selected students.  

The HCFL students all stayed with local families through the Hawai‘i Homestay Program, so they spent evenings and weekends learning about and experiencing American and local culture, especially enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday. The program culminated in a memorable HPU Completion Ceremony and Aloha Luncheon on Friday, December 1. We look forward to welcoming the next group in 2019 for another memorable and meaningful educational exchange between two universities and long-time friends. 

Announcing the Tuition Exchange Scholarship Recipients

By Bernard K Nunies, Director of Human Resources

In our inaugural year of the Tuition Exchange Program, Hawai‘i Pacific University has joined with more than 600 colleges and universities across the nation in offering reciprocal scholarships to qualifying dependents of our eligible faculty and staff.  This scholarship covers 4-years of tuition up to $35,000 each year.

In October HPU held a lottery for the 3 scholarships that would be awarded.  Participants received up to 4 lottery entries based on years of service.  In total we had 21 participants with 64 entries.

We are pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s awards.

·         Annmarie Manzulli, Career Instructional Faculty of Communication

·         Mark Tjarks, Professor of English

·         Michael Erickson, Associate Professor of Psychology

Please join me in congratulating the three recipients and wishing their dependents much success in their undergraduate studies for the 2018-19 academic year.

For information on future participation or for a copy of the program guidelines, please visit the HR tab of Pipeline.

HPU United Nations Club Attends National Model United Nations Conference in Canada

On Friday, Nov. 17 through Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017, HPU United Nations (UN) Club members participated in the 2017 National Model United Nations (NMUN) Conference in Banff, Canada. Eleven HPU students (pictured above from left to right): Essi Korhonen, Isabelle Klewstigh, Hunter Burrows, Gabriela (Victoria) Ristikangas, Kristine Kivle, Sharon MacAllan, Ashley Ubben, Lesly Valdez, Emily Macri, Cherie Soria and Nicole Masulit, along with the UN Club faculty advisor, Serge Marek, Ph.D., participated in the conference. 

At the NMUN Conference, university students from around the world represented various countries in committees to discuss international issues relevant today. The HPU delegation represented two countries in various committees. The Uruguay team consisted of six HPU students in the General Assembly (GA), Security Council (SC) and UN Environment Assembly (UNEA). The Vietnam team consisted of five students in the GA, UNEA and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) committees. The Uruguay UNEA team won the award for Outstanding Position Paper, making this the first HPU delegation to win the position paper award. HPU was also recognized as an Honorable Mention during the closing ceremony. 

The NMUN Canada Conference was a success, as each student did their utmost to represent HPU, the UN Club and their respective countries in the best way possible.

Applications are currently available for the next Model United Nations Conference, to be held in New York in March 2018. For more information on the HPU UN Club, please contact the Secretary General/Club President, Haven McKay, at hmckay@my.hpu.edu or the UN Club faculty advisor Serge Marek, at smarek@hpu.edu.

Conference Team:

Hunter Burrows, Freshman, Marine Biology major from New Jersey
Kristine Kivle, Head Delegate/Secretary General, Senior, Diplomacy and Military Studies major from Norway

Essi Korhonen, Senior, International Studies major from Finland

Isabelle Klewstigh, Junior, International Studies major from Sweden
Sharon MacAllan, Junior, Marine Biology major from Germany/U.S.A.
Emily Macri, pursuing a master's in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development, from New York
Nicole Masulit, Sophomore, International Business major from Kauai
Lesly Pamatz, International Business major from California

Viktoria Ristikangas, Junior, International Studies major from Finland

Cherie Soria, Sophomore, Nursing major from Oahu
Ashley Ubben, Freshman, International Studies major from Texas  

News submitted by Nicole Masulit, UN Club PR Officer

Nationally-Recognized Speaker Delivers #SetTheExpectation Talk at HPU

Brenda Tracy, who travels the U.S. speaking at universities about the prevention of sexual assault and violence, visited Hawai‘i Pacific University on Friday, Nov. 17. More than 250 HPU students, faculty, and staff, including a large contingent of student-athletes and coaches, attended the day’s culminating event, which focused on Tracy’s #SetTheExpectation campaign.   

In the opening of her presentation, Tracy made herself relatable to the students, telling them she had two sons who were their age. Tracy proceeded to tell the room full of strangers her painful, personal story. In 1998, Tracy was brutally raped by four men, two of whom played football at Oregon State University.      

The day after the hours-long incident, Tracy contemplated suicide, but the single mother worried about who would take care of her two young sons. For 16 years, Tracy lived in silence, keeping the pain to herself. She often worried about what she would tell her sons of the incident. Then she met a sports writer for The Oregonian who helped Tracy publicly tell her story, which published in November 2014. This was the beginning of Tracy’s quest to effect change, advocating for no tolerance of sexual assault and violence.        

Two years after Tracy’s story was in The Oregonian, she had the opportunity to meet Mike Riley — the former Oregon State football coach of two of the men who raped her — at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he is now the football coach. Prior to their meeting, Tracy admitted to resenting Riley more than her rapists. When they met, Tracy was able to ask Riley the questions she had formulated over the years, and she also shared the story of her rape with his football players. The visit with Riley ended well, providing some closure for Tracy.

Fifty-plus university speaking engagements later, the HPU ‘ohana was fortunate to hear Tracy’s story firsthand. In her talk, Tracy cited a statistic: 98 percent of rapes are committed by men but only 10 percent of the male population is committing the rapes. She then challenged all of the men in the HPU audience to take an active role in being part of the solution to end sexual assault and violence. Tracy mentioned with pride that her son led the charge to petition the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), asking why they were not taking a more serious stance on sexual violence and that they needed to create a policy to ban violent athletes. The initiative of Tracy’s son sparked the creation of the NCAA Commission to Combat Campus Sexual Violence on which Tracy now sits.

Front: SVP & General Counsel Jan Boivin, Brenda Tracy, President John Gotanda,
AVP & Dean of Students Marites McKee; Back: VP of University Relations Sam Moku, Executive Director of Athletics Vince Baldemor, VP of Enrollment Management Greg Grauman,  AVP & CIO Cody Down

 By the end of Tracy’s presentation, it was evident she had made an impact on the nearly 300 HPU ‘ohana in the room. She had delivered a clear and powerful message that it is everyone’s collective responsibility — men and women — to end sexual assault and violence. Tracy amplified her message, noting it isn’t only about looking out for one’s family and friends, but caring for strangers, too. Associate Professor of Psychology Vince Tsushima, Ph.D., stood up, introduced himself, and told Tracy he would never forget her presentation.   

“Through her tireless efforts, Brenda Tracy is a champion for ending sexual assault and violence, and we are grateful for Ms. Tracy sharing her powerful and inspiring story with our HPU ‘ohana,” HPU President John Gotanda said. “I encourage each member of our community to join Ms. Tracy, empowering ourselves as agents of change.”   

By putting into practice the values of aloha, pono, and kuleana HPU embraces, the university ‘ohana can take a stance to “set the expectation” that sexual assault and violence is never okay.

Brenda Tracy’s HPU visit was spearheaded by Senior Vice President and General Counsel Jan Boivin, Assistant Vice President, Dean of Students, and Title IX Coordinator Marites McKee, and Executive Director of Athletics Vince Baldemor.

Additional support for the event was provided by Counseling and Behavioral Health Services psychologists, Kevin Bowman, Ph.D., and Kathryn Berrano, Ph.D., and the Title IX Deputy Coordinators Kathryn Conlon, Assistant Dean of Students/Director of Student Conduct, Natasa Revere, Associate Director of Athletics/Compliance, and Susan Gray, Manager, Employee Relations and EEO/AA Compliance.  

Title IX/Counseling & Behavioral Health team Marites McKee, Kevin Bowman, Ph.D., Susan Gray, Natasa Revere, Kathryn Conlon; not pictured Kathryn Berrano, Ph.D., Brenda Tracy, SVP & General Counsel Jan Boivin,
SVP & Provost Matthew Liao-Troth, Ph.D.

Mahalo to the “We Care” Campus Safety Program, HPU Athletics Department, and the HPU Student Activity Fee, for sponsoring the event. 

Front: Hooters GM Abel Diaz, Brenda Tracy, SVP & General Counsel Jan Boivin, Associate General Counsel Erika Strawn; Back: Security staff, Director Joe Tillotson, Jon Pinto, Chris Martin, Ana Pesaleli;
Director Business Development & Special Events Stephanie Blakeman, AVP & Dean of Students Marites McKee  

Prior to the main-event campus presentation by Tracy, she conducted training sessions for targeted groups including the university’s Title IX coordinators, mental health counselors, security officers, deans, and senior leadership. The management of Aloha Tower Marketplace restaurants/bars were also invited to attend a training session geared toward businesses serving alcohol.

For more information on Brenda Tracy and her #SetTheExpectation campaign, go to: www.brendatracy.com

HPU Campus Resources:

Safe Walk is available for HPU students, faculty, and staff 24/7 at Hawaii Loa Campus and the Downtown/ATM Campus. Security Phone Number: 808-544-1400
More information is posted here and on the HPU App.

Counseling and Behavioral Health Services provides FREE and CONFIDENTIAL counseling services to current registered HPU students. More information is posted here.

Title IX, “We Care” Any complaint of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault can be made to the Title IX Coordinator, who is responsible for overall administration of discrimination-related grievance procedures for faculty, staff, students, and other members of the University community. More information is posted here and on the HPU App.

HPU ‘Ohana Takes Part in Second Fort Street Beautification Project

Malama HPU team and past President Portuguese
Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i Laura Figueira (floral print blouse)

With scrub bushes and cleaning rags in hand and trash bags in tow, about 30 members of the HPU ‘ohana gathered on Thursday, Nov. 9, to participate in the second Malama HPU Fort Street Beautification Project. The service event was co-organized by the Human Resources and University Relations departments. The HPU team focused on cleaning the Padrao Monument and the area surrounding it on Fort Street Mall and Beretania Street. The monument was commissioned in 1978 by leaders in the Portuguese community to celebrate the Portuguese Centennial in Hawai‘i.

Individuals with strong connections to the Portuguese community and the Fort Street Padrao Monument came to the Nov. 9 Malama HPU event to meet the HPU service team: John Henry Felix, Ph.D., Honorary Consul of Portugal; Laura Figueira, who was President of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i at the time of the monument’s dedication in 1986; and Marlene DeCosta, Director of Real Estate, Roman Catholic Church in the State of Hawaii, Diocese of Honolulu.

HPU President John Gotanda, Dr. John Henry Felix, Marlene DeCosta,
Vice President of University Relations Sam Moku 

Felix and Figueira were among the leaders in the community who donated in support of the Padrao Monument’s construction. On the pedestal of the monument are bronze plaques, telling the story of the Portuguese immigration to Hawai‘i and includes the names of the donors or the names of the ancestors the donors were honoring. 

The Padrao — a special-shaped cross on a column — represents what Portuguese navigators used to identify newly explored lands. Surrounding the monument is a 30-by-35 foot compass mosaic, which includes 18 tons of pink, black, and beige rocks shipped from Portugal. Two stone masons from Portugal worked in Hawai‘i for several months to hand place the rocks into the intricate design.

Figueira explained the significance of the Fort Street location for the Padrao, which honors the economic and social contributions of the Portuguese in Hawai‘i. The first Portuguese immigrants to Hawai‘i — many of whom came to work in the fields —  arrived in September of 1878 on the Priscilla. After they landed, the group marched up Fort Street to Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, wanting to give thanks.

Through the Malama HPU project, HPU is making a difference. By extending a helping hand to the university’s neighbors, the HPU ‘ohana is beautifying and improving the community HPU calls home.

Human Resources Holds Inaugural Professional Development Conference

By Susan Gray, Manager – Employee Relations 

and EEO/AA Compliance

On October 19, 2017, the Office of Human Resources held its inaugural Professional Development Conference.   The Conference, which was attended by nearly 100 faculty, staff and leaders, was developed based upon feedback from employees as part of the Employee Wellness and Engagement survey.   HPU President, John Gotanda, Trustee and former Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, Linda Lingle, and Kupuna-in-Residence, Lynette Cruz, kicked off the Conference with a panel discussion on “Living the HPU Mission and Values.”    The panel shared their own observations of how HPU employees have, and can, best exemplify Pono, Kuleana, and Aloha.   

The four hour conference, included nine separate breakout sessions, ranging in topics from leadership

development to managing stress and wellness.   Sessions were presented by HPU staff, faculty, and other subject matter experts.   Suzanne Large, Director of Budget & Financial Analysis, shared her expertise to help attendees “Understand the Budget-Process through Adaptive Insights.”   Professors Dr. Warren Wee and Bill Potter led attendees through over 50 years of HPU history as part of their presentation, “Strategic Planning – Understanding the Past to Drive the Future.”    Attendees were also given the opportunity to get a glimpse of the student experience from Vice President of Enrollment Management, Greg Grauman, Assistant Director of First Year and Residential Communities, Jillian Liota, and Career Advisor, Amanda Austin.   The presenters discussed the challenges of first generation students and how HPU faculty and staff can help these students overcome barriers.  Dr. Lawrence Rowland and Dr. John Hart shared their extensive knowledge covering sessions on project management and keys to effective communication, respectively. 

Human Resources’ own Tameron Hodges and Bernard Nunies, led a discussion on Team Development, where attendees had the opportunity to better understand employee engagement and were provided tools and insight on developing their teams.  This presentation was reinforced by speaker Erik Burian, during his talk on “Leadership and the Power of Communication.”  Burian, a retired U.S. Navy Captain and HPU alumnus, provided his insights on leadership gained from his experience as a Navy Captain and his research on leadership.   He shared with attendees what great leaders do, how to lead change, and what really motivates people.  

 In response to employees seeking ways to manage their own health and wellness, HPU reached out to its partner, Kaiser Permanente, to provide information on “Managing Stress in the Workplace and at Home.”   HPU’s own Coach V, Darren Vorderbruegge, a certified trainer with the Blue Zones Project, presented a Life Purpose Workshop, which focused on the benefits of Blue Zones as a method of living a healthier lifestyle.

  

Human Resources would like to express its appreciation to the IT Services and Events teams for their assistance and thanks all the presenters and attendees for making this Professional Development Conference a huge success.   

If you would like to provide feedback on the conference, input is still being accepted here.  Additionally, presentations from the various sessions, if available, will be posted on the Professional Development block of the HR tab on Pipeline. 

Q&A with the Dean of the College of Natural and Computational Sciences

Human Resources turned the spotlight on Brenda Jensen, Ph.D., the Dean of the College of Natural and Computational Sciences (CNCS). Dr. Jensen joined HPU in 2005 as an assistant professor of biology and progressed to associate professor. In 2008, she was appointed the associate dean of the College of Natural Sciences, and in 2016 she was named the dean of CNCS.

--As Told to Tameron Hodges

1. Tell us something about your childhood. Where is your hometown and where have you lived? What were you like at age 10 and what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and consider my hometown to be Omaha, Nebraska. I was fortunate to have grown up when parents told their kids “be home when the street lights come on,” so I spent much of my time riding my bike around the University of Nebraska-Lincoln ag campus. Perhaps related, I loved animals and I wanted to be a vet.  

2. Before joining HPU, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
The most interesting job I had was working at a pet store. The most unusual job I had was a tow-truck dispatcher for AAA Emergency Road Service. I like to think both contributed to my current crisis management skills.

3. Tell us about your journey in choosing higher education as a profession?
This might be my most boring answer, since it was a rather straight path for me.  From undergrad, I knew that I wanted to be a university professor. I never changed my major, and I never took a break from college or grad school. I have been very fortunate that my chosen pathway has worked out…so far!

4. What brought you to HPU?
The Navy brought me most of the way. When my submariner husband and I needed to find a duty station that would work for both of our careers, we picked Hawai’i because we knew that there was “enough Navy” for us both to have a chance to stay awhile. I was surveying the military education options to see who might need help in science, and I quickly found HPU. I was in a classroom at KBay about a week later.

5. Why have you chosen to be part of HPU since 2005?
Working at HPU has always been my “dream job.” I’m a marine biologist, so it is truly hard to top the opportunity to teach and do research in Hawai’i at a university with high quality marine science education. Soon after joining the College of Natural Sciences, I had the opportunity to participate in creating the MS Marine Science degree, and I have always been proud of the research and student training that comes out of that small but mighty program! I also love the fact that the faculty are here because they love to teach, and students can truly find their strengths and thrive here.  

6. What led you to seek the administrative position of dean?
It started with arm-twisting when I was first asked to serve as associate dean 10 years ago. I chose not to apply for the dean position for several rounds thinking that fresh ideas from outside were the best thing for the college. When the job came up again in 2016, coincident with critical changes affecting the college, I knew that I did not want to watch from the sidelines, and it was time to throw my hat in the ring.

7. What aspect of your role do you enjoy the most? 
Seeing positive change. I like solving problems, so it’s a good thing that my current role gives me the chance to do just that. I am never bored because every day is different.  

8. Is there anything new and exciting going on in the College of Natural and Computational Sciences?  
We are launching three new Engineering degrees in Fall 2018: BS Electrical Engineering, BS Biomedical Engineering, and BS Biotechnology Engineering. This is a huge advance for our College, and we believe these programs will be a valuable service to Hawai'i and beyond. We are also making quiet progress on finding a new home for CNCS downtown. I am excited about our options. It will be very tough to leave Hawaii Loa (campus), but I am confident that we will be moving into a space that will be modern and designed to allow us to accomplish more hands-on science than our tight quarters currently allow.

9. What lessons have your work life taught you?
Really smart, highly educated people often see things in wildly different ways, so be empathetic and try to find the common ground.  

10. If you were not an educator, what would you be?
A veterinarian.

11. Biggest challenge in your life?
“Work-life balance”

12. What are you most proud of?
My master’s students who have gone on to publish their thesis work, get PhDs and/or great jobs.

13. Do you have a personal motto, mantra or philosophy? Or do you have a favorite quote?
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” – Dr. Suess, The Lorax

14. What do you do for fun on your days off? 
I drive my teenagers around (horseback riding, band events, music lessons, swim meets, etc etc.) 

15. Where is the best place you have traveled to and why or where would you like to go on a dream vacation?
South Georgia Island (near Antarctica). I witnessed in Technicolor the impact of whaling and its subsequent slow recovery. Where hundreds of thousands of whales were removed, seals, sea lions, and penguins expanded their populations to fill the krill eater’s niche. I also saw how nature takes back — the abandoned whaling stations were completely overrun with seals and penguins, to the point that it was comical to see them defend their particular rooms and porches, yet clearly impossible to displace them.

16. Tell us something most people don’t know about you?
I am a football fan (my teams are the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the New England Patriots), and my husband pretty much hates it; he is a soccer fan.  I’ll buy a beer for the first person who can tell me why I had a legitimate football interest in Tom Brady before he ever joined the Patriots.  

'Inclusion Drives Innovation:' National Disability Awareness Month

Submitted by Susan Gray, Manager, Employee Relations and EEO/AA Compliance

Have you used email today? If so, thank Vint Cerf. While with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the 1970s, Cerf co-designed the basic protocols for internet communications. One motivation behind his work was frustration communicating with other researchers by voice; Cerf is hard of hearing. Later, in the private sector, he was part of the team that developed the first commercial email system. 

This October, HPU is proud to support National Disability Employment Awareness Month.  #InclusionDrivesInnovation, this year’s theme, focuses on welcoming the talents of all people, including those with disabilities, as a critical part to building an inclusive community and strong economy.  

Here at HPU we are committed to fostering a diverse, equitable environment in which faculty, staff, and students excel. We invite those with disabilities to self-identify by updating your disability status here and let us know if you require any reasonable accommodations.

More information can be found on the US Department of Labor website and on the HR tab of Pipeline.

Q&A with the New Dean of the College of Extended and Interdisciplinary Education

— As Told to Tameron Hodges

Human Resources turned the spotlight on Mani Sehgal, the new Dean of the College of Extended and Interdisciplinary Education. Sehgal has been a vital member of the HPU ‘ohana for over 16 years.  Originally from Edmonton, Canada, Sehgal completed his undergraduate studies in math and business, receiving a B.Sc. from Concordia University.  Moving to the U.S., he received his M.B.A. in Finance and an M.Ed. in Math Education, from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.  He is currently Ph.D. ABD in Math Education, at the University of Victoria, in B.C. Canada.

Dean Sehgal joined HPU as a Visiting Instructor of Mathematics in 2001, became a regular faculty member in 2003, and moved over to the School of Education in 2011.  He has served as the 3-2 Engineering Coordinator and Secondary Education Program Director, and for the last four years, Sehgal has been the Director for the School of Education.

To find out something we didn’t know about Dean Sehgal, we recently posed the following questions:

Q: What led you to higher education as a profession?

A: Serendipity. (Truth be told, it was by chance that I stumbled upon higher education.) My background is in Math and Finance. I strongly believe in financial literacy for high schoolers and young adults. Incidentally, I was given the opportunity to develop a course, “The Common Sense of Finance,” and taught it for several years at the high school level. One opportunity led to another and I was offered an adjunct position, teaching Math at HPU.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge in your life?

A: I am naturally a very private person, so to be quite honest with you, talking about myself.

Q: What are you most proud of?

A: In every situation I encounter, I try to approach it with integrity and compassion. I give credit to my parents for instilling this in me.

A: Why have you chosen to be part of HPU for nearly 17 years?

A: I love teaching. While teaching Math, I (quickly) realized the impact I could make helping students understand a subject that many find very challenging (because I was able to break it down and help students with content they weren’t able to understand before). It was inspiring to see students able to make sense of difficult formulas and algorithms.  Then, I was provided with the opportunity to teach Education majors. I have to say that it was more rewarding than I could have ever imagined (getting a chance to teach future teachers). It gives me a chance to indirectly create effective teachers, which in turn helps students of the future who will then contribute to building a better society.  I love what I’m doing.

Q: What led you to seek the administrative position of dean?

A: I wanted to make a difference. I felt like it would give me the opportunity to make positive changes for the students, staff, faculty, college and the University as a whole.  I initially was not even thinking about the position, but the support of faculty and staff throughout the College (and University) made me reconsider.

Q: How will you measure success as a new dean?

A: Unite the college, create opportunity for the (military) bases, serve adult learners who want to transfer their quality education and experience, get rid of division, and strive for all around better communication.  I’ll let my colleagues and peers “measure” how successful I am…

Q: If you were not an educator, what would you be?

A: An Entrepreneur.  I owned two restaurants before I moved to Hawai‘i, and it’s true what they say…once you’re an entrepreneur, you’re always an entrepreneur.

Q: What brought you to Hawai‘i?

A: After I sold the restaurants in Canada, I bought a ticket for a trip around the world with Hawai‘i as the first stop.  After arriving, I decided to extend my stay and ended up cancelling the remainder of the trip to remain in Hawai‘i.  A trip around the world is now at the top of my “bucket list.”

Q: What books are waiting on your bookshelf to be read?

A: Pragmatic Capitalism, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, and a stack of EAB books the Provost dropped off at my office last month...(wink wink).

Q: What is your ideal vacation?

A: Plenty of sleep.

Q: What is one thing that people would be most surprised to know about you?

A: I am allergic to cheese, but I love deep dish pizza. I just make sure I take tons of Benadryl before and after.

Social Work ‘Ohana Participates in Overdose Awareness Event

From left to right: David Shaku, MSW student; 
Heather Lusk, Executive Director of CHOW, MSW alumna;
Raquel Curtis, MSW student;
Leilani Maxera, Program Manager at CHOW, MSW student;
Nicole Beineman, Outreach Worker, BSW alumna;
Sean Quigley, Hepatitis C Care Coordinator at CHOW, MSW student

HPU Social Work faculty, students, and alumni participated with the Community Health Outreach Work to Prevent AIDS (CHOW) Project for their Overdose Awareness Day Teach-In and Memorial, which was held on August 31 at Harris United Methodist Church.

In honor of international Overdose Awareness Day, over 70 people came together at the CHOW-hosted event to learn how to prevent an opioid overdose and how to reverse an overdose with Naloxone. Thirty-five individuals were trained by CHOW staff on how to use Naloxone and were given overdose prevention kits to take home with them.

Attendees also heard personal stories from those affected by opioid addiction and overdose and were given a space to honor lives lost to it. September 12 marked the one-year anniversary of CHOW providing Naloxone to the community. In that time, 46 overdose reversals have been reported — that's 46 lives saved by their Naloxone program.

Assistant Professor of Social Work Michaela Rinkel, Ph.D., serves on the board of CHOW, and CHOW's Executive Director is Heather Lusk, an MSW graduate. CHOW also employs two MSW students, a BSW graduate, and three MSW students are interning with the organization.

 

We Care Campus Safety Fair – Mahalo for Participating!

The Hawai‘i Pacific University ‘ohana and the larger community of Hawai‘i joined at Aloha Tower Marketplace (ATM) for the third annual “We Care!” Campus Safety Fair on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The safety fair, co-founded by Marites McKee, Dean of Students, and Jan Boivin, General Counsel, focused on a wide array of campus safety issues, including sexual violence prevention, alcohol awareness education, natural disaster preparedness, and commuter and pedestrian safety.  A steady flow of visitors, including students and community members, attended the fair at the ATM atrium.

Adrienne Lampitelli, the Director of Student Activities and coordinator of the event, thanked the various HPU and community groups that supported the special evening.  “It was great to see not only our HPU community, but organizations from our local community come together to raise awareness about important issues and resources,” said Lampitelli.  

Pictured with representatives from the Honolulu Police Department, one of the fair’s 

participating organizations, are HPU staff from left to right: 

Director of Student Activities Adrienne Lampitelli, Dean of Students Marites McKee, and General Counsel Jan Boivin  

Visitors — including Provost Matthew Liao-Troth, Dean Allison Gough, Dean Brenda Jensen, Dean Warren Wee, and Dean Mani Sehgal — stopped by HPU’s Title IX and Dean of Students table, which included resources for victims of sexual assault and “beer goggles” that simulated the influence of alcohol on one’s visual perception and movement.  Others visited the Kapiolani Medical Center’s Sex Abuse Treatment Center table, learning the important message of “RESPECT,” and the Student Government Association was present to promote campus safety and natural disaster information and trivia. 

A warm Mahalo to our extended HPU ‘ohana, including community participants from the following organizations: the Honolulu Fire Department, the Honolulu Police Department (representatives in photo below), the Hawaii State Department of Health - Medical Reserve Corps, NOAA/National Weather Service, Bicycle Program - Department of Transportation Services, Walk Wise Hawai‘i Pedestrian Safety - Department of Transportation, the Domestic Violence Action Center, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Child & Family Services, Hawaii Says NO MORE, the Sexual Abuse Treatment Center, Ho‘opla Na Pua, Are You Cleared Telemedicine, and Planned Parenthood – Generation Action.