In the rapidly changing landscape of higher education, traditional education and administrative practices of earlier generations no longer meet the needs of 21st century learners. At Chaminade, we understand that in order to continue to offer an excellent and relevant education we must be able to rapidly respond to the needs of learners, the workforce, and statewide and global priorities. The Center for Strategy and Innovation was launched in 2017 to facilitate and lead efforts to cultivate a campus-wide innovation mindset – poised for adaptation and embracing change – that will better position us to serve our students and our community, and to deliver on our mission today and into the future.
Chaminade has lots of creative and talented faculty, staff, students, and alumni, and the Center for Strategy and Innovation provides support and assistance to help them operationalize their great ideas.
The CSI centralizes innovation and project development as an umbrella function across the University so that faculty/staff/students and alumni do not have to “go it alone.”
Under the CSI umbrella are three specific interlinked activities:
- Project Incubation – providing project visioning, stakeholder engagement, project management, and evaluation services for diverse projects such as new academic programs, scientific research, and product creation – innovation all committed to community impact, and to raising Chaminade’s reputation, relevance and revenue.
- Proposal Development – helping identify sources, crafting the proposal, and securing funding for projects that advance our mission.
- Strategic Partnerships – identifying community partners to ensure that what we do is stakeholder driven and aligned with statewide and global priorities, student and workforce needs.

In short, the Center for Strategy and Innovation acts as a social incubator for the brightest and best ideas from the Chaminade ohana – faculty, staff, students, alumni and our community partners. Projects get supported, we change Hawai’i and the world, Chaminade’s reputation and relevance increase.
To get started, contact Dr. Helen Turner, VP for Innovation and Strategy, at hturner@chaminade.edu or (808) 739-8399.