The College of Education (COE) Office of Student Academic Services (OSAS) welcomed their newest academic advisor, Michelle Tagorda-Kama, on August 19, 2024. In addition to providing services related to OSAS’s core functions of recruitment, admission, advising, retention, and graduation, she will lead the Pu‘uhonua Program by developing initiatives for Native Hawaiian Students.
Born and raised on the Big Island, Tagorda-Kama is the daughter of immigrant parents from the Ilocos Region of the Philippines. Her grandmother, who was a first-grade teacher in the Philippines, moved to Hawaiʻi to help take care of Tagorda-Kama and her brother while their parents worked long hours. She graduated from Kea‘au High School and was the first in her family to pursue higher education in the United States.
Currently a PhD student in Public Health with a focus on Community Based and Translational Research, Tagorda-Kama holds undergraduate degrees in biology and psychology as well as a Master of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, all from UH Mānoa.
“Having been nurtured by members of the UHM advising community as a student and along the way in my career, I’ve seen advising and student support evolve in many ways.” Tagorda-Kama said. “UHM has been at the forefront of advising innovation, and I’m grateful to be part of what makes students’ experiences at UHM so meaningful through what the advising community provides for them.”
While an undergraduate student, Tagorda-Kama worked as a peer advisor with the Pre-Health/Pre-Law Advising Center (PAC) where, she says, her professional development started with training, support, and relationships cultivated throughout the advising community there. She also worked with the Mānoa Peer Advisor program (MPA) as a program assistant, the Office of Student Equity Excellence and Diversity (SEED) as a program coordinator with the Health Careers Opportunity Program, and the Office of Public Health Studies as an academic advisor.
As part of the OSAS advising team, Tagorda-Kama says she will continue contributing to diversity, building community, and increasing the number of underrepresented students in higher education who have the skills to be successful at the university and beyond.
“Helping students make meaning of their higher education experiences to create agency for change in their communities has been so rewarding as an advisor,” Tagorda-Kama said. “More importantly, I’ve come to recognize the importance of uplifting and centering the histories of Native Hawaiians and the Native Hawaiian values that shape this special place.”
