Chaminade University of Honolulu

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Chaminade Launches Online MSCP in School Counseling Program for Neighbor Island Cohort

Chaminade University is pleased to announce the launch of a new fully online School Counseling graduate cohort program for Neighbor Island students, with the first classes scheduled to begin in April.

A group of elementary school girls of different ethnicity are indoors in their school library. They are sitting together at a table and reading together.

This first-of-its-kind program in Hawaii is designed to meet a significant need for licensed school counselors at public schools across the Neighbor Islands. Participants will attend classes remotely and be able to take advantage of a robust system of supports, mentorship and career development resources.

Dr. Dale Fryxell, dean of the School of Education and Behavioral Sciences at Chaminade, said the inaugural cohort will be open to approximately 20 students. Participants will be able to earn their Master of Science in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in School Counseling in as few as 30 months.

Chaminade offers the only School Counseling program in Hawaii and has identified outreach to the Neighbor Islands as a priority. Fryxell said the newly-launched cohort is geared toward Neighbor Island residents, including current educators in the public or private school system, who can “live and work in their communities and understand the unique situations families and kids face in those areas.”

“There’s such a great need for licensed school counselors on the Neighbor Islands.”

Dr. Darren Iwamoto, clinical director of Chaminade’s School Counseling program, said the pandemic helped the university illustrate how quality clinical courses can be offered remotely. He added that the cohort program will feature a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online learning, offering working professionals the flexibility they need while also ensuring clinical discussions are possible.

“We are excited about this new program,” Iwamoto said. “Our professors have embraced the technology required to deliver the School Counseling degree to Neighbor Island students fully online, giving them all the rigor of the in-person program without having to come to Oahu.”

Chaminade’s School Counseling program offers a clear academic pathway to Hawaii licensure for graduate students, preparing them for counseling in educational environments with a strong focus on holistic approaches, exceptional children and working with a diversity of community stakeholders.

The School Counseling program is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation and features an emphasis on hands-on learning in addition to a strong core of knowledge.

Iwamoto said that in the future Chaminade hopes to also offer the online cohort to students elsewhere in the Pacific, including American Samoa and Guam. the School is looking at the feasibility of launching separate online cohorts in Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling.

“We are starting with School Counseling because of the immediate need and the ability to reach students with a stated interest in pursuing licensure,” Fryxell said. “But we foresee further growth in our online Counseling Psychology offerings. Initiatives like this are crucial to helping our Neighbor Island communities meet the demand for mental health services, especially at this time.”

For more information on the School Counseling program or to apply, click here.

Chaminade University Appoints Dr. Asoke Datta as Assistant Dean

Chaminade University has named alumnus Asoke Datta, Ed.D., as the new Assistant Dean of the School of Business and Communication. Working closely with the Dean, he will assess, develop and implement systems, processes and organizational changes and provide leadership to further the University’s mission.

Dr. Asoke Datta, assistant dean of the School of Business and Communication

“We are pleased to welcome back Dr. Datta to our Chaminade ‘ohana,” said Chaminade University President Dr. Lynn Babington. “He has incredible experience in serving the students and youth of Hawai‘i, and we are confident that his leadership will prove invaluable in identifying and nurturing new opportunities for our students and programs.”

With nearly 20 years of experience, Datta most recently served as Assistant Dean of the College of Business at Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU). Prior to that, he held a number of other positions at HPU, including Assistant Dean of Distance Education, Off Campus Programs and Assistant Dean of Academics, Military Campus Programs. Datta began his career in education at Chaminade University, where he served as Records Specialist in the Office of the Registrar and as Program Coordinator & Academic Advisor for the Accelerated Undergraduate Program.

Datta received his bachelor’s degree in History from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, his master’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Chaminade University, and his education doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California.

For more information on Chaminade University’s School of Business and Communication, visit chaminade.edu/business-and-communication.

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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.

Experiential Learning In the Time of COVID

At first glance, a field trip described as both “virtual” and “hands-on” seems to be a bit contradictory. But for 13 Chaminade education students, their recent “field trip” with the United States Naval Academy was exactly that—a virtual, hands-on experience made possible by Chaminade’s partnership with the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

Education students participating in a virtual, hands-on workshop

The students participated in a two-day virtual workshop to explore scientific phenomena related to waves, sound, reception, refraction, chemistry, circuits and more. For these aspiring teachers, the experience provided valuable tools for thinking about how to conduct their future classrooms and communicate complex scientific concepts.

“Zoom sessions and virtual fields trips are looking like the new norm for us, and as a future teacher, I need to start thinking of ways to still make school fun and interactive for students,” says Daysha Kau, a fourth-year Elementary Education major who participated in the workshop. “Many of the experiments we were shown and led through required easy-access materials that can be provided to students to continue hands-on learning, even if they aren’t physically in school.”

The workshops were provided by the United States Naval Academy STEM Center and were assisted by Engineers on Deck, a nonprofit that specializes in STEM teacher workshops. The students logged into the digital meeting platform, and followed instructions to conduct their own experiments from home.

“The United States Naval Academy made sure to clearly show us what to do with the experiments,” says Kau. “I was surprised at how simple everything was, and it was great to still be able to do hands-on experiments through virtual learning.”

The virtual field trip was a new type of experience for Kau. She particularly enjoyed playing with the hydrophobic sand, or sand that repels water.

Education students participating in a virtual, hands-on workshop

“This sand, also called magic sand, has hydrophobic properties, so it repels water,” says Kau. “It was so cool to see the sand, when submerged in water, clumped together; however, when lifted out of the water with a spoon, the sand turned back into regular sand grains.”

But perhaps her biggest takeaway was seeing how the United States Naval Academy was able to demonstrate complex scientific concepts into easy-to-understand visualizations that even younger kids could comprehend—and in a virtual environment, no less.

For example, to demonstrate how sound waves travel, they used a metal slinky and shook it up and down at various paces. For younger children, they showed the education students how to demonstrate the concept using construction paper.

“They showed us how to make loops with paper strips, and then tape them onto a bigger piece of paper,” explains Kau. “When we tapped on the paper loops, they bounced. This also exemplified sound waves and the movement of sound.”

Kau sees this as an activity she can implement in her future classroom one day. “It not only gave me a better understanding of the concept, but it can also be used in a future elementary school classroom and help students interact with the concept.”

Kau, who is graduating in Spring of 2021, hopes to become a first- or second-grade teacher. She’s grateful for the opportunity to learn from the United States Naval Academy STEM Center, and she knows the skills she learned will prove valuable to her in the future.

“I believe this experience with the naval academy gave me more ideas on how to conduct hands-on science experiments and break down scientific concepts for students in those grade levels,” says Kau. “It really brought the concepts to life.”

Fryxell Named Faculty Athletics Representative

HONOLULU – Chaminade University Athletics announced Friday the appointment of Dale Fryxell, Ph.D., as the new Faculty Athletics Representative. He will serve as the liaison between the faculty and athletics department and will report directly to Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington to ensure academic integrity and the welfare of student-athletes.

Dr. Dale Fryxell, Dean of the School of Education and Behavioral Sciences

A member of the Chaminade faculty for over 25 years, Fryxell, a psychology professor, is in his sixth year as the Dean of the School of Education and Behavioral Sciences. He was previously the Dean of Education before the department merged with the School of Behavioral Science a few years ago. He teaches a sports psychology course for those who are interested in coaching or other aspects of athletics and exercise.

Fryxell participated in football, basketball and track & field in high school and earned an athletic scholarship as a freshman pole-vaulter at Augustana College. He has also coached in many youth leagues in football, basketball, baseball and soccer.

An avid sports fan, Fryxell has attended many Silverswords’ sporting events over the years and knows first-hand the experience of being a parent of a ‘Swords student-athlete; his daughter, Kelli, was a member of the women’s soccer team from 2015 to ’17. He was also on the faculty/staff basketball team which defeated several student squads en-route to the Chaminade 3-on-3 intramural championship in 2018.

Fryxell earned his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota, Master’s degree at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Hawai’i Manoa, the latter where he also earned his Ph.D.

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Media Contact:
Kevin Hashiro
Sports Information Director, Chaminade University of Honolulu
[email protected]
808-739-8579 (o)

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”