Chaminade University of Honolulu

Honors and Awards

Chaminade MFT Student Headed to India After Winning Scholarly Award

Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) graduate student Eden Nasher has been on a long journey throughout his life and career, and that path eventually led him to Chaminade University.

It was a road worth traveling, he said.

In recognition of his scholarship in Chaminade’s MFT graduate program, Nasher was awarded an esteemed prize that will take him to a major conference in India this week.

The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) recently awarded Nasher the Diversity Award for Emerging Leaders, which earned him a coveted role and participation at the Global Systemic Therapy Summit in Bengaluru, India, from November 10-13.

Nasher said he’s looking forward to learning more about advancements in therapeutic work at the India conference, only this time from multiple cultural perspectives.

“A lot of the issues we face in the present day are very complex. They’re very multifaceted, and we cannot forge them from one place or from one angle, one perspective,” Nasher said in looking ahead to his India adventure. “There have to be multiple approaches, and that means being able to join forces with other communities, other spaces across the globe, to be able to tackle these.”

AAMFT’s Diversity Award for Emerging Leaders recognizes Nasher’s compelling international and diverse life story, as well as his success in Chaminade’s MFT program.

Born and raised in Sanaa in northern Yemen to parents of West and North African descent, Nasher traces his true roots to southern Yemen and the port city of Aden–the origin of his first name, Eden, where his parents first lived.

Nasher said Aden is known as a more multicultural and multiethnic city given its proximity to Africa, whereas Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, is home to a more homogeneous population and culture.

Raised by diverse parents but living in an undiverse city, Nasher said he’s always felt a desire to better understand himself and where he comes from, and this yearning has, ironically, sent him on a journey far from home.

“I have to occupy a lot of identities where there are so many pieces that don’t quite fit in,” he explained. “So I basically ended up going on that journey for it. I wanted to leave where I grew up because I wanted to understand myself better and really be able to connect.”

Nasher’s first stop overseas was Egypt and the American University in Cairo, to study anthropology.

While living in Cairo, Nasher said he worked with refugees, mainly people fleeing parts of Africa, his first exposure to therapeutic work.

Trained in anthropology and gaining experience supporting vulnerable populations, Nasher again looked west for a new adventure; a Fulbright scholarship led him to the University of San Diego to pursue graduate studies.

His time in San Diego frequently took him to Hawaii for further study and research. Steeped in academic therapy work, Nasher said he eventually came across Chaminade University’s dual-track Master’s and Doctoral program in Marriage and Family Therapy.

He was sold.

“I was born and raised in a country and corner of the world that has really dealt with a lot of challenges,” he said. “Chaminade stood out. And in understanding that there is a program that does exist and that I might be able to find, that I fit in, I reached out.”

He said Chaminade’s staff immediately responded to his request for information.

“That, to me, is probably the reason why I ended up in the program,” Nasher added.

Nasher said the dual-track MFT program–working on his master’s and Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy at the same time–is a perfect fit for his interests, research tempo, and study style.

One day he’s taking foundational courses, learning theories and practices that underpin the relatively young MFT discipline. Next, he’s diving into work that encourages him to propose new ideas and new insights, contributing to the field’s ongoing growth.

Now he’s looking forward to his travels in India, where he will be recognized for his academic achievements.

Nasher credits Chaminade and his Marriage and Family Therapy instructors for helping him get this far. He says he would recommend Chaminade’s dual-track MFT program to anyone looking to walk a similar path.

“You’re not only going to be part of a really unique experience, but you’re also going to be part of a community where there is a hub, and there are all sorts of offshoots, people who are doing really cool work,” he said.

“I would encourage folks to reach out and ask if they can connect with others who have gone through this experience, who are familiar with Chaminade, and speak to them about what that’s like.”

Chaminade Nursing Receives $2.2M Workforce Development Grant

Chaminade University’s renowned nursing program has been awarded a coveted federal grant to improve the education and training of a diverse pool of future nurses.

The College of Nursing & Health Professions has earned a prestigious Nursing Workforce Diversity program grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The large award, valued at over $2.2 million, will be distributed over four years.

Anela LaBore, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Nursing at the college, said the HRSA grant is transformative and will go both to directly supporting nursing students and toward enhancing Chaminade’s early outreach and education initiatives designed to improve educational outcomes. 

“We provide a lot of support to students and this grant will allow us to expand that support,” LaBore said.

In keeping with the mission of the program issuing the grant, the money will be spent to “increase the enrollment, progression, and graduation of nursing students from disadvantaged racial, financial, and cultural backgrounds,” LaBore added.

Chaminade University was the only institution in Hawai‘i to be awarded the grant this year.

Aside from scholarships, much of the award will be spent on recruiting more nursing students from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups, benefiting the islands’ overlooked communities while addressing Hawai‘i’s nursing shortage.

Funds will be directed toward better preparing incoming nursing students, as well.

Chaminade University’s undergraduate nursing degree program is a four-year program. Given the high demands and technical skills required of nurses, part of the funds will be used to provide messaging in the nursing school’s recruitment processes, helping high school students to better understand what it takes to become a nurse.

This will help to enable students to make better decisions regarding their educational pathways.

Some of the HRSA grant money will also be spent on preparing students for the rigors of nurse training.

LaBore said she and her colleagues plan to use a portion of the funds to develop ‘readiness modules’ or specialized short courses to help students meet or improve general education requirements. The modules would align with the university’s strategic vision of ensuring a greater sense of belonging and wellbeing in students while improving their chances of academic success in the nursing program.

Chaminade already has initiatives in place to help incoming nursing students better prepare for their courses and program requirements. With this grant, nursing instructors will be able to improve and expand upon these initiatives while extending them to disadvantaged populations.

“This applies to all students when there’s a gap that we see when they are coming from high school,” LaBore explained. “We’re building students coming into the program,” she said. “We’re supporting them while they’re in the program.”

Chaminade University’s nurse education program was launched in 2010 as an undergraduate major and has since undergone major expansions with the addition of master’s and doctoral graduate nursing programs. The College of Nursing & Health Professions has graduated hundreds of nurses now serving patients throughout Hawai‘i and across the nation.

Grant number: 1 D19HP56223-01-00

Poet Laureate of Hawai‘i Shares Stories, Spoken Word, and Fun Life Lessons

Chaminade University freshmen need to “keep things in perspective,” according to a celebrated pidgin poet and writer.

Lee A. Tonouchi is the author of several books, including the award-winning “Significant Moments in da Life of Oriental Faddah and Son: One Hawai‘i Okinawan Journal” and “Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos,” a children’s book that won the Skipping Stones Honor Award. He’s also edited an anthology of Hawaiian and Okinawan literature and wrote a renowned play.

Earlier this week, Tonouchi was invited to Chaminade’s campus to deliver a special lecture, the second in the CUH 100 course series. The CUH 100 seminar, required for all freshmen, is designed as an orientation to Chaminade life and scholarship in Hawai‘i.

Tonouchi kicked things off by entertaining the crowd with a lengthy retelling of one of his short stories, delivered entirely from memory. His specialty is literature that celebrates pidgin, the unique dialect endemic to these islands.

With wit and a sharp memory, he shared the story of when he first submitted his writing to a fiction contest held by Honolulu Magazine. He was the runner up, which he thought was pretty impressive, until a famous local writer informed him that he was “never going to win” because of his emphasis on pidgin words and phrases, as he recalled.

Tonouchi would go on to win the Honolulu Magazine fiction prize in 2004. He took those top honors again in 2006.

Regarding that famous writer he met and her discouraging words, Tonouchi said she never unfazed him; rather, he came out of that exchange more determined than ever to keep pursuing his passion for pidgin and the local culture.

“Can we fault her?” he asked the students of this famous writer. “Yes, you can still fault her,” he said, saying she not only behaved rudely, but she was also at fault for restricting her own imagination of what’s possible in local Hawai‘i literature.

His determination and hard work has paid off.

This past February, the State of Hawai‘i named Tonouchi the Hawai‘i Poet Laureate after a competitive review of contestants held by the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System.

He’ll carry the title of state Poet Laureate until 2029.

The honor comes with a stipend that funds his travels across Hawai‘i to share his poetry and lead writing workshops.

Tonouchi was also granted a fellowship by the Academy of American Poets.

Despite his long list of accomplishments, Tonouchi came across in his lecture as affable, funny, relaxed, and supremely confident. That energy resonated with the student audience.

“Da Pidgin Guerilla” (the nickname given to him by a former professor) spent the Wednesday lunch hour sharing stories, poems, and anecdotes from his childhood growing up in Hawai‘i to his eventual pursuit of a career as a poet, book author, and playwright.

He recalled how, as a child, he once tried looking up the pidgin word “bumbai” in the dictionary because his classmate didn’t know what it meant. Bumbai is a pidgin word that loosely translates to “later” and sometimes “or else.”

The pidgin poems and stories he shared with the Chaminade community celebrated rice, spam, relationships, and a zeal for life and art.

Noted for his activism in linguistic justice, Tonouchi shared that, growing up, it never dawned on him that he was a pidgin speaker or speaking pidgin; he was simply expressing himself, and he understood that he had the right to share this part of himself with the world, and not hide it.

“I was born pidgin, but I never know I was talking pidgin,” he said.

Chaminade DMFT Grad Shares Her Newest Book: What if Your Mother Was Wrong?

Family life is messy and complicated. For those reasons and more, marriage and family therapists must undergo rigorous training to earn their degrees, and then pass exams before they can earn their licenses.

Despite the many obstacles, Dr. Bridget C. Duncan, LMFT-S, DMFT ’26, cleared them all and is now busy sharing her knowledge with the world through books.

Last year, Dr. Duncan launched her first volume, titled “Stop Dyeing Red Flags Pink: Your Roadmap to Healthy, Balanced Relationships.” She has now published her second title, which she describes as “a clinically informed exploration of how maternal messages and early experiences can shape beliefs into adulthood.” She’s given her new book the provocative title “What if Your Mother was Wrong?: Rethinking the Beliefs that have Shaped Your Life.”

Dr. Duncan said the provocation in the title given to her newest book is deliberate.

“I know the title is controversial,” she shared in an interview. “What if my mom was wrong? I didn’t say she was, but it’s an invitation. What if she was? You know, not necessarily meaning she was, but it’s inviting the adult child to now question that.”

Duncan said her first book was inspired by conversations with her academic advisor while enrolled in Chaminade University’s Doctorate of Marriage and Family Therapy. Her latest book, she said, derives from her professional practice and interaction with clients. She said it is often surprising the extent to which the earliest childhood interactions with our parents can influence us well into adulthood.

“How does our system affect us and impact us, and what system are we in originally, is that home system, and usually in that early formative time, it’s usually the mom, typically the mom,” she explained. “So the book is to encourage people.”

In other words, Dr. Duncan said her newest book is an invitation to readers who may be struggling with past familial issues or trauma to recognize how our parents, especially our mothers, may be contributing to emotionally challenging states of mental health.

“What if my mom was wrong about loyalty, obligation, who am I, what I’m owed?” she said. “Maybe I can rethink that, and rethink who I am through a different lens.”

The life of a Chaminade DMFT student

Dr. Duncan holds two degrees in psychology and an MS in Marriage and Family Therapy (MSMFT). She continued working full-time as a practicing therapist while completing her three-year doctoral program at Chaminade University, the only program of its kind in Hawaii.

She even spent a year in Thailand.

While all of that was going on, she decided to write her first book.

Dr. Duncan looks back fondly at her time at Chaminade because it kept her busy–her work, her studies, her writing all saved her from boredom.

She acknowledged that Chaminade’s Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy (DMFT)  program is rigorous. Still, she said it was the right fit for her given how she knew the demands of her field and how the program at Chaminade is up to the challenge of training professional therapists of the highest caliber.

“You really had to know how to be determined, resilient, to be able to manage your time,” she said.

As she shared last year, Duncan was inspired to dive into book authorship during a conversation with Dr. Emily Kahumoku-Fessler. At the time, she was describing the tendency of her clients to gloss over obvious “red flags” or warning signs that can reveal themselves in relationships of all sorts.

The euphemism she used to describe this phenomenon was “dyeing red flags pink.” Dr. Kahumoku-Fessler told her that phrase would make a great title for a book. She ran with the idea.

Now that she’s been bitten by the writing bug, Dr. Duncan said anyone interested in marriage and family therapy will see more to come.

Her new book “What if Your Mother Was Wrong?” is on sale now. Two more books are coming, and Duncan let slip that she has no intention of singling out mom. She’s already planning to write two more books: “What if Your Father Was Wrong?” and “What if Your Family Was Wrong?”

“I’m already working on book three,” she said. “So many people like, well, what about your father, Bridget? So I’ve already started the outline.”

Writing books, Duncan says, is a way for her to keep motivated, to keep moving, to keep learning, and to constantly stay at the forefront of her field.

“Like I tell my clients, I can’t be everybody’s therapist, so I’m just gonna keep writing books.”

Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee is More than a Promise; It’s a Pact

When Nanea Chu was gearing up to graduate from Parker High School on Hawaiʻi Island, she knew she wanted to continue her education at college but didn’t necessarily have a school in her home state in mind. Nanea was actually considering going someplace much farther away, unsure if she could bear the cost of studying in her home state.

“I was going to go to Rhode Island for school,” she said.

Nanea said she was considering attending the Rhode Island School of Design, an institution with high tuition rates but in a state with a lower cost of living. Depending on the aid package, traveling all the way to Providence for college could have ended up being cheaper than staying in Hawaiʻi. 

“I didn’t think that I would be able to afford it if I chose to stay here,” she said.

Layla Becker also knew she wanted to go to college following her graduation from James Campbell High School. She initially zeroed in on two private universities on Oʻahu. It was a toss-up, but a trusted advisor recommended she give Chaminade a closer look.

“I only applied to two schools originally,” Layla said. “I had an environmental science teacher in high school who was talking to me a bunch about college and he recommended Chaminade to me because he had family that went.”

There were, of course, a lot of other factors to consider, yet both Layla and Nanea ultimately chose to study at Chaminade University of Honolulu, in part due to the university’s new Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship, a commitment the university launched the year they both applied.

Now in its fourth year, the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship is helping new generations of Hawaiʻi students afford a Chaminade University education.

The Guarantee is a promise the university makes to resident first-time college students graduating from local high schools. The admissions and financial aid offices work with enrolling students to ensure that the tuition rate these incoming students pay matches the institutional in-state tuition rate residents would pay to go to public universities.

It’s one way Chaminade University is striving to be as accessible as possible, understanding why it’s important that Hawaiʻi high school graduates have the option to pursue a Chaminade education regardless of means.

The Guarantee works in tandem with the university’s efforts to ensure students graduate in four years, keeping costs down while helping everyone in the Chaminade family pursue their dreams and goals without unnecessary delay or expense. Today, Chaminade University boasts the state’s highest four-year graduation rate.

Both Nanea and Layla said Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee program played a significant role in swaying their decisions to stay in the state and attend the university. They agree that the next wave of graduating high school seniors in Hawaiʻi should give the Guarantee a closer look.

“I would definitely recommend Chaminade,” Layla said.

A private university education at an in-state public price

Chaminade University is Hawaiʻi’s only private Catholic university. We fulfill the Marianist mission of promoting personal and community well-being through education, and we are particularly committed to serving Native Hawaiians and residents of the state even as we welcome students, staff, and faculty from everywhere.

The school’s devotion to serving Hawaiʻi is what ultimately inspired the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship program. Both Nanea and Layla are on course to graduate at the end of the current academic year. Now seniors, they are among the first cohort of students to receive Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship.

As noted earlier, the Guarantee is a sort of pact Chaminade makes with qualifying students. Through the Guarantee, Chaminade University will work to match Hawaiʻi’s in-state tuition rate for any qualifying local first-year student.

Incoming students apply for the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship by first submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Via the Guarantee, Chaminade will adjust students’ tuition rates after institutional aid is factored in to ensure that what the students pay matches in-state public university tuition costs. The adjusted tuition rate only rises when the in-state tuition rate goes up.

It’s a big deal–the Guarantee can bring annual tuition costs down by as much as two-thirds.

All Hawaiʻi graduating high school seniors, incoming university freshmen, and first-time Hawaiʻi college students are eligible for Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship. Applicants must be seeking their first bachelor’s degree and enroll as full-time students.

In addition, all majors are eligible, with the exception of Chaminade’s nursing degree programs. The scholarship is also renewable for three years.

For Nanea, the Guarantee meant she could choose to stay close to home and avoid relocating thousands of miles away to study her chosen field, which was graphic design at the time she was shopping for colleges. She later switched her major to interior design, impressed by Chaminade’s tough but excellent interior design program.

“It takes a lot of discipline and you can’t procrastinate whatsoever really, or it’ll really catch up to you,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Layla said the Guarantee helped convince her to choose Chaminade over other universities to pursue a degree in criminal justice.

Nanea said Chaminade’s Hawaiʻi Guarantee “definitely was a big factor in staying here” versus flying off to the mainland.

Layla said it was the same with her, even after she learned that she could couple the scholarship with Veterans Affairs benefits she qualified for through her father’s service in the military.

“It piqued my interest and I definitely was more persuaded to choose Chaminade because at the time I didn’t know I qualified for VA benefits,” Layla shared.

Peace of mind in pursuit of knowledge

With an up to two-thirds decrease in tuition costs, the Guarantee is significant and designed to give every Hawaiʻi resident a chance at being a part of the Chaminade University community.

As the university says on its Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship website, “We’re giving you and your family financial peace of mind, so you can focus on achieving your goals and stepping into your future with confidence and purpose.”

Abigail Hurgo, Chaminade’s assistant vice president of enrollment management, told KHON TV in a recent interview that the Hawaiʻi Guarantee Scholarship is an important program the university is proud to offer because “it makes it affordable for students to have a great private education here at Chaminade.”

As some of the first students to receive the award, both Nanea and Layla wholeheartedly agree.

“It’s helped me a lot because, besides tuition, I did choose to dorm for two years on campus and that actually brought down the overall cost by a lot for me,” Layla said. “So, I got to experience more as a college student.”

Likewise, Nanea said the new opportunity to pursue her studies at Chaminade at the in-state tuition rate saved her from having to make a very tough decision–leaving the state. It’s a decision she said a lot of graduating high school seniors in Hawaiʻi are forced to consider if they choose to continue on to college.

“I didn’t want to have to go away, obviously,” Nanea explained. “I was really avoiding it, but when it really comes down to it, I feel like a lot of locals are pushed out towards the mainland because of money costs, especially when it comes to school.”

The Guarantee completely changed the equation for her, Nanea said. “Having an opportunity like that is super important.”