Chaminade University of Honolulu

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Professor Participates in Interfaith Learning Seminar

Peter Steiger, Ph.D., a Religious Studies associate professor at Chaminade, joined scholars from around the country this summer for a prestigious seminar focused on deepening interfaith learning and cooperation across Council of Independent Colleges campuses.

The Teaching Interfaith Understanding seminar was held in Chicago, and included robust discussions on scholarly frameworks, reviews of syllabi and case studies, and special sessions on topics in higher education. Steiger said a key focus of the seminar was collaboration.

Selection for the interfaith seminar is competitive, and participants must be nominated.

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Organizer Interfaith America said the gathering “provides a multidisciplinary space for participating faculty to explore the theoretical foundations and practical pedagogies of interfaith engagement in higher education.”

Peter Steiger, Ph.D., a professor of religion at Chaminade, participates in an Interfaith America seminar. (Photo Credit: Kelly Feldmiller/Courtesy of Interfaith America)

This was the program’s 11th year.

Steiger said what he appreciated most about the seminar was the opportunities for engaging dialogue. “Hearing the speakers and faculty participants at the seminar gave me greater hope for the future of religious pluralism and interfaith understanding in America,” Steiger said.

“University campuses, both public and private, small and large, should be committed to bringing about greater interfaith understanding and respect for the diversity of religion in the world.”

Chaminade Celebrates Fall Convocation

It was a day of spiritual celebration.

With the kickoff of the new academic year fresh on everyone’s minds, Chaminade students, members of the faculty and staff gathered September 3 for a special Fall Convocation. This year’s gathering, which is a longstanding tradition at Chaminade, not only celebrated the beginning of the school year but marked 25 years since the University’s namesake was beatified.

It was on September 3, 2000, that Pope John Paul II designated Fr. Chaminade as “Blessed.”

Fr. Martin Solma, S.M., vice president of Mission and rector, said Fall Convocation typically happens during the first week of the new school year but was moved to include the Silver Jubilee celebration for Chaminade. He added that honoring Chaminade in this way, as a campus community united around service, values the educational project he started.

“This is a man who had a wonderful charisma of forming a community of faith and then expressing that in an educational faith,” Solma said.

Classes were canceled for two hours so all students had the opportunity to attend the convocation, which was held in the Ching Conference Center and also included a recognition of the newest cohort of Marianist Educational Associates (MEAs) at Chaminade.

Participants in the MEA program, which includes representative from sister institutions the University of Dayton and St. Mary’s University, go through a one-year formation program filled with readings and reflections. The goal is to instill a deep understanding of the University’s Marianist character and encourage faculty and staff to weave those values into their work.

Chaminade has 38 active MEAs, with seven in the newest cohort.

The newest MEAs are:

  • Hubert Brown, audio video coordinator
  • Kumu Kahoali’i Keahi-Wood, cultural engagement specialist
  • Elisabeth Mather, MSCP ’18, mental health counselor
  • Kristopher Martin, MBA ’17, director of Admissions
  • Lorin Ramocki, DNP, RN, School of Nursing & Health Professions dean
  • Ariz Sanchez, assistant vice president for Student Success / Office of Student Success
  • Jodi-Ann Yoshida, MBA ’23, director of Alumni Relations

Martin says he’s honored to have been selected for the program.

“I want to be able to share my experience as both a Chaminade alumnus and MEA with prospective students so they feel a sense of purpose and belonging,” he said, adding that he’s greatly enjoyed the experience so far—including an MEA formation retreat at St. Mary’s University in Texas this summer.

“Also, it has reframed the way I think about my own purpose and how I can positively impact others,” he said. “I look forward to explaining our campus and community through the lens of an MEA, and seeing prospective students begin to understand and embrace our Marianist culture.”

Mather says she’s long been interested in the connection between faith and learning.

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“Personally, I believe deeply in our common human need to seek transcendence or the divine in community,” she said. “At their best, both religious faith and institutions of higher education recognize our human need to connect with a story larger than our individual selves.”

Mather added she looks forward to continuing to learn from the program, and her fellow MEAs.

“To be honest, I’m a bit of a nerd, so I absolutely love learning about history, religion, and philosophy, and the opportunity to do this kind of learning with cross-disciplinary colleagues was really fun,” she said. “I also really appreciated getting to know colleagues at the University of Dayton and St. Mary’s University who share so many experiences and goals.”

For Solma, that’s a key point.

The MEA program gives participants “a language to talk about what we do here,” he said. “They’re really collaborators with the leadership of the University and with the Society of Mary.”

Team Explores ‘Data Suppression’ in Journal Article

Data analytics is increasingly being used as a key decisionmaking tool, including in Pacific communities. But a practice of statistical data suppression (SDS) aimed at privacy protection runs the risk of negatively impacting small island populations, leading to “statistical invisibility.”

In a new peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Pacific Health Dialog, the Chaminade/CIFAL Honolulu Data/AI Research Team (DART) explores the issue and seeks to provide Hawaiʻi and Pacific stakeholders with a framework to better navigate SDS. Importantly, “Navigating Protection and Presence: Trade-offs around data suppression for small Pacific populations” shines a light on data suppression practices in Census and CDC datasets.

The research was supported by National Science Foundation funding and conducted in partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine, the University of Waikato, and the UH Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity.

Helen Turner, Ph.D., lead author for the article and research director at Chaminade’s UN CIFAL Honolulu, said she is proud of the research “because it surfaces an important and often hidden issue in science that may be specifically impacting our regional communities as they start to engage data analytics, AI and machine learning in their decision-making processes.”

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In the article, the authors recommend inclusive, transparent practices to prevent data suppression and propose alternative strategies grounded in “critical data theory” as a way to inform policies that balance the protection of individual privacy with representation of small populations.

Turner applauded the members of the DART team exploring the issue, including lead analyst Connor Flynn ’21, an author on the paper who started the work with his sister—co-author Lilliana Flynn ’21—when they were Chaminade undergraduates.

“It’s amazing to now see them as data professionals working on both the practice and policy issues that affect our communities,” Turner said.

Flynn note that the real-world projects he tackled while studying data science as an undergraduate inspired him to pursue a master’s degree in environmental data science at the University of California, Santa Barbara and then return to Chaminade to work with DART.

“Now that I mentor undergraduates in research experiences and teach data science classes myself, I’m bringing that same approach to my teaching,” he said.

“I’m hoping many more students can make these kinds of meaningful contributions by being involved in applied data science research for Hawaii and the Pacific region.”

Pacific Health Dialog is the Journal of Pacific Research for the Pacific region, and is the only Medline listed medical and public health journal published specifically for Pacific Island countries.

Also in August, DART announced that a separate research paper exploring data on ahi consumption and mercury levels in the blood was accepted for the Toxicology and Pedagogy tracks of the SSRN eJournal. Lead author Alii Napoleon ’25, a Hoʻoulu and NSF S-STEM Scholar, completed the research as part of his data science studies at Chaminade.

The paper uses advanced statistics to probe a national nutritional dataset and offers a risk-benefit framework relevant to communities that consume deep sea fish.

Grant awards that supported this work: NSF HRD-2217242, NSF DUE-2030654.

A Summer Spent ‘Walking the Halls of Congress’

Easton DelaCruz ’26 dreams of serving others in public office.

So you can imagine just how excited DelaCruz was when, over the summer, he found himself in U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Washington, D.C. office, speaking to the politician himself.

“Throughout the whole meeting, I was kind of fangirling,” DelaCruz quips.

DelaCruz was in the nation’s capital after being selected as an intern for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. He worked under U.S. Rep. Kimberlyn King-Hinds, who represents DelaCruz’s home of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

As an aspiring politician, DelaCruz said the experience was transformative.

“I’m a 20-year-old from CNMI and I’m walking the halls of Congress,” he said.

“Being able to step foot in the capital and actually work to get stuff done for the people, it’s just a big honor. Attending all the committee hearings and briefings, they were so eye-opening.”

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During that meeting with the House speaker, Johnson turned to DelaCruz as part of a conversation about creating opportunities for young people and asked why he decided to leave the CNMI. His answer: “To get more experience, bring it home and share it with my community.”

DelaCruz, who is from Saipan, says his work at Chaminade is a big part of that experience building.

The Communication major hopes to bring new solutions to the CNMI. The U.S. territory is struggling economically amid a tourism decline and, DelaCruz says, jobs are difficult to find.

In studying at Chaminade, DelaCruz was following in the footsteps of his mother and sister.

His mom, Elaine, holds a Psychology degree from Chaminade along with a master’s of science in counseling psychology (2003) and a Doctor of Education (2024). His sister, Victoria DelaCruz ’24, studied Data Science at Chaminade and now works at nonprofit Aloha Harvest in Honolulu.

Easton DelaCruz ’26 got the opportunity to sit down with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson during a summer internship in the nation’s capital. The aspiring politician joked the experience had him “fangirling.”

DelaCruz says what he appreciates most about Chaminade is its family-oriented atmosphere.

“I’m a pretty social person, but it’s difficult sometimes,” he said. “Being here at Chaminade, you see the same faces every day and you start to talk story. It allows you to get out of your shell.”

At Chaminade, DelaCruz has also been able to take advantage of several once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. In May 2023, for example, he traveled to Los Angeles as part of a Marianist program to conduct community service at homeless shelters on Skid Row.

And then in October 2023, he was one of two Chaminade students selected to travel on a group pilgrimage to Israel. “I go to church every Sunday and they say all these different places in the Holy Land, and I was there,” he said. “We just went through all these sacred sites.”

This coming term, DelaCruz says he hopes to continue his growth as a leader.

One thing on his “to do” list: DelaCruz is trying to sharpen his Chamorro language skills.

He practices Saipan’s native tongue with other students at Chaminade from Guam or the CNMI, and tests his knowledge on his grandparents, who are fluent.

“They still laugh at my pronunciation,” DelaCruz said, “but then they correct me. That’s part of how I’m learning.”

Photo Gallery: MBA Alumni Pau Hana

More than 40 alumni and guests came together to mingle and network at last month’s MBA Alumni Pau Hana.

Heidi Bow, Chaminade director of development, said the event “was a chance to connect, reminisce and share a memorable evening with our Chaminade MBA ‘ohana. We enjoyed hearing attendees’ stories and learning about the incredible paths they’ve taken since graduation.”

The pau hana August 7 at the Oahu Country Club included addresses by President Lynn Babington, Ph.D. and Provost Lance Askildson, Ph.D.

Bow offered a special mahalo to Rodney Harano, MBA ”84, who was the event sponsor and generously donated wine for the evening.

For more on the MBA program at Chaminade, click here.

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Silverswords Kick Off New School Year

Chaminade kicked off its new academic year August 25, officially welcoming more than 600 new students for fall term—and welcoming back undergraduates from across day and online programs.

Jennifer Creech, Ed.D., Chaminade vice president for Enrollment Management and associate provost for Student Success, said the newest Silversword class shows Chaminade is maintaining strong enrollment numbers despite a highly competitive local and national market.

To prepare for the new school year, Chaminade welcomed new students and their families to campus on August 22 for informational sessions, a resource fair, campus tours and great food.

New Student Orientation began with a convocation symbolizing the launch of each student’s unique Chaminade journey. Following the gathering, faculty created a “cheer tunnel” for attendees. The day also included academic advising and financial aid information.

“New Student Orientation is where your Chaminade journey begins,” Creech said. “It is an introduction to campus, but it’s also your first chance to meet faculty, staff, and fellow students, explore resources and start living the values that shape the Chaminade community.”

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Creech added, “Being part of NSO helps you hit the ground running both in the classroom and beyond.”

The fun continued into the weekend with a shopping mall excursion and Diamond Head hike with Chaminade President Lynn Babington. Welcome Mass in Mystical Rose Oratory and Brunch with the Brothers at Hale Malia were both held and warmly received on the Sunday before the first day classes. There are also a series of “Welcome Week” activities planned for all students, including a popcorn party, picnic, and Waikiki beach trip.

For the full online event calendar, click here.