Chaminade University of Honolulu

Scholarship

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

Chaminade Student Turns Hogan Award Into Cambridge Experience

By Justin Siliva

When an invitation to study literature at the University of Cambridge in England landed in Momi Mae Ham’s email, the Chaminade University junior nearly passed it up.

It wasn’t until English professor Justin Wyble, Ph.D., forwarded the opportunity and encouraged her to apply that Ham began considering spending part of her summer abroad.

“I didn’t think I was gonna get in,” Ham said.

The Sigma Tau Delta–Cambridge Undergraduate Summer Program gives undergraduate members of the international English honor society a week at Girton College. Participants take two literature courses taught by Cambridge instructors, studying poetry and prose through small-group discussions, close reading, and essay writing.

About a week after submitting her application, Ham received an acceptance email for the weeklong summer program at Cambridge’s Girton College. She initially mistook the message for a confirmation that her application had been received.

“It was really nice to kind of see that what I want to do is something that was recognized and was good enough for a program like that,” Ham said.

Wyble, Assistant Professor of English and adviser to Chaminade’s Sigma Tau Delta chapter, an international honor society that recognizes students for academic achievement in English language and literature, learned about the Cambridge program through the organization. In her second year as chapter president, Ham was the first student he recommended.

A Maui native and Kamehameha Schools graduate, Ham is double majoring in English and Integrated Marketing Communications, with minors in Education and Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. Wyble said she brings her knowledge of Hawai‘i’s culture, history, and sense of place into classroom discussions.

Although Ham had secured a place at Cambridge, she still needed to cover the cost.

At the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program’s annual kick-off the previous year, Ham received the Hogan Alakaʻi Scholarship, an award she later used to help pay for her Cambridge trip. 

Roy Panzarella, Ph.D., director of the Hogan Program, said he learned about Ham’s experience only after she returned to Hawai‘i. Hogan had not helped arrange her studies abroad.

“Perhaps most importantly, she demonstrated that entrepreneurship is not always about starting a business. Sometimes it is about recognizing an opportunity, taking the initiative, and finding a way to make it happen,” Panzarella said.

Cambridge was part of Ham’s first trip outside the United States. Before arriving at Girton College, she spent time exploring Switzerland and London with her cousin.

She began preparing for the program while still taking 19 credits at Chaminade. Alongside her regular coursework, Ham read five novels and assigned poetry materials for her Cambridge classes.

At Cambridge, Ham had to get used to writing essays without the detailed outlines she was familiar with at Chaminade. Her professors wanted students to examine the literature closely, form their own interpretations, and use evidence from the readings to support them.

“We were all shocked because we’re used to everything being so structured,” Ham said. “But for them, it was really, really just show, and really look deep into it.”

Ham was particularly nervous about her poetry class. Although she was comfortable analyzing literature, she had little experience with creative writing. The class gave her opportunities to examine how history and culture influence the way people interpret poetry.

“It’s not that you’re right or wrong. It’s really just what you think,” Ham said.

During the program, Ham studied poetry under Alex Wong, Ph.D., a poet and former fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge, who spent much of his childhood on O‘ahu.

Wong, who has more than 12 years of experience teaching English Literature at Cambridge, led the program’s Poetry: Practical Criticism course. His sugarcane poetry sparked discussions about Hawai‘i’s environment, giving Ham an unexpected connection to home.

“It was really cool to be able to make that connection and see how my life here was still somehow involved all the way in Europe,” Ham said.

Outside the classroom, Ham visited a rare books collection, where she could handle historical works after washing her hands. Among the books she encountered were a parchment volume dating to the 1400s, a first edition of Charles Darwin’s work, and rare editions of Shakespeare. She examined how books were produced centuries ago and how their appearance changed over time.

Wyble hopes Ham will share what she learned with other Chaminade students and encourage more Sigma Tau Delta members to apply to the Cambridge program.

Applications for the 2027 Sigma Tau Delta Cambridge Undergraduate Summer Program are open to undergraduate members through Nov. 2.

Ham hopes to return to Kamehameha Schools as an English or public speaking teacher, giving back to the community where she received her education. Although she still wants to build her career in Hawai‘i, studying abroad made her more open to opportunities elsewhere.

“For me, it was really kind of just comforting to see everything that education can be, and to be immersed in it, because that’s something that I’ve always enjoyed,” Ham said.

Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program Kicks Off 24th Year

The Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program is now celebrating its 24th year mentoring students seeking independent business opportunities or leadership skills to help organizations succeed, both for-profit and nonprofit. On Wednesday evening, past and current Hogan participants, alumni, and business leaders gathered to launch another year of Hogan with an inspiring keynote address and opportunities to connect, network, share inspiring stories, and celebrate one of Chaminade’s most successful institutions.

Chaminade University President Lynn Babington, Ph.D., welcomed attendees to the celebration and thanked them for supporting the Hogan initiative over the years.

“It’s such a pleasure to be here with you this evening and again kick off the 24th year of the Hogan program,” Babington said.

“We are very proud of the Hogan program,” she said. “Linking students with community members enriches new ideas and opportunities here in Hawai‘i.”

This year’s Hogan Kick-Off Celebration, held at the Sullivan Family Library Lawn, featured music, good food, drinks, and time for attendees to mingle and socialize. The featured speaker for the evening was Melissa Crounse Kaufman, a renowned entrepreneur and Founding Executive Director of The Garage, a startup incubator at Northwestern University.

“Previous speakers have been terrific, but I think this is one of the best ones we’ve had that I can remember in my time,” said Roy Panzarella, Ph.D., Director of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program.

Kaufman, who now lives in Maui and works as a school teacher, shared a story with the audience of how she once tested the entrepreneurial instincts of her students against artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

She split the class into two groups and asked each to develop an innovative idea for a new snack product. One group had unlimited access to AI tools; the other had to use their wits.

Upon conclusion of this exercise, the class determined that the best idea came from the “brain team” that was denied the use of any AI advantage. The winning team proposed selling hibiscus-flavored popcorn that comes in resealable bags.

Kaufman told the audience to take this lesson to heart.

“AI is a pattern matching machine,” she said. “It draws from what already exists, and it optimizes for what has worked before, in the past.

“The winning idea in my class didn’t come from a prompt. It came from a teenage girl’s lived experience.”

Kaufman said she owes her success not to building successful companies, but to building up people and helping them make personal connections they can translate into winning enterprises.

“Students cannot build judgment or persuasive speaking or interpret body language or build connections alone in their dorm rooms talking to Claude,” she stressed. “Students need to interact with real businesses and real business problems in real time.”

Panzarella said Kaufman’s message is poignant for the times as the rise of AI technology leaves everyone nervous for the future.

Kaufman pleaded with business leaders in the audience to deepen their engagement with Hogan students. The program’s long success lies not with technologies like AI, she said, but with the personal connections the program fosters.

“You have to help in this mission because we can’t do it alone,” she said. “You need to share your time, your expertise, and your network with the students by serving as a mentor or a guest speaker.”

In addition to raffle prizes, the event presented two awards recognizing present and future entrepreneurial success.

Kai Cowell was honored with the Hogan program’s “In the Arena” award for her success with Ka‘iulani Spices, a healthy foods and flavoring company selling products at major retail outlets. The $1,500 student award went to Liliyah-Joy Quel-Kaina, a Hogan junior juggling two majors and minors who recently landed a coveted internship opportunity. 

The latest Hogan kick-off celebration comes at the midpoint of the semester and also lands in the middle of Chaminade’s first Wellness Week, a series of events aimed at helping students pause and reset.

Panzarella said the timing for the 24th Hogan Kick-Off is deliberate. He finds participants are more engaged and primed for action at this point in the academic year compared to the beginning of the semester or in the summer.

“We wanted to take time to let the semester sort of breathe a little bit,” he said. “We found that people are much more amenable to celebrating, to community building.”

He said the 24th year of the Hogan program won’t be delivering any major new surprises, but the year will still feature plenty of exciting gatherings and inspiring speakers. He said the team is planning new leadership initiatives, including one that may happen at Pearl Harbor.

Much of this year will be spent planning for the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program’s 25th anniversary year, coming up in 2027. Panzarella promised great things to come as the Hogan program rings in 25 years of incubating new business ideas and preparing young entrepreneurs for success.

“25 is going to be big,” he said.

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.”