Our Kuleana
The Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office was established to help UH Mānoa and each of its units to uniquely and collectively reach the institutional goal of becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning.
Our kuleana guides and inspires us. Our team is comprised of a talented group of people both humbled and proud to engage in this important work.
Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Team
About Us
Alaka‘i: Our Leader
Dr. Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe
- Hometown: He‘eia, O‘ahu
- Kuleana: Native Hawaiian Affairs Program Officer who oversees strategic implementation of recommendations from the Native Hawaiian Reports; Director of UHM’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Center; Interim Director of the Institute for Hawaiian Language Research and Translation.
- Email: kaiwipun@hawaii.edu
Limahana: Our Wonderful Staff
Kawehionālani Goto, MEd Educational Psychology
- Hometown: Papakōlea, O‘ahu
- Kuleana: Graduate research assistant: Conceptualization of qualitative and quantitative data related to the Native Hawaiian reports
- Graduate program: PhD Candidate, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education
Makanalani Gomes
- Hometown: Waipiʻo, Oʻahu
- Kuleana: Online engagement and outreach during the pandemic
- Graduate program: Master’s Student, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Hoakalei Watanabe
- Hometown: Mililani, Oʻahu
- Kuleana: Online engagement
- Graduate program: Undergraduate student, Double Majoring in Environmental Earth Science and Hawaiian Language with a Minor in Dance
Contact Us
Address
2500 Campus Road Honolulu, HI 96822
Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Team Archive
Sonya Zabala, MA in Communications
- Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
- Kuleana: Operations Coordinator
ʻElia Akaka
- Hometown: Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu
- Kuleana: Online engagement and outreach during the pandemic
- Undergraduate program: Undergraduate Student- Double Majoring in Hawaiian and Hawaiian Studies with a Minor in Music, Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language and Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Pua Souza, Master’s in Social Work
- Hometown: Kohala, Hawaiʻi
- Kuleana: Graduate research assistant: Communications, Inter-departmental and Community Engagement Initiatives
- Graduate program: PhD Student, Curriculum Studies, College of Education
Top left to right: Sonya Zabala and Pua Souza; Bottom left to right: Punihei Lipe and Kawehionālani Goto
From left to right: Kawehionālani Goto, Sonya Zabala, Punihei Lipe, Pua Souza, and Keahialaka Ioane