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Helping Families:
A family economics specialist offers financial counseling and trains
social service and credit union staffs to provide similar assistance. Architecture
students assemble "Treat Street" building facades at Bishop Museum
for safe Halloween celebrations and carve unique pumpkins for children's
hospitals. A family resources faculty member has trained 300 foster parents
in child and adolescent development. Leeward Community College accounting
faculty and students help low-income, elderly and non-English speaking
individuals prepare state and federal tax returns.
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Supporting Small
Businesses:
College of Business Administration field classes develop strategic plans
for companies and nonprofit organizations and help them implement action
plans. The Small Business Development Centers network lends expertise,
consulting and resources. Community Colleges community service offices
tailor programs to meet individual and company training needs in a broad
range of occupational and technical fields.
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Encouraging Economic
Development:
CTAHR develops new plants, products and growing techniques; promotes
alternate crops; and helps organize industry associations. The Center for
International Business Education and Research participates in a project
to export medical devices and establish Hawai'i as the health-care center
of the Pacific. Sea Grant College Program helps local fish farmers improve
production and is exploring economic potential for ocean farming.
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Windward Community College identifies
plants for orchid growers and backyard gardeners, indicating whether a plant
is edible, medicinal or valuable. |
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Answering Questions:
The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) analyzes
soil and plant tissue for gardeners, identifies insect pests, demonstrates
composting and gardening techniques and tests termite controls. The medical
school's Genetics Clinic was the state's primary resource on genetic disorders
for two decades. A Honolulu CC professor fields science queries in his
newspaper colunn and via the Internet.
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| The community-based Urban Garden
Center disseminates agricultural and home-economics information to students,
homeowners and farmers. |
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Preserving the Environment:
One faculty member helped lead the successful drive to have Hanalei
River selected as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers; another examined
the arriving battleship Missouri for aquatic hitchhikers. Sea Grant monitors
coral growth and fish populations at an artificial reef off Ala Moana Beach
and coordinates community volunteers to monitor water quality of streams
and near-shore waters. Scientists helped develop composted products from
zoo "doo." UH is involved in planning and executing restoration
of Kaho'olawe.
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Addressing Social
Problems:
The College of Education promotes peer mediation and other measures
to prevent school-based violence. The Family Law Clinic provides pro bono
legal services (for which it received the Hawai'i Lawyers Care Outstanding
Contribution to the Delivery of Legal Services award). UH faculty led efforts
to revise the Hawai'i penal code and address delinquency issues. To combat
illiteracy, UHM students and 4-H teens encourage reading in elementary
schools and Leeward Community College's Classroom on Wheels provides free
tutoring to adults. The Geriatric and Family Consultation Service provides
comprehensive geriatric assessment and referrals while training physicians
about the care of elders.
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Preserving Culture
and History:
The Center for Hawaiian Studies trains teachers to effectively utilize
the Department of Education's Kupuna/Makua Hawaiian cultural program. Leeward
Community College's Native Hawaiian Community-Based Learning Center offers
native Hawaiians instruction in their culture's language and arts. Windward
Community College staff members cleaned grave sites and repaired tombstones
at Kalaupapa, Moloka'i. Kapi'olani Community College's Interpret Hawai'i
helps visitor industry employees relate appropriate and accurate information
on Hawaiian history, architecture, food and culture. A CTAHR entomologist
coordinated efforts of local exterminators to save 'Iolani Palace from
termites.
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| Sea Grant's Hanauma Bay Educational
Program educates guests and kama'aina about bay conservation and environmental
stewardship-reaching more than a million visitors a year. |
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Enriching K12
Education:
UH Hilo's natural sciences faculty is helping develop three science-focused
schools on the Big Island. The Summer Program in the Enhancement of Basic
Education has hosted high school students in summertime college experiences
in the sciences, arts, ethnic studies and other fields. The master's in
education in teaching program helped Dole Intermediate School create an
Electronic Collaborative Educational Learning Lab. Several centers in the
School for Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies develop curricula, classroom
activities and materials, including texts for Hawaiian immersion program
schools, and lend out videos and library resources. Manoa's Rainbow Advantage
Program provides elementary students with food, conversation and homework
help through the Kids Kitchen project. A UH plant pathologist assists a
Liliu'okalani Trust program that teaches traditional agriculture to build
self-esteem in Waimea youth.
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Augmenting the Arts:
Theaters at Manoa, Hilo and Leeward and Kaua'i Community Colleges host
community cultural events and feature guest artists. UH Hilo sponsors the
biennial National Print Exhibition, and UH Manoa, the International Shoebox
Sculpture exhibition. Numerous faculty members participate in community
dramatic, musical and visual presentations.
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UH Hilo's Hawaiian EDventures promotes
edu-tourism that is culturally appropriate and cross-generational. |
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Stimulating Thought:
UH Hilo's Hawai'i Island Senior Institute and UHM's Lifelong Learning
Academy offer liberal arts academic programs, lecture series, discussion
groups, noncredit courses and field trips. The UHM Department of Communications
maintains a National Endowment for the Humanities home page for discussion
about pluralism in America. Faculty members give public talks and write
guest editorials on a myriad of topics. The Center on Aging polled the
community for its views on assisted suicide.
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Encouraging Health
and Safety:
Communication students produce public service announcements for the
Department of Health. UH experts helped the Department of Education reduce
fat and improve nutrition in school lunches. The Cancer Research Center
of Hawai'i brings experimental cancer treatments to Hawai'i through clinical
trials and operates the Hawai'i Tumor Registry and Hawai'i Birth Defects
Monitoring Program. The School of Medicine operates the Hyperbaric Treatment
Facility, which treats divers with the "bends." Leeward Community
College operates the Motorcycle Safety Education Program for four counties.
A UH Hilo biochemistry professor serves as hazardous materials consultant
to the Big Island Fire Department.
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Facilitating Communication:
The Center for Chinese Studies translates documents, promotional materials,
business cards, etc., both in Hawai'i and on short-term visits to China.
The Center for Philippine Studies translates diplomas from Philippine universities
for Department of Education applicants. The Program on Conflict Resolution
offers alternative dispute resolution services and training. Leeward Community
College provides equipment and training so community members can produce
programs for public access TV.
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UH faculty and staff members contribute
as volunteers within and outside of their professional roles. Professor
of American Studies Floyd Matson, for example, has been an advocate and
volunteer for the blind community for half a century. |
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Enhancing Well-being:
Psychology faculty and students helped Kaua'i victims deal with trauma
in the aftermath of Hurricane 'Iniki and provide counseling for anxiety
and food disorders on campus. One professor provides pro bono workshops
for state teachers and mental-health workers. CTAHR's Acting Collaboratively
Together helps Big Island youth produce plays for other students about
problems and challenges that young people face. A social work professor
organized Hawai'i's Rural Health Association.
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Supporting Classroom
Teachers:
The UH-linked Hawai'i Council on Economic Education, Hawai'i Geographic
Alliance and Philosophy in the Schools project help teachers develop exciting
lessons that convey important information to students. UH Hilo faculty
members developed an integrative curriculum for West Hawai'i Explorations
Academy, a Department of Education charter school. The Curriculum Research
and Development Group creates, tests, refines and distributes award-winning
curricular materials-more than 800 publications to date-and has trained
more than 2,000 Hawai'i teachers to use the materials with more than 100,000
Hawai'i students annually.
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| Field trips and classes organized
by the University's Waikiki Aquarium and Lyon Arboretum teach residents
of all ages about Hawaii's unique flora and fauna. |
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Improveing Policy-Making:
Urban and regional planning students joined with community organizations
to document Ka'u environmental, cultural, historical and personal resources
for community planning use. The Center on the Family develops data resources
to identify societal problems and workable solutions. Political science
graduate students worked with Hawai'i Advocates for Children and Youth
to examine budgeting and politics relating to children's services. Law
professors help draft and revise major legislation on topics ranging from
water rights and land use to criminal, business and family law. Master's
candidates in public administration tackle issues of public significance,
such as defining what makes a vibrant Neighbor Island community.
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Explaining our
World:
Kaua'i Community College astronomers host monthly star-watches. Hilo
geographers updated the Atlas of Hawai'i maps and added informative articles.
The Center for Chinese Studies advises the news media on pronunciation
of Chinese names and verifies historical facts for breaking stories. Communications
students help record and telecast government access programming. The Center
for Oral History documents the experiences of immigrants, Japanese entrepreneurs,
WWII civilians and others.
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Ensuring Equity:
A UH scientist heads an association working group encouraging women
and young scientists to participate in Asian and Pacific sciences. Na Pua
No'eau encourages higher aspirations among native Hawaiian students through
activities statewide. UH Hilo's physical education department sponsors
clinics on National Girls' and Women's Sports Days. UH Hilo staff members
are developing Diversity Dialogs to support students with learning differences.
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