Aloha mai kākou!
As we continue to bring the vision of Mānoa 2025 to life, we invite you and your unit to join Cohort Waikolu of our Hawai‘i Papa o ke Ao Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Office.
This is your opportunity to collaborate with us in a supportive and immersive environment to develop a meaningful five-year plan for your unit to become more reflective of Hawai‘i. You will join the many schools, colleges, and offices that have already embarked on this vital journey to fulfill our collective kuleana to Hawaiʻi and the world.
This cohort is comprised of the following units:
- Athletics
- Branding & Marketing
- Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
- William S. Richardson School of Law
- Office of Global Engagement
- Office of the Vice President of Administration
- Office of the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management
- Office of the Vice Provost for Research & Scholarship
- Outreach College
- Waikīkī Aquarium
- Water Resources Research Center
This webpage is meant to orient you to Cohort Waikolu, invite you to learn about this professional development, and update you on its progress.
If you have any questions, please email us at: nhpol@hawaii.edu.
A short story on this cohort:
After the UH Mānoa campus approved the current strategic plan Mānoa 2025: Our Kuleana to Hawai‘i and the World, the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning (NHPoL) Advancement Office began working on our strategy to support the plan’s three goals specific to becoming a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning. One of the three goals is that, “100% of schools and colleges and other similar nonacademic units will have a five-year strategic plan to address each of the four Native Hawaiian place of learning strategic focus areas relevant to their particular units” (p. 19) by the end of the strategic plan period.
In spring 2023, we reached out to members of the Provost’s Council – including but not limited to academic deans, directors of ORUs, and the vice provost offices – to invite them and their units into a two-year process with our office to support their efforts to create five-year action plans. They gauged readiness within their units and responded to us. Cohort 3 is the continued response to this invitation, and we are so looking forward to engaging with you!
A note on the name Waikolu:
For Cohort 3, we have chosen the name Waikolu. Waikolu can be described in English as literally “three waters.” Waikolu refers to the three waters that flowed across Waikīkī and released into the ocean prior to the dredging of Honolulu and the development of the Ala Wai Canal. Waikolu is also the names of a valley on Molokaʻi and a stream on Hawaiʻi. Hence, we have named this Cohort Waikolu because it is the third and therefore accompanies Cohort Kumukahi and Kaulua, comprised of schools, colleges, and other units all working towards the common purpose and goal of becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning.
Our Journey Together: The Path to Your Five-Year Plan
Our ultimate goal is to support every unit in creating a five-year action plan, which may involve preparing for your unit’s next accreditation, may be the start of a new action planning period, or a review and refinement of your unit’s current action plan implementation. This journey begins with an immersive professional development experience. We’ve designed the following path to guide you from initial engagement to the final plan.
Your Commitment
To ensure you and your colleagues gain the full benefit of this collaborative experience, full attendance from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day is required. The hands-on work we will do in pairs and small groups depends on everyone’s presence.
Please choose one of the three sessions that works best for you:
- March 16-20, 2026 (UHM Spring Break)
- August 10-14, 2026 (Summer Session, the week before faculty start date)
- October 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30, 2026 (5 consecutive Fridays in the Fall)
Once you have submitted an engagement Google Form selecting your session, please place a hold on your calendar for the session dates, and we will send you an email confirmation.
- Note: After the three sessions are completed, we will work with each of the Cohort Waikolu’s leadership tems to identify 6-8 people who have attended one of these sessions to be part of a hui (i.e., small group) that will join us for a 2-day summit in December of 2026. This summit will kick-off the unit’s 5-year NHPoL action planning process and this team will be the “engine” to support its progress. You do not have to be part of the hui to participate in a session. But if you are interested in supporting your unit in this process or foresee being involved in the hui work, we encourage you to take full advantage of one of the three sessions provided.
- Commit & Reflect (via Google Form) Your journey begins with our Engagement Form. This form is not a test; it is a space for you to reflect on foundational ideas and confirm your commitment to this process. Your thoughtful engagement ensures you and your colleagues will have the most impactful experience possible.
- Engage with Core Ideas. In the form, you will reflect on three key resources:
- UH Mānoa Strategic Plan (pages 7-14)
- “Our Hawai‘i Grown Truth” (4-page read) or listen to it here (14 minutes)
- TRHT Vision Video (9 minutes)
These resources ground our work in the Hawai‘i principles of the strategic plan and connect them to our current context. You will see references to our Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation™ (TRHT) framework, which helps us apply these principles thoughtfully to the complexities of today.
- Join the Immersive PD The heart of this initiative is a five-day immersive professional development experience designed to equip you with the foundational knowledge, shared language, and collaborative tools you will need to participate in your unit’s planning process. We recognize how busy you are, and this focused time is designed to be productive, collaborative, and inspiring.
Please complete the Engagement Form by December 1, 2025.
Once you submit the form and select a session, please place a hold on your calendar. We will review all submissions and send a confirmation email to all participants by December 19, 2025.
We are so excited to partner with you on this meaningful work.
About the cohort experience
This was an introductory and immersive experience to learn about Hawaiian values and how they relate to me and to others in our community
Testimonial #1
Rob Wright – Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
“Making UHM a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning…”
“…If you are interested in understanding what we can do to make the university more reflective of Native Hawaiian culture, I encourage you [to] apply … Is it a time commitment? Yes. I moved my availability to before 9 and after 4 to accommodate, which wasn’t too much hassle. The October workshop is easier as it will be on consecutive Fridays.
I attended the week-long session last week, learned a lot, and met a lot of good people. I know we have many responsibilities already but this is important to our hosts, the people of Hawai’i, as it demonstrates a commitment to being good guests. Importantly you will learn that there is nothing to fear from being part of this process. You are not going to be forced to change the content of your courses. You are not being forced to take political positions. You are not going to be told you cannot write proposals you want to write.
What you will learn is something of Hawaiian culture and language, and that with that knowledge, making UHM a place of Native Hawaiian Learning really boils down to recognition of the following, which is not a controversial sentiment: that by looking out for each other, so we can collectively take care of our surroundings, we will ensure that people we will never meet will be able to live here and thrive in the future. That is more or less a direct quote one of the course leaders used to summarize what it means to be a NHPoL. So making UHM a NHPoL is really i) being a good neighbor, and ii) casting an eye towards sustainability. There are probably many ways you currently serve that purpose, and others we could envision in the future that would not upend how our lives are currently configured.
Signing up for one of the future workshops does not commit you to being involved in a multi-year event to develop the final plans. But it does mean you will be able to contribute if you decide you want to.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, and think I learned something. There are some really good intentions here.
Cheers, Rob.”
I was surprised about how much I had to look inward, engage, and open up myself for the process. I wasn't just there to listen and learn, but to reflect as well---I had to give something to the process to get something back. I was proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone. I was impressed by how much trust we had in each other in the pilina circles when we shared stories.
Testimonial #2
Jenny Engels – School of Ocean Earth Science and Technology
“Re: Please consider participating in this transformational training”
Last week I had a chance to participate in the Cohort Kumukahi training offered by the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office. In the 20+ years I’ve been associated with UHM, this training has been the single most useful to help me understand Native Hawaiian values, UHM’s Strategic Plan, and my role as a settler and guest in these islands. It’s a big time commitment to participate for 5 days, but it was also a gift to get to focus totally on one activity, and to be completely immersed in learning with old and new colleagues. I came away with a fundamentally changed perspective on my relationship with these islands and our planet – it was that impactful…”
…for anyone at UHM who cares about the campus, cares about anything even remotely related to Hawai'i, this is a very valuable and meaningful experience, especially if you allow yourself to be fully present and give yourself to each part of the training.