Chaminade University of Honolulu

Campus and Community

Islands of Opportunity: First-Ever Virtual DataCamp

In November 2020, the Islands of Opportunity-Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (IOA-LSAMP) and Chaminade University Honolulu partnered to launch an online data analytics proficiency course for university STEM students from Hawai‘i and the Pacific. The DataCamp was run by Chaminade faculty and staff under the supervision of a molecular immunologist and biologist. The program offered a unique opportunity for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students to learn about the data analytics field through hands-on learning modules.

The University of Hawai‘i Hilo was also a participant in the DataCamp. Check out this article to learn more about the professors and students involved. We see bright futures ahead for Hawai‘i’s next generation of data scientists and can’t wait to see them use their newfound skills in our community! IOA-LSAMP includes 10 institutions across the Pacific region: Chaminade University of Honolulu, American Samoa Community College, College of the Marshall Islands, College of Micronesia—FSM, Guam Community College, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, Northern Marianas College, Palau Community College, University of Guam and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Events at the Nation’s Capitol

President Lynn Babington’s Statement Regarding Violence at the U.S. Capitol

Chaminade community:

Today has been a difficult day for our nation.

The actions undertaken by protesters at the US Capitol should shock us all—and give us pause.

As a Marianist Catholic institution of higher learning, we condemn violence of any kind and call on everyone to seek peaceful and respectful avenues for dialogue. The scenes we have witnessed on the news in recent hours are not emblematic of our nation, its peoples or our shared principles.

As we seek to make sense of all that has occurred, let us recommit ourselves to peace, to social justice and to creating spaces for a diversity of opinions shared thoughtfully and respectfully. We know the value of debate; it deepens our understanding of one another and helps us find common ground.

As educators, we have a duty to prepare an involved and engaged citizenry. Indeed, inspiring tomorrow’s leaders and preparing them to serve in a vibrant and functioning democracy is the most important role we have. That role is now more critical than ever.

Please join me in praying that our elected leaders find the courage they will need during this trying time.

Regards,
Lynn Babington, Ph.D.
President, Chaminade University

What is a faithful soul to do in the chaos of events which seem to swallow it up? Sustain itself calmly by that faith which assures us that all things work together unto good for those who love God.
 ~ Blessed William Joseph Chaminade ~

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

With the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic rocking much of the country, mental health is taking a serious toll across the nation. A recent NBC News report found that nearly 1 in 4 individuals reported feeling anxious more than half of the previous seven days, and 1 in 5 reported feeling depressed.

But according to the Buddkyo Dendo Kyokai (BDK)-Fujitani Interfaith Program at Chaminade University, it’s okay to not feel okay right now.

The program, part of the School of Humanities, Arts and Design at Chaminade, recently invited three guest speakers to share tips on how to stay grounded when things are not okay—the virtual workshop was titled “I’m Not Okay, But It’s Okay: Finding a Middle Way.”

DBK-Fujitani Workshop, Kehaulani Lum

Aunty Kehaulani Lum, president of Ali’i Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club, began the workshop by sharing the Native Hawaiian perspective of the current coronavirus pandemic.

“Today’s theme, ‘I’m not okay but it’s okay,’ are words that resonate deeply to Native Hawaiian people,” shared Lum. “They speak with wisdom and experience of generations of people who have survived great epidemics in these islands over the course of 200 years or more.”

Lum explained how in 1840, less than a century after British seafarers had landed in Hawai’i, nearly 84% of the Hawaiian population had died from diseases from which they had no immunity.

To Lum, the greatest answers in explaining our current situation come from looking at the source of the coronavirus pandemic. The virus is believed to have originated in bats in Wuhan, China—and ironically, bats are a symbol of health and longevity in Chinese culture. Specifically, says Lum, the virus was from a bat that was taken from a cave and brought to a market where humans coveted it as a delicacy. She believes there is a lesson there.

“We looked to guidance from the Kumulipo and found in the seventh era, just after the birth of the dog and the speckled bird, the springing forth of the bats,” explained Lum. She continued to share that right after the bats, the very last life form to be noted in the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, is the man and the woman. “Can it be that by harming our older siblings through the destruction of their habitat and over consumption, we have invited harm upon ourselves?”

Lum believes that the best medicine right now is to commit our hearts and resources to bringing peace and restoration to the natural environment. To her, doing so is “an act of grace, of holiness and total devotion to divinity—not just to ourselves, but to all of our familiar relationships.”

DBK-Fujitani Workshop, Rev. Noriaki Fujimori

Reverend Noriaki Fujimori, the resident minister of Palolo Hongwanji, believes we can use this crisis as an opportunity to change our way of life.

“The Buddhist Master teaches us that encountering adversity is not always a bad thing,” says Fujimori. “It’s a chance to discover a treasure that we never knew we had.”

For Fujimori, anxiety and depression tend to stem from fear, and in most cases, we’re afraid of the unknown. But Buddhism guides people to live their life in the present—right here and right now—rather than worrying about an unknown future.

“The fear I create so easily in my mind is a preoccupation with what is going to happen in the future,” explains Fujimori. “This way of thinking has nothing to do with reality. No one knows what will happen in the future. We must find the joy in living right here and right now.”

He shared Lum’s belief that nature is healing, and explained that working in his garden at home has been very helpful in bringing him back to the present moment and finding joy at home.

DBK-Fujitani Workshop, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo

Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a Buddhist nun and professor at University of San Diego, offered several Buddhist truths that may bring comfort during these times of uncertainty. 

The first, said Tsomo, is that life is inherently uncertain. “Life is never satisfactory,” says Tsomo. “Why are we surprised? Whoever said that life was supposed to be a bowl of cherries? It cannot be. But we live in an illusion, we live in a dream world.” The more we can embrace the uncertainty of life, the sooner we will be able to find peace, says Tsomo.

The second truth is that of impermanence. Nothing in life is permanent, yet we continuously grasp for happiness outside of ourselves. We rely on things that are continuously changing, continuously evolving to keep us happy.

Acknowledging impermanence is a very important step to finding happiness, believes Tsomo. “It asks us to acknowledge our own frailty,” she explains. “As human beings, we are actually very fragile. At any moment, it can be ‘poof’ and we’re off to the next life. This body is actually very fragile.”

When we can come to that harsh realization and be honest with ourselves about our own vulnerabilities, it frees us up to rest content in the present moment and set aside all of our fears.

Despite the hardships, there are many silver linings to come out of this pandemic, offers Tsomo.

“It’s a disaster, and it’s especially a disaster for the poor,” says Tsomo. “But it also has the benefit of making us reframe our lives, stepping back and taking a closer look at our priorities. All of the things we’ve been wrapped up in, maybe they’re not as important as we thought. This pandemic can be a teacher.”

Tsomo believes a good first step in shifting priorities is to focus on love.

“Everyone loves to talk about love, now all we have to do is practice it,” says Tsomo. “We may sometimes get so wrapped up in our own pursuits that we forget about the other 7.5 billion human beings out there, not to mention the billions of fish and insects and animals. We can send loving kindness to all of them. This helps us feel love in our hearts, and this love overcomes so much of our anxiety and depression.”

The Women Who Shaped Our Nation

Chaminade University and Hawaii Council for the Humanities recently teamed up with the New York Historical Society to bring their Women and the American Story initiative to educators in Hawaii.

Women and the American Story Workshop

The initiative connects teachers across the country with a free curriculum and resources to highlight the various ways women have helped shape our nation. The collaboration hosted a virtual workshop on November 7 to introduce Hawaii teachers to the curriculum and help them find ways to incorporate more perspectives and contributions of women in their classrooms.

The free curriculum is broken up into ten chronological units, each one exploring a different period of time in U.S. history. The November workshop focused on two of the ten time periods: Settler Colonialism and the Revolution (1692-1783) and Confidence and Crises (1920-1948).

Led by Mia Nagawiecki, the Vice President of Education at the New York Historical Society, the interactive session walked participants through various resources, including paintings, texts, documents, letters and videos and explored how each depicted women and what they said about the roles that women played during that time. For each, Nagawiecki shared tips and strategies on how to utilize the resource in the classroom to prompt a discussion and encourage critical thinking.

The training began by outlining four core questions for participants to think about during the course of the workshop, including: How did women actively participate in the Revolution? What effect did a woman’s race have on her experiences? And why are women’s stories essential to understanding the events of the American Revolution?

The first half of the workshop examined the lives of colonial women from various geographic regions, including Russia, Alaska, Spanish California, French Louisiana and England’s 13 Colonies. It also explored the lives of women from diverse ethnicities, including Black, White, and Native American, and analyzed how women helped shape the American Revolution.

After, participants joined break out rooms to discuss the four questions posed at the beginning. They also explored how they could utilize the resources in their own classrooms and how they could incorporate more women’s perspectives and contributions into their lesson plans.

The second half of the workshop focused on the Confidence and Crises module and explored the role women played during the Great Depression, the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, and how women gained the right to vote. This was a period of overt racism, when African American women lived under “Jim Crow” laws, and Asian, Jewish, Italian and Eastern European women faced racist immigration laws.

For this section, participants were asked to think about the dramatic shifts women experienced in their roles as women and citizens as well as the ways in which the Great Depression and World War II affected the rush toward modernity that was driving the 1920s. At the conclusion of the section, participants once again joined breakout rooms to discuss what they had just learned and how to incorporate the teachings and resources into their classroom.

“We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with the Hawaii Council of the Humanities and bring this incredible initiative to Hawaii’s teachers,” says Dr. Cheryl Edelson, dean of the School of Humanities at Chaminade and a speaker at the workshop. “It’s so important that our students see themselves in the stories we teach, and that we introduce them to a broader range of experiences to help them value our nation’s diversity. Through this training and curriculum, the New York Historical Society is helping us do that.”

Settler Colonialism and the Revolution
(1692-1783)
Confidence and Crises
(1920-1948)

Most Reverend Larry Silva Visits Campus

Each year, Dr. Lynn Babington, president of Chaminade University, meets with Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu. The annual meeting serves as a way for the university and the diocese to discuss and share their shared mission of serving the people of Hawaii.

Most Reverend Larry Silva visits Chaminade University and speaks with Dr. Lynn Babington and Dr. Helen Turner
Dr. Helen Turner, Most Reverend Larry Silva and Dr. Lynn Babington

This year’s meeting took on a different form, with Chaminade having the extreme honor of safely hosting the Bishop on campus. The visit was an opportunity to explore how the university and the diocese could come together during these unprecedented times of need to serve our community.

“I thought that meeting some of the people that are doing work that contributes to the shared mission of the diocese and the university would be helpful to him and to us,” says Brother Edward Brink, Chaminade’s vice president of mission and rector who helped arrange the visit. “I hope the visit will help both the Bishop and those of us who met with him to think creatively about how the university and the diocese can serve the people of Hawaii.”

Most Reverend Larry Silva began his visit by meeting with Father Martin Solma, Chaplain; Dr. Dave Coleman, professor of Religious Studies; Dr. Dustyn Ragasa, director of the Master in Pastoral Theology Program; and Jeremiah Carter, director of Campus Ministry. Wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance, the small group discussed Marianist values, focusing on the formation of faith on campus and in the community. Next, he met with Dr. Lynn Babington, president, and Dr. Helen Turner, vice president of strategy and innovation.

For first-year students Jerseylee-Rayne Mahiai and Ashley Yoshikawa, the Bishop’s visit left them feeling connected and inspired. They were part of a group of students who joined the Bishop for a safe luncheon after his morning meetings.

Most Reverend Larry Silva visits Chaminade University

“The biggest takeaway I had from lunch with Bishop Silva was how engaging he was,” says Mahiai. “One thing that stuck out to me was when he said that we were future leaders. It may not seem like much and I’ve heard that term many times, but Bishop Silva spoke to us as if the world’s next decision had to be made by the five students that were in that room at that moment.”

The Bishop asked the students for their thoughts and opinions on how to solve some of Hawaii’s most pressing issues, like homelessness.

“It caught my attention because he asked us for ideas of how to solve this issue,” says Mahiai. “He is so full of wisdom and he has experienced so much, and here he was asking us for advice. It felt like such an honor. The ideas that were brought to the table were very interesting and some things I would have never thought.”

Yoshikawa was struck by hearing how the Bishop’s work and church communities have been affected by COVID-19 in many of the same ways as Chaminade. 

“Hearing about his experiences with learning to adapt to COVID-19 regulations was really eye-opening,” she says. “Especially as he mentioned that some were critical of his choices.”

As the group sat six feet apart from each other and took precautions to keep each other healthy, many shared their own experiences with COVID-19. For some of the students who are new to the university, one of their biggest takeaways was just getting to meet each other and feel connected during these socially distant times.

“It isn’t very often that we can meet with others and talk with them,” says Yoshikawa. “And especially as a first-year student I’ve missed out on a lot of opportunities to meet and get to know people. So I enjoyed being able to have that in-person connection with people.”

Mahiai agreed. “It was good being able to meet new people while feeling safe during this rough time,” she said.

Their shared experiences allowed them to explore the reality of COVID-19, and discuss how these challenging times have affected everyone across the board. Together, the Bishop and the students explored their joint responsibility to care for their community.

“It has been a difficult time because of COVID-19,” says Yoshikawa. “It has impacted so many communities, and it is more important than ever to reach out to those in need.”

Challenges of 2020 Pave the Way for Entrepreneurship

The Chaminade University Hogan Entrepreneurial Program officially kicked off its 2020-2021 school year on October 14, 2020.

The program held a virtual kickoff celebration for Chaminade leaders, faculty and staff; current Hogan students and alumni; and Hogan advisors, mentors and lecturers. As part of the celebration, the Hogan Entrepreneurial Program and American Savings Bank also announced the winners of their 2020 Nonprofit Business Plan Competition.

The Hogan Entrepreneurial Program at Chaminade University is a one- or two-year program for Chaminade students to learn successful entrepreneurial skills. Students participate in weekly lectures with guest speakers, network with Hawaii’s top business leaders and learn how to turn a business idea into a successful startup.

This year’s program seems incredibly timely as businesses across the state struggle with the economic impacts of COVID-19 restrictions. Some experts estimate that Hawaii’s economy will be one of the hardest hit. With the summer tourism season essentially canceled, Hawaii saw an unemployment rate of 23.5 percent—more than 10 percent higher than the national average. And while the islands are slowly beginning to reopen to visitors, one study recently named Hawaii as the worst state for unemployment recovery.

These struggles provided an opportunity for business leaders to pass down timely advice to this year’s Hogan participants.

Gary Hogan speaking at the virtual Hogan Entrepreneurial Program virtual kickoff event

“For the students out there: keep the faith,” said Gary Hogan, Chief Executive Officer of Hawaiian Hotels & Resorts and President of Royal Pacific Air Charters, Pleasant Aircraft Leasing LLC. “Things are going to get better. It’s going to take a while, but we will all get back together as a family again.”

Hogan continued by encouraging students to remain flexible because as this year has shown, you never know what is going to happen next.

“You can see things can change in an instance,” advised Hogan. “What you think is going to be successful and what you have planned may not be. Things change.”

Both Hogan and Dr. Lynn Babington, President of Chaminade University, pointed out that there will be a lot of good case studies for the students to learn from this year as businesses pivoted to adapt.

“We are in a time of opportunity to continue learning and creating new and interesting and dynamic changes as things move forward,” said Dr. Babington. “It’s a great time to be in the entrepreneurial space.”

Rich Wacker speaking at the virtual Hogan Entrepreneurial Program virtual kickoff event

Richard Wacker, the President and Chief Executive Officer of American Savings Bank, used the tourism industry struggles to highlight the importance of programs like Hogan, and to motivate the students to get creative and innovate.

“We know that our economy today is too dependent on the hospitality sector,” said Wacker. “It’s a wonderful business and it’s a great strength of Hawaii…but we have to be more than that. We have to be more diverse and resilient. The way we get there is through entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Wacker sees an opportunity for Hawaii to lead innovation in areas like clean energy, ocean studies, sustainable agriculture and digital media. But, he says, in order for businesses to succeed in Hawaii, we have to be all in.

“Doing business in Hawaii is not a spectator sport,” said Wacker. “We don’t have enough leadership, we don’t have enough businesses to have anybody on the sideline. Succeeding for the state, in our state, requires everyone to be in the game.”

The finalists of this year’s Nonprofit Business Plan Competition were a great example of Hawaii community members coming together to innovate and make Hawaii a stronger, more resilient community.

Forty organizations submitted proposals for new programs that would benefit society, eight were selected as finalists and presented their ideas to a panel of judges and four were announced as winners at the October 14 event.

IHS - winners of the 2020 Nonprofit Business Plan Competition

The first place prize of $12,000 went to the Institute for Human Services for a new program that will offer medically-monitored and clinically-managed high-intensity residential substance abuse detox services. It will be the first program of its kind in Hawaii.

The second place prize of $10,000 was presented to Family Hui Hawaii for their new pilot Hui in the Workplace program. The initiative offers corporations a 12-week peer-led program for employees that explore the joys and challenges of raising young children. The program has been proven to help enhance employee retention and productivity and support a culture of caring and wellness in the workplace.

Other winners included the Assistive Technology Resource Centers of Hawaii for their new program, The Music Club, that creates a safe space for individuals with disabilities to make music, and the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council for their pilot program that uses oysters to address sediment pollution on coral reefs.

“We learned so many things about the diligent efforts of quality entrepreneurs from all over our islands,” said Roy Panzarella, Director of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Program when introducing this year’s competition. “This competition, according to one of our judges, was one of the best to date.”