Center for Pacific Island Studies

academic programs

awards

Tuition Support

The Center for Pacific Islands Studies offers a limited number of achievement scholarships to offset tuition costs. For further information, contact the center directly.

Heyum Endowment Fund Scholarship

The Heyum Endowment Fund, at the University of Hawai'i, was established by the late R Renée Heyum, former curator of the Pacific Collection, Hamilton Library, to assist Pacific Islanders pursuing education and/or training in Hawai'i. Funds are available to support one scholarship in the amount of $3,000 for the 2013–2014 academic year, and qualified individuals are invited to apply. For information on the 2013 competition, click here. Applications are due 15 March 2012.

East-West Center

Adjacent to the University of Hawai‘i is the East-West Center, a public, nonprofit, educational and research institution that maintains a close and cooperative relationship with the university. The East-West Center offers fellowships to students from Asia, the Pacific, and the United States working toward higher degrees at the University of Hawai‘i. Among the fellowship programs prospective Pacific Islands studies students may be eligible for are the East–West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship, Asian Development Bank–Government of Japan Scholarship, and the United States–South Pacific Scholarship. For information on these fellowship opportunities, visit the EWC Student Scholarships and Fellowships page, or contact the EWC–UHM Scholarship Office, East–West Center, 1601 East-West Road, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96848-1601; telephone: (808) 944-7735. Application deadlines vary.

Norman Meller Research Award

The Norman Meller Research Award of $250.00 is given annually to the best MA research paper produced at the University of Hawai'i in the social sciences or humanities and focused on the Pacific Islands. Plan A theses, Plan B papers, or MA portfolios are eligible. Submissions may be made by students or by nominations from the faculty, and are not limited to students in the MA program in Pacific Islands Studies. The submissions are read by a panel of judges, who consider the overall quality of the submission, the depth of the research it represents, and the significance of the work in the field of Pacific Islands Studies. Of particular interest are submissions that employ interdisciplinary approaches and/or include indigenous epistemologies and perspectives. The judges reserve the right to recommend that more than one award be made, or that no award be given.

To be eligible for the 2013 award, the work must have been completed during the 2012-2013 academic year, and be submitted in hard copy form to Professor Terence Wesley-Smith, Director, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, 1890 East-West Road, Moore 215, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96822. Any multimedia components must be prepared in formats that are readily accessible using standard computer equipment. The deadline for submissions is 1 October 2013.

This award is made possible by a bequest from Dr Norman Meller, a political scientist and founding director of the Pacific Islands Studies Program, who passed away in 2000.

Na Nei Tou I Loloma Award

Thanks to a generous donation to the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, the center is able to provide two research travel awards a year to CPIS students. The awards are approximately $2,500 each and will continue through 2014. To be eligible for the award students must submit proposals for research in the Pacific Islands that outlines how their projects will contribute to an increased understanding of humanitarian issues and will benefit their host community or the Pacific region as a whole.