On October 1, 2019, Kapiʻolani Community College will launch four new Title III projects to take its commitment to Native Hawaiian student success to the next level. Building upon over two decades of successful Title III initiatives, Kapiʻolani CC was awarded two federal grants worth nearly $3 million from the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen campus infrastructure to promote Native Hawaiian student success. The College also is included as a partner in two collaborative Title III grants, with Honolulu CC and with Chaminade University. Dean of Arts and Sciences Nāwa‘a Napoleon sees the impact of these grants as providing us with “an opportunity to better support our students, better support each other, and work together to uplift the namesake of our College.”
The next generation of Title III projects embodies the spirit of the campus to huliāmahi, to “collaborate, join together in cooperation.” In support of the career exploration and lifelong development of Native Hawaiian students, these projects are rooted in huli (to seek, investigate, and change) and mahi (strong and energetic). These projects will build lasting relationships among campus leaders and students who are committed to working together to solve the most pressing challenges facing enrollment, persistence, transfer, and graduation of Native Hawaiian students. Chancellor Louise Pagotto underlined the focus on the two beneficiaries of the grant, “Title III funds are clearly and strategically aimed to improve the success of our Native Hawaiian students through direct support and indirectly through professional development programs that enhance faculty’s pedagogical strategies to promote that success.”
Huliāmahi: Joining Together to Support Guided Pathways to Success (Five-year Collaborative with University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Kapiʻolani CC will develop a comprehensive educational pipeline in partnership with University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻinuiākea to provide robust student support services facilitating pre-transfer, post-transfer and for-credit experiential learning opportunities for Native Hawaiian students. Networking and intentional opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to develop their career and research potential are also important cornerstones for the collaborative. This collaborative strategically focuses enrollment management to include the growing population of Native Hawaiian students actively recruited through ongoing campus efforts from Hawaiian language immersion schools and other public high schools. The total five-year infrastructural improvements at both campuses are worth over $2.1 million in federal funding.
Huliāmahi – Joining Together to Support Guided Pathways to Success (Two-year Campus Award)
Strong communities of practice are the foundation of thriving schools and students. To this end, Kapiʻolani CC will foster a community of practice through two faculty cohorts selected to participate in collaborative academic and student support strategies. This two-year project will increase the capacity of instructional faculty, counselors and Native Hawaiian student support personnel working in a community of practice to improve Native Hawaiian re-enrollment, degree completion and transfer. This award will provide a boost to campus funding for professional development and technology worth nearly $700,000 over the next two years.
Kūkalahale: Building an Indigenous-Serving Institution through Professional Development (Five-year collaborative with Honolulu Community College)
Kapiʻolani CC is partnering with Honolulu Community College to innovate indigenous education frameworks in professional development. The College will increase capacity to implement indigenous education frameworks and support student success on their campuses and increase access to training on indigenous education methodologies to other campuses in support of the University of Hawaiʻi’s mission to become a model indigenous-serving institution. The collaborative will build capacity of faculty, staff, and administration to develop and sustain culturally appropriate and culturally relevant strategies that kipaipai (encourage) current and future Native Hawaiian students.
Strengthening Community College Partnerships, Peer Mentorship, and Experiential Learning (Five-year collaborative with Chaminade University)
Kapiʻolani CC is partnering with Chaminade University to expand transfer pathways to four-year degrees through shared faculty development initiatives, enhancement of learning spaces, and establishing a Ka Hiki Mai Scholars Program. This collaborative will create program-to-program transfer articulation agreements to offer new educational opportunities for students.
For Dean Napoleon, “all four grants support creating pathways/experiences that bridge students from high school to Kapiʻolani CC and from Kapiʻolani CC to a four-year institution.. For faculty and staff, these four grants will help support them in learning and assessing how we know, how we do things, how we live together at the institution, and how we can be the pillars to hold our students up.” The next generation of Title III projects will establish a Community of Practice reinforced through ongoing professional development that will “address supporting instruction in personal financial literacy, knowledge of markets and economics, knowledge of higher education financing and repayment (e.g., college savings and student loans), or other skills aimed at building personal financial understanding and responsibility.” Kapiʻolani CC will improve student support services through professional development of current faculty, counselors, and staff to fortify its academic pathways, access to financial aid, career exploration and professional development for Native Hawaiian students. Ultimately, Kapiʻolani CC seeks to close and eliminate achievement gaps and better prepare Native Hawaiian students for productive persistence to transfer and career opportunities.
Link to project abstracts:
- Huliāmahi: Joining Together to Support Guided Pathways to Success (Five-year Collaborative with University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
- Huliāmahi – Joining Together to Support Guided Pathways to Success (Two-year Campus Award)
- Kūkalahale: Building an Indigenous-Serving Institution through Professional Development (Five-year collaborative with Honolulu Community College)
- Strengthening Community College Partnerships, Peer Mentorship, and Experiential Learning (Five-year collaborative with Chaminade University)
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