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Center for Teaching and Learning

A Sustainable Campus

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When Sister Malia Wong isn’t teaching, you’re likely to find her around campus gathering, protecting and identifying native plants.

The humanities professor has made it her mission to help heal those around her using traditional Hawaiian plants and medicine. From a friend battling cancer to a colleague suffering from a skin rash, Wong has a cure.

“My teacher, Kumu Levon Ohai from Kaua‘i, kahuna la‘au lapa‘au, taught me an important lesson,” says Wong. “The creator provides us with everything we need.”

“Chaminade is a district of Kalaepohaku in the Kapalama ahupua‘a,” she continues. “On campus, everything that we need can be found right here. That’s what makes our campus so sustainable.”

Sister Malia Wong making natural ointments

But it’s not just about picking and using plants, it’s about having a relationship with them.

“If you don’t include prayer, attention and respect, then you’re just playing with plants,” says Wong as she rummages through a bag of tinctures and ointments. “It’s about having the interrelationship with the plants that makes it so special. Our plants speak to us, and share their stories with us.”

She pulls out a mason jar full of naupaka leaves that she collected from upper campus soaking in coconut oil. “This is a great natural sunscreen. You can take the plant and rub it on yourself to protect your skin from the sun.”

Wong is constantly sharing her knowledge and gift with the rest of campus and those around her—from stocking the Center for Teaching and Learning with homemade loose-leaf teas for her colleagues, to hosting a mini weekend-long summer institute workshop for the public, to teaching classes and collaborating with other professors on curricula. Her office is full of plant tags and stakes that she plans to use to label plants around campus. She’s even created an online database and a campus map identifying all of the native plants, including those of other traditions, that have medicinal uses.

Last year, in her environmental ethics class, her students got really involved in protecting the native foliage in the oval at the entrance to campus. Professors from other departments have also expressed interest in partnering, including an English professor who wanted to share Hawaiian lore about plants with students. Even participants in this year’s Montessori summer institute became involved, with groups of visiting teachers searching for and learning to identify native plants around campus.

“We all have this interconnectedness with everything,” says Wong. “And we have the wisdom of our elders within us. Why not just remember we are all a part of this earth? If we balance ourselves with nature, then we’ll be okay.”

Center for Teaching and Learning

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Dr. Janet Davidson knew Chaminade’s Center for Teaching and Learning was doing something right when one of the University’s longest-serving faculty members showed up for a seminar on how to create more engaging online courses.

Center for Teaching and Learnin“We are a teaching university,” said Davidson, who took on the University’s newly created role as associate provost for academic affairs in 2017. “Our faculty really want to improve the delivery of their material to their students. There’s a hunger for it.”

In fact, some 82 percent of full-time faculty and adjunct lecturers at Chaminade participated in some type of programming at the center within the first two years, through Sept. 30, 2017. Offerings ranged from structured courses to leisurely learning tours.

In her administrative role, Davidson oversees the center and other faculty development opportunities along with institutional accreditation. She’s also held onto her position as a criminology and criminal justice professor — it was important for her to keep a foot in the classroom “to remember what it means to have those daily deliverables.”

Under her leadership, the Center for Teaching and Learning has moved to a permanent space, expanded programming and brought on new team members.

Dr. Mary Therese Perez Hattori, center director, started in September 2017 after previously serving as outreach director at the University of Hawai‘i at Manōa’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies and in faculty development at Kapiolani Community College.

Hattori said she’s been heartened by the drive among Chaminade faculty — across academic fields and at all stages of their careers — to improve their teaching practice.

“To me, that’s remarkable,” she said.

Davidson agrees, and said the center, whose programming is all geared around how to help students achieve, has become a special place for faculty on campus.

“As faculty members … you are trained in your discipline, but not in the art of teaching,” she said. The center “is really a place that faculty can come together for both formal and informal activities — reflect on their own practices and struggles.”

Center for Teaching and LearningThe center offers a host of seminars, including those on culturally appropriate teaching, student engagement, and improved testing. It also offers grant-writing support and hosts faculty-led talks that have covered everything from how to use social media as a teaching tool to the power of service learning and study abroad in engaging students.

The center actually formally launched at Chaminade in 2015. It’s been growing steadily since then, and got a permanent space in January 2017.

Dr. Helen Whippy, Chaminade Provost, said the center also practices what it preaches. Hattori and her team are always looking to build on their own skills to improve professional development programming and they’re seeking out new ways to further Chaminade’s vision and to bolster student achievement.

“We know that the more faculty development there is, the better the academic outcomes for our students will be,” Whippy said. “Our goal is not only to help better prepare today’s students, but ensure we’re continually improving teaching practice at Chaminade to be ready for tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities.”

For Davidson, the next priorities for the center are expanding professional development offerings around “culturally sustaining” teaching and learning and looking for ways to measure the impact of professional development on student success.

At the core of all the work the center does, she added, is an appreciation that Chaminade faculty share a common goal: To help students thrive. “There truly is a sense of ‘ohana here,” she said. “Faculty and staff really try to live up to the mission.”

Dr. Mary Hattori Named Director of Campus Center for Teaching and Learning

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Mary Hattori is the new director of Chaminade University’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The center develops and implements programs supporting faculty development opportunities and enriched learning environments for students.

“Hiring Dr. Hattori is the latest example of Chaminade’s commitment to innovation across all divisions and schools,” Provost Helen Whippy said. “She has a wealth of academic and technological experience and therefore makes an excellent addition to our campus `ohana.”

As CTL Director, Hattori is responsible for the center’s day-to-day operations. She promotes best practices in pedagogy and instructional technology, all designed to meet the needs of students and faculty alike.

Hattori previously served as Outreach Director at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Center for Pacific Island Studies and School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Prior to that, she was an Associate Professor of Information Technology at Kapiolani Community College. She also coordinated the college’s Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology.

Hattori earned an Ed.D. in  Professional Educational Practice at UH Manoa, along with a master’s in Educational Technology and a bachelor’s in Secondary Social Studies Education.