The Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust made a $500,000 gift to establish the Queen Liliʻuokalani Distinguished Professorship in Native Hawaiian Culture at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. This endowed professorship honors the life and legacy of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
The professorship will create an educational program anchored in Native Hawaiian cultural knowledge, practices and values that will strengthen the training of social work and other allied health professionals working with Native Hawaiian children, families and communities. The professor appointed to the position will have a proven track record of leadership in relation to Native Hawaiian scholarship and a deep civic commitment to improving the circumstances of Native Hawaiians, with attention to children and families.
“This precious gift provides the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work with the opportunity to emulate the compassion of Queen Liliʻuokalani in caring for children and families, with preference for kānaka maoli,” said Dean Noreen Mokuau. “We are humbled and deeply grateful for the opportunity to steward her legacy with an endowment that perpetuates Native Hawaiian knowledge, values and practices. E ʻonipaʻa kākou!”
“The endowed professorship will broaden the reach of the trust by educating generations of future social workers in Native Hawaiian cultural knowledge, practices and values,” said trustee Claire L. Asam, Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust. “This knowledge will help graduates, wherever they work, effectively serve our beneficiaries, as well as Native Hawaiian children and families throughout Hawaiʻi nei.”
About the Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust
The Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust, founded in 1909, is a private foundation born out of the aloha and care Queen Liliʻuokalani had for the children and families of Hawaiʻi. The mission of the trust is to serve orphan and destitute children with preference given to Native Hawaiian children. Approximately 10,000 children benefit annually from the trust through direct services and thousands more receive help through the trust’s collaboration with community partners.
