Aloha Kākou,
We hope you find these pages introducing the programs of the School of Pacific and Asian Studies (SPAS) both informative and exciting. The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa has historically made the study of the Pacific and Asia central to its mission, and this is most clearly seen in the establishment of our school devoted to the study of the Pacific and Asia.
The SPAS web page serves as portal into the 8 centers and 2 academic programs within our school. Here prospective students can learn about admission practices, map out possible programs, and contact faculty and staff.
Each of the centers focuses on a region or country within the Pacific and Asia region, and serves as a place where students and faculty can interact, learn, and study about that area or country. The centers also sponsor frequent community activities that help enhance a broad understanding and appreciation of the societies and cultures of the area or country. Because Hawai‘i is blessed with many cultural traditions, these centers also play an important role in fostering understanding among our Islands’ multi-ethnic communities. The academic programs, Pacific Islands Studies and Asian Studies, house the actual courses that forward an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Pacific and Asia.
The study of the Pacific and Asia also stretches beyond this web page and our School. The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa has some 400 faculty teaching and researching about the Pacific in Asia. Much of this work takes place in cooperation with SPAS, although located throughout the University. Through the centers’ web pages you can find links to programs in many of Mānoa’s disciplines that also focus on the Pacific and Asia. To anyone interested in the study of the Pacific and Asia, there is probably no better place in the United States than the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Our faculty and students make this a vibrant place of learning. With strong support from our university leadership as well as the various ethnic communities that comprise Hawai‘i, we are able to engage in cutting edge research and teaching as well as maintaining up-to-date links with the Pacific and Asia. Our students emerge fully informed of an area’s past and present, mentored by faculty who are leaders in their respective fields.