Taking a Proven Model and Expanding Island Wide

Taking a proven model and expanding island wide
 
In 2002, Raynette “Kalei” Haleamau-Kam was a working mom with a second child on the way, with strong connections to her West Hawai‘i community. She had a bachelor’s degree already and had worked for the University of Hawai‘i since 1992, but she was eager to earn an advanced degree and expand her knowledge and career options. So she enrolled in the UH Mānoa master’s of education with an emphasis in higher education distance learning program and graduated in 2004. Thanks to the presence of the University Center, West Hawaii, she could earn her master’s degree without having to move away.
 
“Without the option of the UH Center, I would have never been able to earn my master’s degree,” she recalled recently. “Moving to O‘ahu or the mainland was definitely not an option. I was married, bought my first home, had my first child, Kealoha, who was 9 years old at the time and was expecting another child. All this while working full time. Kona was my home, working in higher education was my calling, and I was here to stay.”
 
Haleamau-Kam’s master’s allowed her to obtain a faculty-level counseling position, and now she is the Interim Director of Hawai‘i Community College – Pālamanui and the very University Center, West Hawai‘i that made her master’s possible.
 
Hundreds of students like Haleamau-Kam have benefitted from the University Center, West Hawai‘i over the years, and now our goal is to take that model and make it available elsewhere on Hawai‘i Island.
 
University Centers
 
The University of Hawai‘i is a 10-campus system of colleges, however, embedded within those campuses are three unique “University Centers.” This includes Maui, Kaua‘i, and the University Center, West Hawai‘i, which was established in Kona in 1996.
 
What are the University Centers, and why do they exist? They were designed to bring academic programs from UH campuses to remote areas of the state using a combination of formats including: online any-time, site-to-site real-time interactive video conferencing, and face-to-face participation. They’re a recognition that for many people, moving to Honolulu, Hilo or the mainland to get a bachelor’s or graduate degree may not be realistic. They’re also a recognition that those degrees are incredibly important and worth bringing to residents in these communities.
 
The University Center, West Hawai‘i is located at the Hawai‘i Community College – Pālamanui campus in Kona and administered by Hawai‘i CC. We have a proud and successful history of connecting students to UH academic programs and providing them with local support in the form of proctored testing, library resources, student activities, academic counseling and more.
 
In the past five years, the number of University Center, West Hawai‘i students has quadrupled from 50 to over 200 students enrolled today. These students all have unique stories but there are typically common threads; University Center students want to earn degrees, but they want to stay in West Hawai‘i because they are committed to the community, their families and careers.
 
Expanding Island-wide
 
As Hawai‘i Community College continues its push to serve all segments of our Hawai‘i Island community, it makes sense to replicate this University Center model in locations beyond West Hawai‘i. For example, we now administer the North Hawai‘i Education and Research Center in Honoka’a and can offer these services to residents in that area. We can also offer these services in Hilo and at other future locations.
 
Creating Education Pathways
 
By promoting these distance learning bachelor’s and graduate degrees, we often end up enrolling students at Hawai‘i Community College. They start to see a pathway to a degree and a career, and they realize that pathway can start at Hawai‘i CC. Once they’re ready, we help them transfer to a bachelor’s degree program. It’s a recipe for success we want to share with more students in more locations on Hawai‘i Island.
 
Sincerely,
Chancellor Rachel Solemsaas