Alice Taum is the new Associate Director of Development for the College of Education (COE) and Hawai`inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. Taum, who earned her PhD from the Department of Educational Psychology (EDEP), has served as a director of National Science Foundation and Native Hawaiian Education Association grant programs in the COE.
“I am excited to return to the College of Education, serving in this new capacity,” Taum said. “As a non-traditional student at the time (full-time mom and wife), I am a proud graduate of the COE. I hope to be an example to others just as those who believed in, supported, and mentored me over the decades have been. I look forward to meeting the many different individuals who play important roles in managing and running the important daily operations within the COE and working with generous donors who support the college.”
Taum was most recently the chaplain at Pohai Nani and Arcadia Family of Companies and has served as a community development manager and interim executive director at the Native Hawaiian Education Council as well as an educational consultant with Program Evaluation & Research Services Hawaiʽi.
“Dr. Alice Taum worked on projects in the college’s Curriculum Research & Development Group and the Department of Educational Psychology that focused on supporting teachers in Hawaiʽi’s public schools,” said EDEP Professor Lois Yamauchi who was Taum’s graduate chair. “A public school graduate and Native Hawaiian herself, Dr. Taum focused on pedagogical innovations for Native Hawaiian students in her doctoral studies. Since that time, she has had many experiences in education and community service. I am pleased to welcome Dr. Taum back to our COE ‘ohana in this new role and look forward to her continued contributions to education in our state.”
Taum’s connection to UH Mānoa and education dates back a century ago when her grandmother, Gladys Holt, graduated from UH Mānoa before going on to teach for more than 40 years and retiring as a principal in the 1960s. Today, three of Taum’s four children, as well as two daughters-in-law and one soon-to-be daughter-in-law, are either UH Mānoa alumni or current students.
“I am pleased to join the UH Foundation and to work with both the COE and HSHK, Dean Murata and Dean Osorio respectively, the staff and faculty, and future donors of the colleges to promote and perpetuate higher education,” Taum concluded.
