Matsuoka named Dean at UH Manoa School of Social Work

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Jim Manke, (808) 956-6099
UH Manoa Chancellor's Office
Posted: Jan 25, 2005

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Jon K. Matsuoka to be permanent Dean at the UH Manoa School of Social Work. Matsuoka has been on the School‘s faculty since 1985, and has served as interim dean since 2000.

"We are delighted that the School of Social Work can continue to build on its successes under Dean Matsuoka‘s leadership," said Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert. "He led the School‘s successful preparation for reaccreditation, and we are well along on the university‘s commitment to meeting the state‘s need for social workers."

The Council on Social Work Education in 2003 granted the maximum eight year reaccreditation for Manoa‘s bachelor‘s and master‘s degree programs. The Council praised the school for its "clearly articulated objectives," and commitment to diversity, multiculturalism and community involvement, noting that dean Matsuoka "has developed a strong and committed Board of Advisors."

US News and World Report graduate school rankings have consistently placed the UHM master‘s in social work (MSW) in the top thirty such programs in the country. It is the only MSW degree program in the state and is offered by distance education technology at UH neighbor island campuses as well as at Manoa.

Matsuoka has focused his research and scholarship on sociocultural impact assessments, indigenous practices and subsistence economies, community development, and Pacific indigenous well-being. He has engaged in state and federally-funded research in communities including Molokaʻi, Kaʻu, Miloliʻi, Lanaʻi, and Peleliu, Palau.

The new dean received a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington and a master‘s degree and doctorate in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan.