Faculty & Staff - CS, University of Hawaiʻi

College of EducationCS

The faculty consists of professionally and academically qualified personnel, who are leaders in different aspects of the Curriculum Studies field. Our faculty include award-winning teachers and researchers. Five of our faculty members have won the UH Board of Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching and many more have been nominated for this prestigious award. The backgrounds and experiences of the faculty complement each other so that the department can offer a strong, innovative, and diverse instructional and research program.

As one graduate wrote on a survey asking about her experience in the program, “Hands down the best and most moving educational experience possible. My Masters program caused me to question, research, wonder, search, make connections, and reach new levels of education that I never would have believed possible if it were not for the passion and dedication of the professors.”

Patricia Halagao Professor, Department & Graduate Chair

Interests: Filipino curriculum & pedagogy; Multicultural education; Social studies; Cultural & linguistic policy

(808) 956-9295 phalagao@hawaii.edu

Kimo Cashman Specialist

Interests: Aloha ʻĀina Education and Leadership, Hawaiian Education, Art Education, Storytelling, Teacher Leader, Teacher Professional Development

(808) 956-3370 kcashman@hawaii.edu

Pauline Chinn Professor

Interests: My research and instructional interests focus on place-based education with a focus on Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands, sustainability science, professional development and teacher leadership, Indigenou science education; and transdisciplinary, culturally sustaining curriculum development.

(808) 956-4411 chinn@hawaii.edu

Robyn Chun Assistant Specialist

Interests: Early Childhood Higher Education and Professional Development Systems; Implications of Hawai'i's Indigenous and Local Culture on Professional Development and Teacher Preparation; Project Work in the Early Years

(808) 956-0337 rchun@hawaii.edu

Linda Furuto Professor of Mathematics Education

Interests: Mathematics achievement; Quantitative research methodology; Ethnomathematics; Access and equity

(808) 956-3359 lfuruto@hawaii.edu

Julie Kaomea Professor

Interests: Decolonizing Research Methodologies; Native Hawaiian Education; Indigenous Education

(808) 956-3994 thirugna@hawaii.edu

Eomailani Kukahiko Specialist

Interests: Mathematics Education; Hawaiian Language Immersion Education; STEMM Education

(808) 956-8918 eomai@hawaii.edu

Margaret Maaka Professor

Interests: Educational psychology/Indigenous educational psychology; Language and cognitive development; Multiliteracies; Educational policy; Indigenous development and advancement; Indigenous Leadership

marg@hawaii.edu

Summer Maunakea Assistant Professor

Interests: Eco-justice Pedagogy; Indigenous Land-based Education; Research Methodologies; Dismantling Settler Colonial Perspectives of Place and Place-based Education; Culturally Relevant Evaluation & Assessment; Sustainability Education; ʻĀina-based Pedagogies

smauna@hawaii.edu

Natalie Nimmer Associate Director & Instructor, PACMED

Interests: Indigenous Learning Frameworks, Micronesia, Marshall Islands

nimmer@hawaii.edu

Tara O'Neill Professor

Interests: STEMS^2 Education, STEM Education, Multicultural Ed, Place-Based Ed, Secondary Science, Culture-Based Ed, equity, social justice

(808) 956-0415 toneill@hawaii.edu

Amanda Smith Assistant Professor

Interests: Philosophy and Social Theory (particularly Poststructuralism & Feminist New Materialisms); Literacies; Qualitative Research Methods; Art, Making, and Visuality

(808) 956-3977 ars3@hawaii.edu

Brooke Ward Taira Assistant Professor

Interests: Migration and Literacy; Culturally Responsive Assessment; Literacy Studies; Teacher Education; Multicultural Education

bwtaira@hawaii.edu

Deborah Zuercher Professor and Director of PACMED

Interests: Technology and STEM; Multicultural and International Education; K12 Instruction and Teacher Preparation; Hawaiian and Place-based Education; Leadership, Admin and Policy

zuercher@hawaii.edu

Jaime Lum STEMS^2 & ECE Educational Specialist

(808) 956-2376 hongo@hawaii.edu

Larson Ng Educational Specialist / Graduate Faculty

Interests: Island-Based Economics; Hawaiian Kingdom Public School System; Educational Leadership Professional Development; Renationalization Methodologies and Curriculum; Applied Econometric and Mixed Research Methods

(808) 956-6435 lng@hawaii.edu