Chaminade University of Honolulu

Campus and Community

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.”

Mackey Lecture Explores Racism

Father Alapaki Kim knows a thing or two about racism. His paternal grandfather emigrated to Hawaii from Korea to work on the pineapple plantations. His paternal grandmother arrived as a mail order bride. Together they had eight children, one of whom was his father who married his Native Hawaiian mother.

He identifies as half Korean and half Hawaiian and he is the pastor of the largest Hawaiian parish, St. Rita’s Parish. His parish is on Hawaiian Homelands in Nanakuli, Oahu and celebrates both Hawaiian culture and Catholicism. They’ve found a way to seamlessly integrate the two.

Father Kim focused on his Hawaiian heritage as this year’s Mackey Lecture speaker, a lecture series that continues the legacy of Father Robert Mackey, founder and first president of Chaminade University.

This year’s lecture focused on racism in Hawaii, a timely discussion given current national events and sentiments. Chaminade students, faculty and staff joined St. Louis School, the Marianist Center of Hawaii and the general public to view the lecture, streamed as a YouTube video because of pandemic social distancing requirements.

Kapono Ryan, a lay community member, set the stage for an open and honest exploration of racism by sharing a prayer of humility and hope. “All of us have our personal ignorances and arrogances,” said Ryan. “Forgive us. We humbly ask for your mercy and for your discernment, understanding and wisdom. May this session awaken in us a new way…such a way that we can respond to each other with greater humility and greater love.”

Right off the bat, Fr. Kim created common ground by acknowledging that throughout history racism has affected people of all skin colors.

“In the U.S., it’s not just people of color who have suffered racism. The Irish did when they first came. The Italians did. The Jews did. The Chinese came to build railroads, and Chinese children weren’t able to receive an education until priests and nuns violated laws in San Francisco.”

But, he says, people of Native American and African American heritage have experienced the worst of it. He followed with an example of the horrific treatment of the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who protested the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Despite so many ethnic communities having similar histories based on discrimination, we struggle to find common ground when discussing systemic racism. “If we don’t have the same experiences, we have a hard time understanding,” says Fr. Kim.

But to Fr. Kim, the key to understanding is through education. That was what inspired him during this year’s Mackey Lecture about racism in Hawaii.

Fr. Kim took participants on a journey through Native Hawaiian history. Because, as he mentioned during the question and answer session at the end, “If we don’t know, we cannot empathize.”

Along the way, he used poignant examples to help everyone relate to Native Hawaiian experiences.

For example, when describing Hawaii’s first constitution in 1843, he explained that the constitution introduced division of land for the first time in Hawaii. “Hawaiians didn’t own land, they believed land was their grandmother,” he explains. “How can you sell your grandmother?”

Throughout the lecture, Fr. Kim spoke from experience. He has experienced racism and has seen it in his community throughout his whole life. And his upbringing was shaped by the racism his mother experienced as a child.

His mother grew up in a household that only spoke Hawaiian. By the time she went to grade school in the 1920s, Hawaiian was her primary language. One day, after speaking in Hawaiian with her cousin on the playground, a teacher called them over.

“She called them ignorant and stupid in front of all the kids,” says Fr. Kim. “Hawaiians were not rugged individualists at the time, and did not like to be singled out for praise or to be chastised. My mother was horrified.” The teacher then began to beat the two girls in front of the whole school.

The trauma his mother carried as a result was lasting. She hardly ever spoke in Hawaiian when he was young. His grandmother was the one that taught him his native language. She would come and stay at their home for a while and speak only in Hawaiian. But as soon as she left, his mother would pull him aside and say ‘you don’t talk that, it’s bad luck.’

As a young priest on the Big Island of Hawaii, Fr. Kim witnessed a family be evicted from lands they had lived on since before the arrival of Captain Cook. Their land had become Hawaiian Kingdom government lands earlier in history, but they were still allowed to live on it. Eventually, the lands became part of a seeded land trust which came under jurisdiction of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), and when they found the deed they handed it over to the National Park Service.

Suddenly, the National Park Service was telling the ‘ohana what they could and couldn’t do with their land. For centuries they had relied on a loi kalo and a fish pond for food. But the park service said that was no longer allowed.

“They ignored it, because it was how they got their food,” explains Fr. Kim. “Eventually the DLNR police came and evicted the family in riot gear. Now, the National Park Service brings tourists there to show them how Hawaiians used to live.”

With systemic racism dominating conversations across the U.S., Fr. Kim says the first step we can take is to educate ourselves. Once we understand the historical context of what is happening, then we can determine how we best fit in to tackling the issue of racism. And as Christians, it’s our duty to do the work.

“As Christians, we are called to stand for equal rights in racial issues and religious issues,” says Fr. Kim. “Jesus tells us that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love one another. He also says if you say you love God but you hate your neighbor, you’re a liar. God chose to become human…therefore we must love our brothers and sisters, that’s a requirement. If we don’t love them, we can’t love God.”

Mackey Marianist Lecture: “Racism in Hawaii: A Faith Response”

Race Relations in Hawaii

As part of Chaminade University’s Mackey Marianist Lecture series, a virtual presentation on racism in Hawaii will be available for public viewing beginning Sunday, October 11. “Racism in Hawaii: A Faith Response,” with native Hawaiian priest Fr. Alapaki Kim from St. Rita’s Parish in Nanakuli, sheds light on systemic racism and the commonalities and differences in issues of race as it pertains to the Mainland and Hawaii.

As the pastor of a parish located on Hawaiian Homelands, Fr. Kim integrates in his teachings the wisdom and practices of his Native Hawaiian spirituality and culture. He also proposes how people of faith can respond to racial inequalities.

Due to social distancing guidelines, Fr. Alapaki’s recent presentation was made via Zoom with a group of invited students, staff and faculty from Chaminade University and Saint Louis School. The students then posed questions after the initial presentation.

“Racism in Hawaii: A Faith Response” will premiere on the Marianist Center of Hawaii’s YouTube channel on Sunday, October 11, 2020. The recording of this Zoom presentation can be viewed here. The recorded presentation is free and registration is not needed.

This is the 25th anniversary of the Mackey Marianist Lectures, which is sponsored by the Marianist Center at Chaminade University. The Society of Mary (Marianists) founded Chaminade University in 1955 and continues as its sponsor.

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Chaminade University of Honolulu provides a collaborative and innovative learning environment that prepares graduate and undergraduate students for life, service and successful careers. Established in 1955, the university is guided by its Catholic, Marianist and liberal arts educational traditions, which include a commitment to serving the Native Hawaiian population. Chaminade offers an inclusive setting where students, faculty and staff collectively pursue a more just and peaceful society. For more information, visit chaminade.edu.

Keeping Communities Afloat

Close to 200 community leaders gathered online for Chaminade’s 17th annual Nonprofit Organizations Seminar on August 14. While the event has become an annual staple of Chaminade’s School of Business and Communication, this year’s seminar felt even more timely and served as a testament to the incredible work that nonprofits across the state do to protect the most vulnerable communities during times of need.

“It is a challenging time right now for nonprofits,” says Dr. Bill Rhey, the new dean of the School of Business and Communication at Chaminade University. Under the leadership of the Seminar’s Board, the school waived this year’s registration fee and offered the seminar free of charge. “With all of the uncertainty around COVID-19, many nonprofits are stretched thin—they’re working longer, harder hours with fewer resources and more risks to keep their communities afloat. This event was our way of telling the community that we see you, we hear you, and we’re here to support you.”

Screenshot from the Nonprofit Organizations Seminar 2020

The all-day event called on well-known speakers from across the state to help nonprofit leaders stay abreast of new changes and develop new skills and techniques for running their organizations. The morning focused on relevant financial updates for organizations. Trever K. Asam, partner at Cades Schutte, followed tradition of seminars past in presenting his annual IRS Federal Tax Update and helped listeners understand recent developments for tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations. He was followed by Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, who explained how to apply and respond to new tax laws.

The technical sessions of the morning were followed by more high-level conversations around governance and program evaluation in the afternoon. Chaminade Professor Richard Kido discussed board governance and responsibility and Linda Axtell-Thompson, principal of Axtell Consulting LLC and adjunct faculty member at Chaminade, followed later in the afternoon with a presentation on governance ethics.

The lunchtime session featured Thomas Kelly, Jr., an expert in nonprofit program evaluation who joined the Hawaii Community Foundation as vice president for knowledge, evaluation and learning in 2012, after spending 13 years managing evaluations at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. Kelly walked participants through how to evaluate program impacts, and then how to use those impacts to communicate successes to constituents and donors.

“Donors are interested to know how well a nonprofit is performing, how much progress it’s making and whether it’s contributing positively to the community,” explained Kelly. “If a nonprofit actually spends the time to report out its impact and measures of progress and success, then it can actually influence donors to invest in them.”

This message was particularly relevant today, as the fundraising landscape for nonprofits looks vastly different than it did a year ago. In 2019, the U.S. was the most charitable country in the world, with 175 million Americans donating to charities. Nonprofits accounted for $2.5 trillion in revenue and employed nearly 12 million people.

But according to a recent poll by LendingTree, 15 percent of donors have paused donations due to income loss, and 5 percent have decreased the amount they contribute. And a March survey by Quickbooks found that 47 percent of donors were giving less than they were a month ago. Stories about nonprofit layoffs and furloughs due to revenue loss are plenty. Yet, at the same time, many nonprofits are seeing an increase in demand for resources and programs as communities struggle to navigate the economic downturn.

“As a Marianist institution, it is our responsibility to serve our community,” says Dr. Lynn Babington, president of Chaminade University. “Right now our community is facing a tremendous economic crisis with no foreseeable end. We are forever grateful to the nonprofit leaders and workers who are serving on the frontlines during this crisis, and it is our duty to support them during this time of need.”