Chaminade University of Honolulu

English

Chaminade University Announces Legacy Gift of Over $1.6 Million

Angela Starke’s (BGS English ’85) bequest will go toward supporting the Bridges to the Future campaign

Chaminade University announces the receipt of over $1.6 million bequest through the estate of the late alumna Angela Starke, BGS English ’85. The major gift will support Chaminade’s ongoing Bridges to the Future campaign. Starke’s generosity represents one of the largest, single private gifts from an individual in support of the campaign, and the largest bequest in school history.

Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Angela Starke graduated from Chaminade University in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in General Studies. Continuing her passion for emphasizing the importance of higher education and showing her appreciation for her professors, Starke established the Fr. Bolin Excellence in Scholarship Award benefitting Chaminade faculty members, and also made charitable gift annuity contributions to further the university’s educational mission.

“Angela was a lifelong learner,” said Chaminade President Bro. Bernard Ploeger, SM, PhD. “Her history of giving to Chaminade began the year after her graduation and continued steadily throughout her long life. As a non-traditional student, Angela became close to many of our faculty and staff, particularly Dr. Al Lum and Fr. John Bolin, SM. When she established the Fr. Bolin Award, Angela remarked, ‘a university is only as good as its faculty.’”

In 2008, Angela and her husband, Vincent Mainelli, were inspired by the history of the Marianists in Hawaii, and in particular, a collection of rediscovered nineteenth century photographic glass plates of the Hawaiian Kingdom, taken by Bro. Bertram Bellinghausen, SM, the first president of Saint Louis School. In a letter written to then Chaminade President Sue Wesselkamper, Starke and Mainelli announced that they would donate $100,000 towards the “preservation, expansion, and maintenance of the Bertram material and other archival material relating to the Marianists in Hawaii.” The exhibit later traveled to the neighbor islands and Washington D.C.

“My Chaminade experience didn’t end with a degree in 1985,” said Starke, in a 2002 interview for Chaminade Quarterly. “Instead, it spelled out reasons to give back to the university. I appreciated the quality education I received at Chaminade.”

ABOUT BRIDGES TO THE FUTURE
Bridges to the Future campaign focuses on four critical areas: (1) ensuring student access and support; (2) advancing academic programs; (3) building a richer campus life; and (4) renewing Chaminade’s athletics tradition. To contribute to the campaign, interested individuals should contact Diane Peters-Nguyen, Vice President of Institutional Advancement at [email protected] or (808)735-4772.

ABOUT CHAMINADE UNIVERSITY’S PLANNED GIVING
The Planned Giving Program creates a lasting legacy and supports the continuing educational opportunities for future students and tomorrow’s leaders. In 2016, Chaminade University was selected as a participating organization in Hawaii Community Foundation’s two-year Legacy Giving Campaign.

Medical School Honors Chaminade Graduate Jacquelynn Pratt with ‘Diversity Excellence Award’

Jacquelynn PrattChaminade University alumna Jacquelynn Pratt has received the “Diversity Excellence Award” from A.T. Still University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri, where she graduated this spring. The annual award recognizes her commitment to diversity and inclusion in graduate healthcare education.

Born and raised on Oahu, Pratt majored in Biology and English at Chaminade. She earned both bachelor’s degrees in May 2006, while receiving the “Outstanding English Graduate” award.

Pratt participated in numerous research programs at Chaminade in the fields of psychology, cancer biology, ecology and epidemiology. She was also highly involved with campus clubs and organizations, including the Delta Epsilon Sigma and Sigma Tau Delta honor societies.

After graduating from Chaminade, Pratt worked with the Ministry of Health on the Cook Islands to computerize patient data and thereby more accurately calculate the incidence and prevalence of cancer among the native Maori population.

She later returned to Chaminade and served as the Assistant to the Associate Provost in the Office of Health Professions Advising and Undergraduate Research.

Vita In Verbo Presentation Asks, “Why Teach Slave Narratives?”

Chaminade University associate professor of English Allison E. Paynter, Ph.D. was one of a select group of faculty members chosen nationwide by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to participate in a special American history seminar on “Slave Narratives.” The multidisciplinary seminar for faculty members in history, English, and related fields used the slave narrative–as well as some other assigned secondary reading–to comprehend the lived experience of slaves in the transition from bondage to freedom. From a pool of 66 highly competitive nominations, 27 faculty members were selected to participate in the seminar held June 19-24, 2016 at Yale University.

The Gilder Lehrman Yale Fellow presented her findings to her Chaminade colleagues at the March 8 Vita in Verbo session. Her PowerPoint presentation titled “Why Teach Slave Narratives?” introduced different narrative forms: confessions, memoirs, and autobiography.  At Yale, she studied the slave narrative approach and its importance as a genre in studies, regardless of the discipline or field.

Paynter demonstrated that slave narrative was integral to pre- and post-Civil War American history and culture.  Rhetorical choices and stylistic techniques informed American literature during the post-Civil War through dialogue, American sensibility, and the psychology of escape and freedom.  American writers influenced by slave narratives included Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mary Todd, Harriet Wilson, Mark Twain, William Edward Burghardt “W. E. B.” Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Ralph Ellison. Contemporary films inspired by slave narratives included Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003); Manderlay (2005); 12 Years a Slave (2013); Tula: The Revolt (2013); Birth of a Nation (2016); Free State of Jones (2016); 13th (2016); Roots and Underground miniseries (2016).

Paynter pointed out that slavery continues to inform popular culture in America, but stereotypes and fallacies abound. Students should have a foundation by which to analyze this “American institution” called slavery. She gave stereotype examples such as Uncle Tom, Aunt Jemima, Zip Coon, Sambo, and Pickaninny.

Paynter is currently writing an article on the powerful and disturbing book Kindred, which she teaches in her class. She also recommended the novel Underground Airlines: What Price Freedom? for additional reading. She noted that though the 13th amendment was created in 1865 to ensure slavery would never return to America, there was still in existence modern slavery in the form of sex trafficking.

Marshallese Poet and Activist Inspires Chaminade Students

Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, poet and activist

More than 125 students, faculty and staff packed the Clarence T. C. Ching Center in Eiben Hall to hear the Marshallese poet and activist Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner read poetry from her book Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter. Published this month by The University of Arizona Press, Iep Jāltok made history as the first published book of poetry written by a Marshallese author.

Considered an important new voice for justice, Jetñil-Kijiner connected the Chaminade community to Marshallese daily life and tradition through the weaving of her impassioned words and rhythmic descriptions. She shared her background and the role of women in the matriarchal Marshallese culture and highlighted in her poems the traumas of colonialism, racism, forced migration, American nuclear testing and the threats of climate change.  However, she ended with a vision of hope in her deeply moving rendition of  “Dear Matafele Peinam,” performed originally at the 2014 Opening Ceremony of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit. It received international acclaim.

Students from environmental studies and student members from the Micronesian Club and other Pacific Island clubs were especially moved by the activist poet. One Chaminade student was invited to read with Jetñil-Kijiner.  He read in Marshallese, and she read in English. Students were visibly moved.

Iep Jaltok, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner's book

Jetñil-Kijiner’s writing and performances have been featured on CNN, Democracy Now, Mother Jones, the Huffington Post, NBC News, National Geographic, Vogue, Nobel Women’s Initiative and more. She co-founded the nonprofit Jo-Jikum, dedicated to empowering Marshallese youth to seek solutions to climate change and other environmental impacts threatening their home island. Jetñil-Kijiner has been selected as one of 13 Climate Warriors by Vogue in 2015 and the Impact Hero of the Year by Earth Company in 2016. She received her Master’s in Pacific Island Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The division of Humanities and Fine Arts hosted the February 17 event, which was coordinated by the English department and spearheaded by English professor Koreen Nakahodo.

Chaminade Professor’s New Book Reveals Robert Louis Stevenson’s Importance in Illustrated Literature

Dr. Richard Hill

Congratulations are in order for Richard Hill, Ph.D., assistant professor of English.  His book Robert Louis Stevenson and the Pictorial Text: A Case Study in the Victorian Illustrated Novel has been recently published by Routledge (2017).  The book is a scholarly analysis of the lifetime illustrations to the fiction of Robert Louis Stevenson.  A famous 19th-century writer, Stevenson wrote books such as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the great pirate novel Treasure Island. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Stevenson also spent time in Hawaii as well as traveling through the Pacific.  Over the years, Stevenson has been the subject of much serious critical scholarship. Hill’s book contributes to this scholarship by examining how Stevenson sought illustration for his work and how illustration succeeded or failed according to Stevenson’s opinion.

Dr. Richard Hill Book: Robert Louis Stevenson and the Pictorial Text - A Case Study in the Victorian Illustrated Novel

Hill initially did his doctorate work on Sir Walter Scott, Stevenson’s literary forebear. Hill received his Ph.D. from Edinburgh University, the alma mater of Scott and Stevenson.  After Hill completed his work on Scott, he targeted Stevenson for his next endeavor. “Stevenson became the natural focus of my work,” Hill recalled. “Stevenson was another famous Scottish author but one who had come to the Pacific, like me!  It was a natural fit for my focus of research.”

Hill completed the book through a series of challenges and distractions, including illness, moving from Oahu to Maui, and the birth of two children to whom the book is dedicated. “I’m very proud of the fact that the entirety of the book, from conception to publication, was produced while being a faculty member at Chaminade University,” he added.  “Thanks must go to my department, dean, and the Sullivan Family Library for their support through the process.”

Service Project with Kaimuki High School Culminates in a Night of Words

Kaimuki student performing his poetryWhen Chaminade held a Poetry Festival this fall, the words of Kaimuki High School students captured the attention of their audience with words arranged like music, punctuating the air with meaning and feelings and insight.  The audience grew to standing-room-only on the lawn of Sullivan Family Library that November evening. All listened intently, fearful of missing one word or one inflection which might change the whole message.

Chaminade students from professor Brooke Carlson’s 102 English class listened more closely than others to the 10th, 11th and 12th graders.  After all, the Chaminade students had worked with these high schoolers for seven shifts of one and a half hours per shift in small groups throughout the semester. The service-learning project had included activities such as vocabulary lessons and practice, teaching the SEE (sentence, example, explanation) paragraph, using a favorite song or a short story, and editing and revising written work.  The Chaminade students had engaged themselves and were vested.

Carlson and Candice Sakuda, the director of Chaminade’s Service-Learning program, have been working together on a service-learning project with Kaimuki High School since 2013. “We’ve linked our English courses’ curricula to service within Kaimuki’s classes, helping high school kids who need help with English and self-expression,” said Sakuda.  “At the start of each term, Carlson’s EN102 students learn about their service-learning project, through which they serve as role models, motivators, and mentors for Mrs. Mary Ann Akamine’s English classes at Kaimuki High School.”

Kaimuki student performing her poetryCarlson explained, “One of the things that drew me to Chaminade was the Service-Learning program. I want my students to take what they learn through my courses out into the real world for life. The more we can build, craft and cultivate with those around us, the better.” He added, “I am blessed in that literature is an expression of being human.  Service-learning provides more space for practicing our humanity.”

This year, twelve Kaimuki High School students read their poems at the festival.  “The performances were fantastic,” said Sakuda. “Through original poetry, the students shared their feelings about friends’ betrayals, about disrespect for the Hawaiian culture, and about family struggles, inner conflict and loss. Tears and long embraces followed so many performances.”

After the performances,  Carlson’s students were filled with “faculty pride” knowing that they had something to do with their students’ success.