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Aloha and Good Morning.
Half my life ago, at the ripe old age of 26, I was teaching at Kohala High School on the Big Island and my Principal and Vice Principal encouraged me to go into administration. I proceeded to sit in the Vice Principal’s office for a few afternoons and decided I didn’t want to be an administrator. My idea of an educational administrator was to be able to help plan and orchestrate all kinds of exciting programs for a school and make it a great place to learn and teach. The experiences I observed painted the picture of a school disciplinarian, a policer of the educational institution.
Instead, I would go for an M.S. in entomology and come to CTAHR. In Spring of 1974, I sat for an interview in the old Krauss Hall and as a room full of male entomologists gazed at me, I was quizzically asked “Why do you want to be an entomologist?” There were few females in the discipline at the time and very few in CTAHR. I found their question rather strange, but responsed, “Because it’s interesting.”
For a period of 7 years I would go back and forth between Manoa and Kohala High School, doing coursework at Manoa and field work along the Hamakua coast and finish my M.S. and then between Manoa and Hilo High School and the University Lab School and finish my Ph.D.
I held onto my high school teaching job with tenacity fearing being an unemployed Ph.D. To my surprise, when I finished my Ph.D. in 1981, I got 5 job offers. I could have been DelMonte’s first woman research supervisor and had my own truck and company housing; or a medical entomologist with the Navy and seen the world; or director of the DOE’s Gifted and Talented program, or have written science curriculum for CRDG or become a Biology Instructor at UH Hilo. I chose teaching, my first love. I stayed at UHH for 18 years, taught, did research, wrote, trained teachers, served as an assistant director, a department chair and a division chair.
In 1998 I was restless. I applied for administrative positions on the East coast, made the short list for Lock Haven, was interviewed by Penn State DuBois. Then in 1999 CTAHR advertised for an Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs. I had a dream. I wanted to make a difference. I came over prior to applying, picked up a copy of the Strategic Plan, looked up CTAHR’s website, got brochures and found out everything I could on CTAHR’s programs. I visited the Entomology office and chatted with Millie and others who had been graduate students when I was there and who were now CTAHR faculty. They gave me a warm and welcome feeling. It was time to return.
On December 7, 1999 I interviewed for the position I presently hold. I presented my vision for the Office of Academic and Student Affairs as focusing on creative, innovative programs, people and partnerships and student success and satisfaction.
On June 1, 2002, 3 weeks from today, I will celebrate the culmination of my second year as your Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs.
Over the past 2 years I have found these creative and innovative programs with the approval of our academic program reorganization, we now have 9 new and revised B.S. degrees, 9 M.S.’s and 5 Ph.D’s. Add to that a new minor and an up and coming certificate program.
I have found these creative and innovative people in those of you in Instruction, Research and Extension that I have witnessed challenging your students in our classrooms and mentoring them so they are able to present exemplary research at our student research symposia; in those of you ecstatic with the thrills of new discoveries in your research and anxious to share your new findings; and in those of you reaching out to our communities at county fairs, through training and workshops, through fun and educational events, completing the full mission of our land grant college through extension.
I have found these creative and innovative partnerships in the establishment of an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental M.S. in Food Sciences, and a M.Ed. in Early Childhood with the College of Education, and in numerous partnerships with high schools throughout the state through our Student Ambassadors program using distance learning technology and enrichment. This week alone CTAHR faculty and labs have been in classrooms in Lahaina, Kapaa, Pahoa and Kamehameha Schools using this exciting medium for education. We have also established MOU’s with Oregon State in Forestry and recently with the University of Wroclaw in Poland and have laid the groundwork for many collaborations with our sister institutions in the UH system.
These programs, people and partnerships have set the stage for reaching the 3 goals set for Academic and Student Affairs:
- Program Excellence
- Student Recruitment and Retention
- National Recognition
If our reputation becomes one of program excellence, all the rest will follow. Students will come to CTAHR to be associated with and empowered by this excellence and we will gain national recognition.
To this end we have embarked on a college-wide assessment plan, beginning with our undergraduate programs setting goals and objectives and establishing tools to measure success and areas needing improvement. Program assessment has been mandated by WASC and is the responsibility of the faculty. Like students get grades, programs need to be assessed and they also will be graded. The new UH M strategic plan focuses on program assessment stating: “create a culture of evidence whereby every academic program is improved or discontinued based on measurement of student outcomes.” Assessment is very important to program success and is part of the process. It is not optional. It will be necessary for all program reviews.
As programs assessment is vital to program excellence, so is the assessment or evaluation of the instruction provided to our students. Teaching evaluations in some form need to be required of all involved in the instructional enterprise and looked at as a way of everyone working toward teaching excellence. There is much to be learned from constructive feedback. To that end I will institute a “Brown Bags to Excellence” series next Fall to provide techniques, tools and ideas to assist in making this goal a reality. I ask for your suggestions for topics in this area.
Recruitment is vital to our college’s ambitious strategic plan objective to double our undergraduate enrollment. To this end thus far we have produced new program brochures, invested handsomely in our college website (one we can all be proud of), sent thousands of mailers out to schools and individuals; done many presentations, held open houses, gone out to schools and participated in numerous other activities. But, like program excellence, recruitment is everybody’s business. Just think how quickly we could double our numbers if each member of our CTAHR Ohana brought in just one new student? YES, EACH ONE OF YOU. We would double in one year. Just think if everyone in our CTAHR Ohana (YES, EACH ONE OF YOU) focused on all the great things we do and spread this word to the public, what kind of an impact this would have on our student numbers. They would be breaking down our doors to get inside and be a part of this exciting adventure in education, research and outreach.
Just think. And this is the challenge I put before you today, just think about how you as an individual and you as an integral part of our CTAHR Ohana can make a difference. For if each of us does one small part, collectively we can do a great deal. We here today are the critical mass of CTAHR and are the people that will make these programs and partnerships come to fruition.
How can you help to make our programs excellent?
How can you contribute to doubling our student numbers?
And, should we re-define doubling to include SSH’s and numbers of graduate students? Just think.
I would like to leave you with a short poem I wrote and had published in 1990, “Behold the Mighty Ant.”
It is this “can do” attitude that will make a difference in everything we do henceforth.
Thank you and I am happy to be back and be finishing my second year as your Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs. Here’s to one more year, of working even more closely together to achieve common goals that make CTAHR “The Place To Be.”
Aloha!
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