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About Our Office

I kua na mākou.

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.

NHPoL Team Fall 2022

Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Team

About Us

Punihei Lipe

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

Kawehi Goto

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

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
Sofia Headshot

Sofia Luczak

  • Hometown: Hālawa, Oʻahu
  • Kuleana: Graduate Assistant: Support the Campus Climate Committee in its efforts to transform Mānoa
  • Graduate program: Master’s Student, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Contact Us

Address

2500 Campus Road Honolulu, HI 96822

Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Team Archive

 

Hoakalei

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

Sonya Zabala

Sonya Zabala, MA in Communications

  • Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
  • Kuleana: Operations Coordinator

NHPOL team 2021

ʻElia Akaka

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

Photo of Pua Souza

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
NHPOL Group Photo, from left to right: Kawehionālani Goto, Sonya Zabala, Punihei Lipe, Pua Souza, and Keahialaka Ioane
From left to right: Kawehionālani Goto, Sonya Zabala, Punihei Lipe, Pua Souza, and Keahialaka Ioane
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