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President M.R.C. Greenwood’s welcome back message

Aloha and welcome to all of our students, faculty and staff as we begin a new academic year at the University of Hawaiʻi. I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer and that you are returning to campus ready to get to work.

We have a lot of exciting new resources to share. After decades of perseverance, we opened our new West Oʻahu campus this month, for about 2,000 students enrolled in this state-of-the-art facility.

Our beautiful new Windward Community College’s Library Learning Commons, and UH Mānoa’s newly renovated housing facility, the International Gateway House, are also open for business. And there is much more to come.

It is a very exciting time for our university and for our students.

We’ve worked hard to make our classes and courses more accessible to you across our 10 campuses.

Through the amazing success of our Achieve the Dream efforts, we’ve increased the enrollment of Native Hawaiian students almost 35 percent—they now make up a quarter of our student body. And this spring the board passed the historic associate arts degree in Hawaiian studies for all Community College campuses…truly a milestone to celebrate!

Over the summer, we celebrated our accomplished Regents and Presidential Scholars who chose the University of Hawaiʻi for their quality higher education and we welcome them.

I urge you all to dedicate yourselves, study hard—and focus on the reason you’re here: to get a solid college education from a top rate university—where you will build a foundation that will serve you for the rest of your lives.

To our talented faculty and staff, I am grateful for your hard work and for your role in the university’s successes, enrollment increases and growth in national and international stature.

Great universities not only transmit knowledge and teach, but they also create new knowledge. Our university researchers and faculty bring in close to half a billion dollars a year that generates new discoveries, creates thousands of jobs, and puts money into our economy.

Congratulations to the Rainbow Wahine and Coach Dave Shoji for their outstanding win in the Chevron invitational tournament and I wish our Warrior football team and Coach Chow a successful start to a new and exciting era as we play our first game of the season. Make it a great year!

While there are always challenges for the university, I want you to know that your university is resilient and I hope you will help us communicate the many wonderful things that happen here every day.

I am honored and proud to serve as president of this great university as we begin this new academic year. I wish you a rewarding, enjoyable and fulfilling time ahead.

Mahalo and aloha

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