
Scents and Sensibility
Chaminade freshman turns her love of candles and Hawaii into a business Part science, part apothecary, the art of candle making can be traced as…

Chaminade bestows Heritage Awards
To recognize their exceptional contributions in personifying the Marianist values, Dr. Darren Iwamoto, Maritel Suniga and Kobe Ngirailemesang ’23 have been honored with this year’s…

Founders’ Week celebrates Chaminade’s roots
It seems to me that we must not become discouraged if we encounter some obstacle in the way of the necessary change. Never has change…

Grand Re-Opening of Silversword Café
Freshmen Araceli Kee and Ro Razavi gave their thumbs-up of approval. Alumni Elijah Abramo ’21 misses the old booths, but understands the logic and appeal…

Making a difference through data science and service
Community service has always been a big part of Katherine Gonzalez’s life. And her passion for making a difference followed her to Chaminade. It’s why…

Family Ties: Generations of Kaneohe ‘ohana have devoted themselves to educating Hawaii keiki
Being an educator runs in Agnes Brown’s genes. Her grandmother was a music teacher at Kapaa Elementary for 30 years. Her mother, Mandy Thronas-Brown, was…

Data Mining: Alumna sifts through databases to produce Hawaii’s Uniform Crime Reporting
For most of us, a dashboard primarily indicates a vehicle’s rate of speed, RPMs, engine temperature, gas gauge, mileage and maybe even a personal playlist….

On a Mission: Alumnus Continues to Pursue Social Justice Passion
When Antonio Bonnetty ’19 started at Chaminade University, he wasn’t even sure if college was for him. By the time he graduated, he was inspired…

Faculty and staff reach impressive milestones
The mood was anything but Bah-Humbug. In fact, it was the complete Dickensian opposite. Soap bubbles floated through the air, greeting guests as they climbed…

Sticking Point: Pinning Ceremony marks rite of passage for graduating nursing students
“Let us never consider ourselves finished nurses … we must be learning all of our lives.”Florence Nightingale Minutes after completing his final exam, Nainoa Gaspar-Takahashi…

Program offers business students a fast track to an MBA degree
Unlike the contestants in the “Amazing Race,” Chaminade students did not encounter any detours nor face any roadblocks when they visited Aukland, New Zealand. The…

Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program Celebrates 20 Years
Not even a torrential downpour could dampen the moods of attendees who celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. Since its inception,…

In Real Life: Live performances return to the stage at Vi and Paul Loo Theatre
Luckily, nothing went awry with the recent production of “Things Go Wrong” at the Vi and Paul Loo Theatre. Written by second-year communications major Garrett…

Chaminade University and United Nations Host Pacific Regional Sustainability Conference
Chaminade University and the United Nations will host a ground-breaking regional sustainability conference this week at the university campus to discuss climate change and the potential impacts…

Chaminade Graduate Wins NIH Director’s Award
Since entering the National Institutes of Health (NIH) post-baccalaureate program in 2020, Chloe Talana has confirmed her passion for biomedical research. The Chaminade alumna has…

Chaminade University Awarded $600,000 Federal Grant
Chaminade University of Honolulu was among seven minority educational institutions that received $1.75 million in grants from the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). The monies are part…


Environmental + Interior Design’s new program coordinator challenges students to think outside the box
The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive,…


Annual Ceremony Anoints the Hands of Healthcare Workers, Nursing Students
“There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success…


2022 Innovation Awards Winners Announced
Modeled after the National Catholic Education Association’s Innovation in Catholic Education annual awards and sponsored by Hawaii Catholic Schools, the Ka Ho’oulu Awards focuses on…


Leading Scholar of Religion Discusses Disaffiliation
One of the most urgent issues in social science research and among catholic institutions stems from the fact that people are leaving the church and…


From Trauma to Transformation and Beyond
The road Kimmy Takata ’22 took to college wasn’t traditional—or easy. Mark Patterson, Kehau Lu’uwai, Josie Howard, Kimmy Takata ’22, and Tia Hartsock But while…


A New Frontier for Students
Students were over the moon when National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) educators were on campus for a one-day Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)…


Kapaa High School Students Earn College Credit Through Partnership
Chaminade University is taking its early college initiative to new levels, forging a cutting-edge partnership with Kapaa High to connect rural Kauai students to hands-on,…


Alumna’s Endowed Scholarship Creates Opportunities and a Better Future for Chaminade Students
Jan Seymour ‘76 is proud of the endowed scholarship she helped establish at Chaminade University. Yet she is quick to deflect any suggestion that she…


Finding Your Passion and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
Brittany Johnson ’24 had a lot of life under her belt when she applied to Chaminade University. She’d already served in the Air Force, after…


Chaminade University Receives $50,000 Grant from the McInerny Foundation
Chaminade University of Honolulu recently received a $50,000 grant from the McInerny Foundation to support the school’s Economic Education Center for Excellence. The grant will…


Using AI and Machine Learning in Healthcare
Algorithms are increasingly being used to make big decisions in healthcare, and there’s a common misconception that they’re unbiased. The truth is: they’re as biased…


Alumna Continues Her Dream to Medical School Through Articulation Agreement
Growing up in Waianae, Donna Cottrell ‘22 says she felt the sting of healthcare inequality firsthand. It wasn’t just that care was difficult to access….


Bringing Filipino Language and Culture Back to Hawaii
It was a trip of a lifetime for a group of Hawaii educators and teachers-in-training. And Communication Professor Eva Washburn-Repollo, Ph.D. was overjoyed to be…


Chaminade University’s Hawaii Guarantee
Matching resident tuition and 4-year graduation pathway. Chaminade University is proud to announce a new undergraduate tuition match and four-year graduation pathway program starting with…


Chaminade University No. 20 in Annual ‘U.S. News’ College Rankings
Chaminade University is proud of another strong showing in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings, which once again named Chaminade among the…


Chaminade University Receives Multiple Grants for Educational Scholarships
Chaminade University recently received three grants totaling $45,000 to fund scholarships for the 2022-2023 school year. The grants include: Antone and Edene Vidinha Charitable Trust…


2022 Faculty Awardees
Three faculty members were recently honored for their outstanding contributions to academic scholarship, teaching excellence and creating a community that embraces teamwork at Chaminade. Psychology…


Harnessing the Data Revolution Through a $10 Million Grant
Dr. Rylan Chong, director of Chaminade’s Data Science program, calls it nothing less than historic. In early August, the National Science Foundation (NSF) INCLUDES Alliance…


Chaminade University Receives $75,000 Grant from Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation
Chaminade University of Honolulu recently received a $75,000 grant from the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation for student scholarships. The grant will be split to…


Pre-College Summer Institutes 2022
“Cooking with Chemistry” “Think Like a Champion” “Psychology of Happiness” Those might sound like great reads—or fascinating TED Talks. But they were actually some of…


Chaminade University Welcomes Largest Fall Class in 10 Years
In what appears to be an upward trend of college students returning to campus following the two-year pandemic, Chaminade University’s class of incoming students for…


Student’s Passion to Malama Ka ‘Aina Resonates Inside and Outside the Classroom
Lihau Keoneula Stender ’24 loves the outdoors. On any given weekend, she’ll hit the beach, go for a hike or volunteer for a clean-up. That…


Economic Center for Excellence: Providing Financial Literacy Resources
What does cooking have to do with economics? Dr. Guanlin Gao is glad you asked. Gao, a professor of economics and director of the Economic…


Chaminade University Receives $10 Million Grant for United Nations Sustainability Center
The National Science Foundation (NSF) selected Chaminade University to lead a groundbreaking $10 million, five-year grant project to create new leadership pathways into data science…


Kosasa Foundation Awards $25,000 to Chaminade University for Emerging Scholars Program on Kaua’i
Chaminade University recently received a $25,000 grant from the Kosasa Foundation in continued support of its Emerging Scholars Early College program. Now in its second…


Education Behind Bars: A Better Future Awaits
Dr. Janet Davidson is a leader in criminology. She has spent decades researching in the field, mentored hundreds of students, published a long list of…


Student Finds Marketing Internships to Support Her Passion for Politics
If you want to follow Hali’a Carlbom ‘25 around for the day, you’d better put on your tennis shoes. She is always on the run….


Chaminade University to Add Men’s Baseball, Women’s Beach Volleyball for the 2023-2024 Academic Year
Chaminade University today announced it will add Men’s Baseball and Women’s Beach Volleyball to its Athletics offerings for the 2023-2024 academic year. After an absence…


From Chaminade to Paris to Nashville and Back
Tommianne Brockert ‘23 loves studying, working and living in Hawaii. But she jumped at the chance to study abroad—and she hopes to convince others to…




Chaminade University Names Jennifer Creech as Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success
Chaminade University has named Jennifer Creech as Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success, where she will oversee the school’s Admissions, Financial Aid and…



Chaminade University Announces New Board of Governors and Regents Members
Chaminade University has named three new members to its Board of Governors and two new members to its Board of Regents. Newly named to its Board…


Alumna’s Forensic Science Passion Takes Her to NCIS
When Kay Een ’02 was a kid, she called many places home. Her dad was in the military and stationed around the world, from Okinawa…


Alumna Breaks Down Barriers in Construction Industry
The summer of Erin Kirihara’s junior year at Chaminade, she attended a job fair organized by the university mostly—she jokes—to appease her parents and stay…


Chaminade Launches EdD in Educational Psychology Program
As part of an exciting partnership with the Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE), Chaminade University is gearing up to welcome its inaugural cohort for…


Chaminade Hosts Virtual Forum with Medical Team Who Performed the First Pig-Heart Transplant
In January 2022, 57-year-old David Bennett, Sr., was suffering from terminal heart disease when he made history—and grabbed headlines—as the first person to receive a…


2022 Hawaii Catholic Schools Teacher of the Year
The COVID pandemic has been tough on kids—and Rica Velasco knows that better than most. As the guidance counselor at St. Joseph’s Parish School in…


Dr. David Carter Recognized for Achievements in Forensic Sciences
The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) recognized Chaminade University’s Forensic Sciences Director and Professor Dr. David Carter for his significant contributions to the discipline,…


Chaminade Launches Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy Program
To help meet a critical need for mental health services, leadership and program administration in Hawaii, Chaminade University has launched a new Doctor of Marriage…


Chaminade Associate Professor Awarded Fulbright-Hays Grant
The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program under the U.S. Department of Education recently awarded a $100,000 grant to Dr. Eva Washburn-Repollo of Chaminade University to fund…


Celebrating the Past and Future: Nursing Pinning and White Coat Ceremonies
The journey to becoming a nurse requires hard work, endurance—and plenty of support along the way. It’s a lot like a marathon. And leading up…


Students Take Second in National Business Case Competition
A big pizza brand wants to expand their reach to target more Generation Z customers. How do you help them do it? That was exactly…


Chaminade Hosts Pacific Region Data Science Challenge
Rewarding. Difficult. Inspiring. Those were some of the words student participants used to describe their experiences in the inaugural Advanced Computing for Social Change Challenge…


Celebrating Our Graduates: Spring Commencement 2022
Value your ‘ohana, embrace your kuleana and remember that obstacles are meant to be overcome. That was the message East-West Center President Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum…


2022 Co-Curricular Awards: Making a Positive Impact Across Campus
They go above and beyond—and their work doesn’t go unnoticed. Last month, students, student organizations and clubs, and faculty members and staff whose commitment to…


Healthy and Sustainable Hawaii Speaker Series
A series of speakers exploring everything from climate change resilience to indigenous wisdom to healthcare equity helped launch the new United Nations-affiliated CIFAL Honolulu Centre…


School of Nursing and Health Professions Launches Parish Health Program
One of the biggest obstacles to health education and prevention screening is access. And a new Parish Health program at Chaminade University is focused on…


2022 Nonprofit Business Plan Competition
From vocational training to higher education mentorship and homelessness prevention, the services delivered by the winners of the 10th annual Hogan Entrepreneurial Program and American…


Spring Festival of Honors
Chaminade’s School of Business and Communication held a special awards ceremony and dinner recently to honor students and student groups who are embracing a “business…


Celebrating Student Research at Na Liko Na’auao 2022
Interpretation of Multidimensional Chromatographic Outputs by Non-Specialists. Decolonizing Methodologies in Research. Native Hawaiian Traditional Medicine and its Effects on Inflammation of WISH cells. Those titles…


Celebrating Our Founders and Heritage Awardees
As part of Founders’ Week celebrations, three extraordinary members of the Chaminade University ‘ohana were recognized with Heritage Awards for their tireless work to put…


Walking the Walk: Creating a Sustainable Hawaii
Cara Gutierrez doesn’t just want to learn about leaders in the green movement. She wants to be one. The senior at Chaminade, who is majoring…


Welcoming the Diaconate Formation 2022 Cohort
On a quiet Saturday in March, a group of people from all walks of life gathered at Chaminade’s Mystical Rose Oratory to begin a five-year…


Marianists and the Arts Program
An exciting year-long workshop series at Chaminade is seeking to help tell the rich stories of the University and its Marianist founders through art in…


Catholic Intellectual Life
Chaminade University is part of a rich Catholic intellectual tradition that not only seeks to educate and inform but also ask tough questions, prompt opportunities…


Silverswords Business Competition
It started with a suggestion. Private wealth advisor Eric Fujimoto, MBA ‘94, who is chair of the School of Business and Communication’s Advisory Board, encouraged…


Big Dreams to Achieve Big Things
Meshelle Hirashima’s advice to young people is simple: you need big dreams to achieve big things. She would know. Hirashima, who graduated from Chaminade in…


Student’s Business Makes Paw-sitive Impact
By day, Oliver Carson is studying business. And by night, he’s running one. The Chaminade University senior and Hogan Entrepreneurial Program student owns Better Place…


Welcome to MBA Alumnus and Kaiser Permanente COO’s World
To say that Andrew Giles, MBA ’17, has been busy over the last few years is putting things mildly. It’s more like he’s been running…


Bishop Robert McElroy Discusses a Synodal Church
In late 2021, Pope Francis called on the whole of the Catholic Church to embark on a two-year journey of reflection, profound renewal, and transformative…


Student Wins SC21 Data Science Competition
Taylor Ishisaka loves to unlock the secrets hidden in data. There’s nothing more satisfying or rewarding, she says, than translating big data sets into clear,…


Inaugural President’s Innovation Award
Two faculty members who spearheaded out-of-the-box programs aimed at expanding educational opportunities to more members of the community and broadening the university’s positive impact were…


Chaminade Students ‘Build Bridges’ with Pope Francis
It’s not every day that a Zoom meeting is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But then, it’s also not every day that your virtual meeting features…


E+ID Class Project Becomes Career-Launching Opportunity
It’s not every day an assignment in class turns into a career-launching opportunity. But that’s exactly the kind of project Kailani Torres is just wrapping…


E+ID Alumna Makes Positive Impact in Community
Nicolle Soriano ’18 believes good design should be universal. “Whether you’re rich or poor, it’s for everyone to enjoy,” said Soriano, who has a degree…


Nonprofit Business Plan Competition 2022
Chaminade University’s Hogan Entrepreneurial Program and American Savings Bank are currently seeking entries in its Nonprofit Business Plan Competition. The competition, held every other year, is…


A Record Year for Women’s Volleyball
If you want to win, you’ve got to work for it. Chaminade women’s volleyball embraced that mantra this year — and it paid off. The…



Years of Service Milestones
Chaminade faculty and staff gathered in early December to celebrate the end of the Fall Term as well as the holiday season. The event kicked…


Silversword Basketball
It was born out of college basketball’s “biggest upset.” In 1982, the Silverswords grabbed national headlines — and the national imagination — when they dominated…


From Chaminade to the Hiphop Archive
Dominique Bocanegra ‘13 will never forget the advice that changed her life. It was from an inmate. Bocanegra had just graduated from Chaminade University with…


Partnerships and $15M Grant to Improve Health and Wellbeing in Hawaii
Research has shown Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Filipinos and other medically underserved populations in Hawaii have disproportionately higher rates of physical ailments and mental health…


Students’ Stress-Related Project Awarded First Place in National Competition
Stress is a fact of life, but two innovative Silverswords want people to know the story doesn’t end there. And their work is getting wide…


Chaminade University Partners with United Nations
Chaminade University is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) that will provide innovative leadership…


Online Undergraduate Program: More than a Degree
Chaminade University is excited to announce the redesign of its online undergraduate program — called Flex — that puts students in control of the pace…
The Spirituality of Justice: Racism & Climate Change
The “Catholic response” to racism, climate change and other societal injustices — including those plaguing Hawaii communities — must be one centered in faith-based action…


Veterinarian Internship takes Biology Student to South Africa
Getting chased by a rhino – that’s something Izabelle “Izzie” Krupa ’22 will never forget. It’s one of the answers she gives when asked what…


Dr. Lorin Ramocki and Dr. Katelyn Perrault Recognized for their Passion and Innovation in Teaching
Motivated. Innovative. Passionate. A trailblazer. Those were some of the words used to describe this year’s faculty honorees of the Chaminade Excellence in Teaching and…


Chaminade University’s Healthcare Simulation Program Receives Provisional Accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare
After a thorough evaluation, Chaminade University’s School of Nursing and Health Professions’ simulation program has received provisional accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). Accreditation recognizes the…


Hokulea Navigator and Environmental Lawyer in Training
Over the summer, Lucy Lee ’23 was one of five student navigators invited on a training expedition of Hokulea and sister voyaging canoe Hikianalia to…




Chaminade University No. 21 in Annual ‘U.S. News’ College Rankings
Chaminade University was again recognized as a top regional west university in the annual U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 Best College rankings. U.S. News…


Passion for Montessori Lands Alumna Coveted Research Position
Emily Yerington, MAT ‘19, has fond memories of the Montessori school she attended as a child. Now, she’s on a mission to add to the…


Chaminade University Names Dr. Gail Grabowsky as Dean of School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Chaminade University has named Dr. Gail Grabowsky as Dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. With more than 20 years of experience at…


Education with a Higher Purpose
Jayne Mondoy was teaching fifth through eighth grade at St. Elizabeth School in Central Oahu—and enjoying the work—when she felt driven to build her leadership…


Chaminade University and Hawaii Catholic Schools Announce 2021 Ka Ho’oulu Innovation Recipients
Chaminade University’s Center for Strategy and Innovation, in partnership with Hawai‘i Catholic Schools, has announced the recipients of the 2021 Ka Hoʻoulu Innovation Awards: St….


Alum Named Straub Clinic’s Most Valuable Team Player
Michael Ono ‘14 made friends at Chaminade that he “still considers family” today. It’s those relationships and others that have helped buoy him as he…