The 2020 University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Provost’s Strategic Investment Competition winners include Department of Curriculum Studies Associate Specialist Eōmailani Kukahiko. One of 16 project proposals selected, Hoʻoulu Kaiapuni will address a state and Hawaiʻi Department of Education need to strengthen training and certification pathways for Hawaiian language immersion teachers. To that end, the program will create accessible evening and/or on-site professional development, offer workshops on online teaching in the humanities and related fields, and provide information about methods of ensuring standards and assessing teaching effectiveness.
The Strategic Investment Competition was designed to increase cross-unit and cross-disciplinary collaboration in strategic areas that, with start-up funding, have a strong possibility for success in building on UH Mānoa’s strengths while also addressing challenges. The winning proposals will receive a total of $750K in start-up funding.
Hoʻoulu Kaiapuni team members include Kukahiko, Jonathan K. Osorio of Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge; Robert Keawe Lopes, Annette Wong, Ron Kekeha Solis, Maya Saffery, and Kahikina DeSilva of Hawaiian Language; and Kauʻi Sang of the Hawai‘i Department of Education.