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Aloha ʻĀina – Hawaiian Education and Leadership PhD Cohort

We are no longer accepting applications for the fall 2023 cohort. Check with the department for information on the next admission

“The Aloha ʻĀina – Hawaiian Education and Leadership PhD Cohort is part of the PhD in Education: Curriculum & Instruction.”

Vision

We envision a thriving educational system in a de-occupied Hawaiʽi based on an ethos of Aloha ʻĀina that liberates and empowers Hawaiians to execute our genealogical kuleana to ʽāina, lāhui, and kānaka maoli.

Purpose

The PhD in Education-Aloha ʻĀina Education and Leadership cohort focuses on Aloha ʻĀina (Love for ʻāina, lāhui, and people – Hawaiian-national conscience) as a foundation for relationships, education, leadership, well-being, ownership, research, and the re-nationalization of lāhui Hawaiʻi. The purpose of the program is to critically engage educators and education leaders with Aloha ʻĀina in various educational contexts to help them understand, articulate, and respond to their kuleana to ʻāina, lāhui, and kānaka maoli.

Collective Goals

Throughout the program, faculty & student will:

  • Aloha ʻĀina;
  • Develop a deeper understanding of and connection to the correlation between Hawaiian history and education within the Hawaiian Kingdom;
  • Research/analyze the current state of Hawaiian education and leadership – Issues & challenges, successes & failures, needs, aspirations, configurations, theories;
  • Engage in ongoing critical reflection and true dialogue regarding their kuleana as educational leaders to ʻāina, lāhui, and kānaka maoli in the following areas: Research, curriculum development, teaching, curriculum evaluation, teacher education and/or professional development.

FAQs

This is a hybrid that combines both online and face-to-face components.

We will accept approximately 5-8 students into our fall 2023 cohort.

Our academic advisors will work with each student to determine which courses from their previous coursework, if any, can be used for the PhD program requirements.

We have designed the cohort mindful that our students also work full-time. Students will take two courses per semester. Courses are usually held on weekdays from 4:30-7:00 pm either in-person or via Zoom (synchronous). Each course usually will meet once per week. The PhD degree program is a very rigorous one. In addition to the program coursework, students will need to invest a substantial amount of time on the coursework and their individual-research projects.