Graduate Council | Graduate Division

Graduate Council members are typically current or former graduate or department chairs. They are invited by the Graduate Dean to serve a 3-year term that may be renewed one time. The names of Graduate Council appointees are shared with the Mānoa Faculty Senate. The council meets monthly and advises the Graduate Dean on matters related to graduate education. The council also reviews graduate program and curricular actions, scholarship and award applications, and appointments of graduate faculty as part of program review.

Council Committees

The council has three standing committees : Administrative-Admissions-Advisory (AAA), Program, and Course Committees. A subset of the AAA committee serves as part of the Graduate Grievance Committee.

Council Composition

Members are selected to be broadly representative of the graduate programs at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, with one or two representatives from each school or college, depending on size, and one representative selected on a rotating basis from the smallest schools. In addition, the Graduate Student Organization and the Faculty Senate each have two seats. The following is the AY 24-25 composition of the Graduate Council:

Graduate Dean — Chair
Graduate Associate Dean — Vice-Chair
College of Arts, Languages, and Letters — 3 members
- Derrick Higginbotham
- Kara Jhalak Miller
- Thomas Osborne/Gary Holton
College of Natural Sciences — 2 members
- Eric Szarmes
- Amber Wright
College of Social Sciences — 2 members
- Wayne Buente
- Nori Tarui
College of Education — 2 members
- Rhonda Black
- Michael Menchaca
College of Engineering — 1 member
- Lin Shen
School of Medicine — 1 member
- Saguna Verma
School of Nursing — 1 member
- Alice Tse
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology — 1 member
- Kwok Fai Cheung
School of Social Work and Public Health — 1 member
- Jane Chung-Do
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources — 1 member
- Mark Wright
College of Business/School of Architecture/School of Hawaiian Knowledge — 1 member*
- Jing Ai
Graduate Student Organization — 2 members **
- Arby Barone
- Kenneth Kiehl
Faculty Senate Liaison — 2 representatives appointed by the SEC
- Christopher Kaliko Baker
- Carolyn Stephenson

* One member represents all three and is selected on a rotating basis.

** One member may be the GSO president and/or both are selected by the GSO from elected officers and representatives.

Council Minutes