Campus and Community

Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program Celebrates 20 Years

December 6, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Not even a torrential downpour could dampen the moods of attendees who celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. Since its inception, Gary Hogan has been committed to the idea of mentoring students in leadership and inculcating the entrepreneurial spirit. These are two qualities that were instilled in him by his late parents, Ed and Lynn Hogan, founders of Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays.

“We tried to establish a travel and tourism school in California, but it never took off,” Hogan recalls. “During that same time, my dad had become dear friends with Fr. Spitzer (then president of Gonzaga University), who helped establish the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at that university.”

Wanting to give back to the Hawaii community, Hogan thought of Chaminade because of its mission to educate for service, justice and peace, and to do so with an integral, quality education. He was also fond of the late, former Chaminade president Sue Wesselkamper.

“Sue liked the idea so I spoke to my mom and dad about the opportunity, and we all agreed that it would benefit the local community,” says Hogan, Chairman and CEO of Pleasant Travel Series. “This 20-year milestone is an achievement that we can all be proud of.”

Dr. Roy Panzarella certainly is. As the program director for the past two-and-a-half years, the one-time Lockheed Martin chief executive looks to strengthen the school’s partnerships with local businesses and its leaders and to bring in new ideas on how to problem-solve.

“Twenty-one is the legal age right, so we still have a minor we’re raising,” Panzarella quips. “We’re in the infancy, phase-one stage, and we’re going to take the crawl-before-you-run approach.”

Choosing to enroll in an entrepreneurial program bears a lot of factors. While rankings may be an important one, another should be what’s behind the ranking. Teaching methodology matters and so, too, does the experiential component to the entrepreneurial journey.

According to Panzarella, it’s critical to differentiate between starting a business and learning the skills of entrepreneurship as a springboard to success.

“Entrepreneurship is not just about starting a business, though it’s that, too,” he explains. “Entrepreneurship is about acquiring the skills of success, and we try to teach those skills in the context of entrepreneurship.”

With a diagram resembling a three-tiered wedding cake in hand, Panzarella points out the significance of each layer, starting with the base, which he refers to as the “direct” impact that the program has on its students. At this level, the engagement includes Wednesday Guest Lecture Series, internships, social media value and mentorship.

The second tier features the operational side of the program—the nuts-and-bolts structure of running an entrepreneurial curriculum. And the top layer involves the strategic component, which lays out the future transformation roadmap, the mission, the vision, the values and the people of Hogan.

Embedded in the larger Hogan program is the new Suzie Martin & Vaughn Vasconcellos Leadership Institute, named after Vaughn Vasconcellos, a former Chaminade Board of Regents Chair and a current member of the Board of Governors.

“Vaughn has agreed to return in the coming months as the first chair of the institute, during which he will lecture and host meetings and socials in an attempt to broaden the exposure of the institute, as well as Hogan and Chaminade,” Panzarella says. “The institute will also sponsor an entrepreneurial mission abroad in the next year or two.”

Poised to expand in the future, the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, now in concert with the Suzie Martin & Vaughn Vasconcellos Leadership Institute, will train and mentor tomorrow’s leaders and entrepreneurs. The education that students will receive will prepare them to lead with empathy, morality, compassion, and a drive to identify problems and create scalable solutions that can benefit individuals, communities and the globe.

“The goal is to develop a Minor in entrepreneurship and then a Major,” Panzarella asserts. “My dream is for the program to be recognized as the ‘Pearl of the Pacific,’ which will attract people from across the region.”

In partnership with American Savings Bank, the bi-annual Nonprofit Business Plan Competition (the next one will be held in 2024) has already appealed to a diverse group of entrepreneurs across the main Hawaiian islands, including Lawai‘a Naihe, executive director for this year’s first-place winner, Hoakeolapono Trades Academy and Institute on Kauai, and AALII Mentoring, a charitable business that was formed to help students from underrepresented populations to navigate, persist and succeed in higher education.

“We can’t lose perspective of what we set forth, which is to mentor future entrepreneurs in the Jesuit tradition,” Hogan says. “This has been the goal for the past two decades, and we just want to build on that momentum and continue to serve the community.”

Other positive community relationships involve Catholic Charities and the Institute for Human Services. Both have previously participated in the annual “Job Preparation Workshop” for homeless and near-homeless individuals. Hogan students, including previous participant and now an MBA candidate Savannah Lyn Delos Santos ’22, work alongside the participants to help construct their resumes, and to assist in improving their job interviewing skills.

“While most of society shuns them because they have nothing, they are just doing what they can to move forward and rise up,” Delos Santos says. “They made me realize how sometimes one chance is all someone needs to create a better life for both them and their families.”

By connecting entrepreneurial education with service and ethical leadership, students can build on their interests and abilities to create a positive difference in the community. The program offers extensive hands-on experience and networking opportunities with like-minded aspiring entrepreneurs and industry champions.

“From day one, we want students to understand leadership and entrepreneurship,” Hogan affirms. “We want to teach them good ethics and morals with an emphasis on long-term leadership.”

Asked what he expects during the next 20 years, Panzarella says he wants to build capacity and nurture more international partnerships. He also aims to have the program focus more on a practical than theoretical direction.

“Yes, business plans and a solid business foundation are important,” Panzarella says. “And we know that IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional intelligence) matter, but we need to know more about cultural intelligence. We want students to become better versions of themselves. We want them to walk away with the necessary tools in their toolbox or arrows in their quiver— whatever the metaphor may be—to succeed in their lives.”

In Real Life

December 2, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Live performances return to the stage at Vi and Paul Loo Theatre

Luckily, nothing went awry with the recent production of “Things Go Wrong” at the Vi and Paul Loo Theatre. Written by second-year communications major Garrett Hill, the play was flawlessly staged by 13 students and a 2021 alumnus, who is now a full-time surgical intensive care unit nurse. While this may not have been the first student-driven production at Chaminade, it is the first one in a decade, according to Performing Arts assistant professor Christopher Patrinos.

“It was a full house every night,” says Patrinos, who is also the program’s disciplinarian coordinator. Gesturing towards different parts of the “Black Box Theatre,” Patrinos describes the stage layout for the limited five-show performance, with the hotel bar in one corner and the front lobby in another, and a hotel room toward the back.

“We started in a tennis-court-style stage layout (the stage in the middle, flanked by audience members on each side), but as we workshopped the play, we discovered that it would be better as a proscenium stage, which is perhaps the most readily recognizable.”

With the success of “Things Go Wrong,” Patrinos has ambitions to encourage more student-driven plays, explaining that the production process empowers students to make creative and artistic decisions, from stage design and lights to sound and architecture.

“This is what would make Chaminade a unique stagecraft program,” asserts Patrinos, a Silversword alumnus who went on to attain his MFA at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “I’ve worked with some great playwrights and directors, but they’ve all been graduate students; our productions would be led by undergraduates.”

Since assuming the role as assistant professor three years ago, Patrinos has bolstered the program and received the support of colleagues Claire Paul (Performing Arts Professor/Technical Director), Tim Carney (Music Professor) and Allison Francis (English Professor). Together, they have fostered a cohesive student theatre community that includes majors from every discipline, whether it be from nursing and business to English and forensics.

“I drive a lot of these projects but I want it to be a collective decision,” Patrinos says. “We’re ambitious and we have a lot of goals.”

One of them is to bring back the summer theatre program, which was initiated in the Spring of 2015 by David Coleman, Ph.D., former Dean of Arts and Humanities. “It has been a project of mine for the past four years,” Patrinos says. “Chaminade definitely needs some type of performing arts curriculum during the summer.”

Patrinos also realizes that students truly have an appetite for the performing arts, as proven by the sold-out shows of “Things Go Wrong.”

“It’s been almost two years since our last in-person production,” Patrinos says. “Seventy-five percent of the audience members were students and of that number, 75 percent were first-time theatergoers. There was a lot of enthusiasm surrounding this production and there were also a lot of nerves since only three of the cast members had any theatre experience.”

Chaminade University and United Nations Host Pacific Regional Sustainability Conference

November 29, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Chaminade University and the United Nations will host a ground-breaking regional sustainability conference this week at the university campus to discuss climate change and the potential impacts to the Pacific region.

The “XIX Steering Committee Meeting Of The CIFAL Global Network” runs from Wednesday, November 30 to Friday, December 2, with the three-day conference bringing together world and local community leaders on goals, education and solutions to the global warming crisis. It will include seminars and workshops by experts from the United Nations and others around the world on climate change, global warming and sustainability.

This regional conference hosted by Chaminade University follows the UN COP 27 Climate Change Summit held earlier this month in Egypt, in which 200 participating countries came together to help resolve the climate change issue.

Seminars and workshops will allow timely and important discussions on a variety of topics related to leadership, health and wellbeing, education, and sustainability in Hawai‘i as well as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These goals include climate action, advocating for the oceans, reducing inequalities, and developing programs that pursue peace, justice and strong institutions.

Conference attendees will participate at this week’s Hawaii conference either in-person or virtually. The conference will kick off with an evening reception on Tuesday, November 29 at the university with opening remarks by event co-organizers United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UNITAR executive director Nikhil Seth and Chaminade University provost Dr. Lance Askildson. Hawaii Governor-Elect Dr. Josh Green is also scheduled to speak during the opening reception.

Earlier this year, Chaminade and the United Nations launched a new Pacific region training and research center to provide leadership development opportunities to tackle these urgent global issues. The university’s Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL) Honolulu is the first and only one of 24 international United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) centers to represent the Pacific area.

The Pacific region training center will provide innovative leadership development opportunities and tackle issues such as climate change, poverty, clean water and energy and other urgent global issues. The university’s CIFAL Honolulu Center is the only international United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) center located in the Pacific region.

“Our school is honored to partner with the United Nations in hosting this exciting, groundbreaking conference to deal with the critical and timely issue of climate change,” said Chaminade University president Dr. Lynn Babington. “Our state has been an amazing leader in studying climate change and in innovating solutions that include using indigenous knowledge and practices along with new technologies. Sharing these ideas with the rest of the world will only benefit all of us in dealing with this global crisis.”

Tuesday’s reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday’s sessions from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. are open to the public. To learn more about the new Chaminade United Nations learning center, go to: chaminade.edu/cifal-honolulu.

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About Chaminade University
Chaminade University of Honolulu believes in the power of education to drive positive change, broaden perspectives and deepen our understanding of one another. With an emphasis on transformative service-learning experiences, we prepare students to serve as tomorrow’s leaders, inspiring and challenging them to use their minds and their hearts to help build stronger and more just communities. We are proud to serve as Hawai‘i’s only Marianist university, and rely on these values to guide us in delivering a high-quality education with an individualized approach and a focus on excellence, innovation and change. Established in 1955, we offer more than 30 undergraduate and graduate programs, including doctoral degrees in education, psychology and nursing practice. Learn more at chaminade.edu.

UNITAR CIFAL Honolulu Center at Chaminade University
CIFAL Honolulu Center is part of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). It is the 21^st international training and research center of the CIFAL Global Network and the only center located in the Pacific Region. CIFAL Honolulu aspires to empower Pacific peoples to create a sustainable future that reflects their values and the priorities of their communities.

Annual Ceremony Anoints the Hands of Healthcare Workers, Nursing Students

November 3, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

“There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing for the sake of preserving life.”

Ecclesiasticus 38:1-4,6-10,12-14

In the book of Ecclesiasticus, it is said, “to honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them.” The same could be said for students who seek a career in the medical field, and for all caregivers and those working in the medical profession. Sponsored by Campus Ministry, the annual St. Luke’s Blessing at the Mystical Rose Oratory honors these students by anointing their healing hands.

“Let us pray for all healthcare workers and those preparing for the healthcare profession,” said School of Nursing Professor Edna Magpantay-Monroe, in her closing prayer. “That their healing hands might bring comfort, hope, reassurance and joy to all those whom they serve.”

University chaplain Rev. Marty Solma, S.M., presided over the blessing, noting that this is a wonderful opportunity every year to honor those who embrace a life of service through healthcare nursing and to receive an anointment of their hands to recognize the importance that hands are in this critical profession. He then rhetorically asked, why is it that we bless the hands of medical professionals?

“It’s a tradition in in a number of churches in our Catholic tradition,” he replied. “It recognizes that of all the tools you have available to you, your hands will serve your patients directly and most personally. Medicine is important; surgery is often needed. But it’s your hands that will bring tenderness and care, and comfort and reassurance.

St. Luke was indeed blessed with the gift of healing. Deemed the first Christian physician on record and the Patron of the Medical Profession, Luke has influenced thousands of healthcare workers who have followed in his footsteps.

In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul describes Luke as “the beloved physician,” (Colossians 4:14). In Lives of Illustrious Men, written circa A.D. 393, St. Jerome refers to him as “a physician of Antioch.”

Believed to be the author of the Gospel that bears his name, as well as of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s profession as a doctor is apparent in his writings. He includes more miracles of physical healing than any of the other Gospels, 13 compared to 12 in Matthew, 11 in Mark and only two in John. He uses more medical terms than any other New Testament writer. His description of the ailing reveals a knowledge of medicine that is absent in the other Gospels, using such precise medical terms as “dropsy” (Luke 14: 1-6), fever and dysentery.

“It’s my honor to participate in this very important ceremony to bless the hands of our nursing and healthcare professional students, and any of you who may be practicing nurses or other healthcare professionals,” said Chaminade University president, Dr. Lynn Babington. “The professionalism, care and compassion inherent in your profession are strengthened by this blessing. It also symbolizes commitment to your patients.”

Leading Scholar of Religion Discusses Disaffiliation

October 28, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

One of the most urgent issues in social science research and among catholic institutions stems from the fact that people are leaving the church and disaffiliating from religion. It’s a serious concern that Fr. James Heft, S.M., discussed during a Marianist lecture at the Mystical Rose Oratory.

Themed, “Where Have All Young People Gone?,” Fr. Heft outlined complex solutions to a complicated question. Addressing the crowd, he shared his anecdotal stories, one of which occurred during a wedding rehearsal dinner.

“I asked a young woman named Monica about her religion, to which she answered, ‘Religion was forced down my throat,’” Fr. Heft recounts. “Whoa! I told her now that you can feed yourself, what do you think? It started five years of correspondence.”

Such candid conversations need to start happening across that nation if we want to find the reasons for disaffiliation.

A 2018 study by the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS) at the University of Southern California found that the Catholic population has been declining in the U.S., and Catholicism has experienced a greater net loss of people than any other religious tradition. The study also found that the majority of millennials raised Catholic typically now report that they are unaffiliated and there has been a significant drop in weekly Sunday attendance.

In a more recent Pew Research Study released in December 2021, those surveyed said they no longer go to church, but they still believe in God and pray. The report also revealed that those in the 18-29 age range represented the fastest decline in religious affiliation, with 36 percent rejecting any type of affiliation with a religious denomination.

“Our interdisciplinary study, ‘Empty Chairs,’ published in 2021 by Oxford University Press, offers a more detailed—I think informative—and contextualized description of disaffiliation than the Pew study, which has its limitations,” Heft asserts. “The Pew provides a good overview of a specific demographic, mainly white, affluent and well educated.”

In contrast, Heft described the sample group for “Empty Chairs” as more inclusive and representative of a more diverse cohort among the unaffiliated. The study included immigrants whose approach to religion is different than white young adults. College non-graduates, high-school graduates, non-affiliated theists, the economically disenfranchised and an older generation—that had not affiliated with any religion for decades—also participated.

“The study, however, provided some good news,” Heft said. “We document how religious parents provide warmth, appropriate religious structures and space for appropriate autonomy.”

The research also documents how fostering religious religious development in youth protects against delinquency, violence, depression and anxiety. In short, the healthy practice of religion cultivates psychological and physical well being, as well as civic involvement.

“Religious education and institutions continue to make a positive impact,” Heft asserted. “The question is: Is it secularization, the general movement in the culture, that has marginalized and privatized religion, and contributed profoundly to the situation we’re in?”

Heft admitted that disaffiliation is serious and alarming, but we shouldn’t become discouraged; there is hope. As the late religious scholar Huston Smith liked to say, “Religion gives traction to spirituality.”

“There are a lot of people suffering and hurting, and there’s nothing like an easy answer to make them more distant from faith,” Heft said. “We need to be careful in wanting to promote the faith in a deep way but not to promote it superficially. Afterall, Jesus said, ‘My God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Watch the full Marianist Lecture featuring Fr. Jim Heft, S.M, here.

A New Frontier for Students

October 17, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Students were over the moon when National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) educators were on campus for a one-day Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) event. Among them was Elementary Education major, Alaina Mercado, who described the experience as creative and inspiring.

“I got to ride a rocket to the International Space Station—virtually, of course,” Mercado quips. “It really made science fun and gave students a true hands-on, simulation experience; I even got to move about the cabin, as well as conduct a spacewalk.”

The outreach program is a national educator professional development and STEM engagement organization designed to partner with NASA in support of STEM educators and their students across the country. Its primary mission is to help a broader group of educators access the best of NASA’s professional learning resources, which are integrated with culturally relevant STEM pedagogies. The goal, overall, is to inspire and motivate diverse student audiences to pursue STEM fields of study, careers and opportunities with NASA.

“NASA’s education and outreach programs are important to NASA’s mission, especially in STEM education for a few reasons,” explains NASA Ames Research Center Education Specialist, Sara Torres, Ph.D., one of the four NASA educators who led the event’s activities. “First, this is one of the ways that NASA not only informs the public of its programs and missions but engages the public through their educational competitions and hands-on activities that align with real-time work.”

Secondly, Torres adds, because NASA is aware of the demographic shift in the country, it has made a commitment to reach all students, including underserved and underrepresented population.

“NASA education specialists have the agency to connect NASA engineers and scientists to the public, allowing them to see the faces of NASA,” says NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Education Specialist Monica Uribe, another event participant. “This opportunity not only creates spaces to learn about the important work NASA does but to connect with them in a way that students see themselves in the people who work at NASA and, most importantly, begin to see the possibilities that they, too, one day can work at a place like NASA.”

Associate Professor at the School of Education and Behavioral Sciences and Director of Teacher Education Programs, Dr. Katrina Roseler first established a Chaminade connection with NASA in 2016, but it wasn’t until a NASA summer workshop in 2018, when she met Dr. Torres, that opened the possibility of an on-campus visit.

“Since 2018, Chaminade students and I have participated in NASA Education activities, specifically online webinars, some of which have been facilitated by Dr. Torres and Dr. Monice Uribe (another event attendee and a NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Education Specialist),” Roseler says. “In the spring of 2022, I reached out to Dr. Torres about an opportunity to collaborate virtually to support elementary education majors. Those conversations evolved into the face-to-face experience and subsequent activities that occurred during the three-day event in September.”

The day’s event at Chaminade featured various technology-based activities, an art project, as well as an engineering design challenge, which entailed using different materials to develop a Lunar Lander with a paper cup, note cards, channel sticks, rubber bands, adhesive tape and construction paper. Students were tasked to design and create a capsule that astronauts would be safe in when dropped from a height of 4 -5 feet.

“My Lander didn’t work so well,” Mercado laughs. “All the educators, though, were so very kind and encouraging.”

“We chose NASA activities that aligned well with the topics presented,” Torres says. “One was the moon. Students created their own rover out of recyclable materials. Their objective was to have the cardboard rover move using a rubber band, pencil, straw and Life Savers candy.”

NASA educators also covered the topic of Aeronautics. During the “Navigate Your Zone” module, students were able to use small ball robots, called Spheros, to simulate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs. In another activity, students used templates of the experimental plane X-59 to fold paper airplanes then use their own breath as the thrust to make the paper airplane fly.

“The X-59 is NASA’s experimental plane, which is designed to lower the sonic boom,” Torres says. “Succeeding in this will allow for commercial travel to only take half the time it currently takes.”

A secondary component of the event included a visit to Palolo Elementary School, where Chaminade students took what they learned from NASA educators and shared it with the students in grades three to five.

“We transferred our knowledge to the kids,” Mercado says. “So it was kind of going full circle.”

Torres notes that their experience with the Chaminade education students was a joy, adding every student was motivated and ready to engage in the activity.

“More importantly, students were working—not only to learn the activities—but they understood they would be leading the activities with elementary students the following day and took their learning seriously,” Torres says. “Every student engaged positively, asked questions to better be prepared and did a phenomenal job facilitating the activities the following day.”

Roseler believes that such hands-on learning activities—which model what teachers should be doing in classrooms—are always beneficial.

“I imagine that these activities will resonate with Chaminade Education students for years to come,” Roseler says. “I plan on using them as examples throughout the remainder of the semester as examples of active learning with real-world applications.”