Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence

Leading with Excellence

Faculty members across the Mānoa campus face unique challenges as they transition into Academic Leaders, whether as an Executive, Dean, Associate Dean, Department Chair, Graduate or Undergraduate Chair, Program Chair, or Director. The University is committed to providing support, resources and training to faculty members as they transition into these Academic Leadership roles.

The Leading with Excellence conference will provide current and newly appointed Academic Leaders the ability to gain a better understanding of what their roles require of them, sharpen their leadership skills and leverage their skills and vision to move their departments forward. The Leading with Excellence conference will also provide the opportunity for Academic Leaders to develop their leadership networks and exchange experiences with leaders across campus.

The conference will host strategic sessions in which Academic Leaders can engage in comprehensive discussions on how to drive growth and success at UH Mānoa grounded in the reality of the current Academic settings.

Workshop topics were chosen based on feedback we received from current and prospective Academic Leaders, along with trending issues our office has observed. To ensure each workshop addresses the topic at hand and is designed to provide hands on skills development for attendees, each Speaker has been asked to develop a presentation that provides tips and tools, allows for collaboration and participation, and engages the audience.

Save the Date: August 6-8, 2025

2025 Schedule

Sign-In to the conference will begin at 8:00 am at the Saunders Hall courtyard (first floor), you will be provided with a name tag with a reminder of session room locations and a welcome folder.

Open Forum: Meet with President, Interim Provost, Chief Business Officer, and Vice Provosts

Panelists:

Wendy F. Hensel, President
Vassilis Syrmos, Interim Provost
Nikki Chun, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management
Sandy French, Chief Business Officer, Manoa Office of Business and Finance
Laura Lyons, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Excellence
Kapā Oliveira, Interim Vice Provost for Student Success

Participants will have an opportunity to meet with President, Interim Provost, CBO and Vice Provosts. You could submit your questions through registration. This session will be open to all E/M and Faculty at UH Mānoa.

Panel Discussion: Academic Freedom

Laura Lyons, Kapa Oliveira, Jennifer Rose, UHPA

Lunch will be provided by Holoholo Bistro.

Faculty Performance Evaluation

Teresa Kono and Dwight Takeno

Information to Help Department Planning: Data at Your Fingertips

Monica Stitt-Bergh, and Sunja Kim

The Mānoa Institutional Research Office (MIRO) created a self-service platform for department leaders to answer questions about their department and programs. These data can help leaders plan and monitor student and employee trends. This session will introduce MIRO’s platform, Decision Support, and help attendees answer questions such as, How long are students in my program taking to graduate? Has student enrollment increased over time? How many Native Hawaiian faculty are in my college/school? How many faculty in the department are over 61 years old? Attendees will practice using the platform during the session and get assistance as needed. Please bring a laptop.

Micro-credentials at UH Mānoa

Paul McKimmy and Jon Matsuda

Following a UH System policy authorizing micro-credentials, a proposal process is being piloted at UH Mānoa. Proposals for credit-based micro-credentials are being accepted, for feedback and consideration beginning Fall 2025 and launch in Spring 2026. A key feature of the Mānoa approach is the ability to dual-list courses in Extension term, enabling recruitment of unclassified students. Micro-credentials are expected to boost enrollments, add value, and provide a new venue for reaching prospective degree-seeking students.

Faculty On-Boarding

Lori Furoyama, Hazel Gedikli, Amy Hubbard, Julie Kaomea

TBD

Cultivating Innovation and Excellence: Shaping the Future of Education at UH

Sandra Fujiyama and Alice Wu Swift

As leaders in higher education, equipping students with relevant skills is essential as our world continues to evolve, and we have the ability to align with these efforts through professional development (PD) opportunities for faculty and staff. Through a collaborative effort with the UH Online Innovation Center (UHOIC), Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business, and Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), the EL3vate program was launched to empower faculty and staff across the UH system to integrate experiential learning, engineering design, and entrepreneurship into their teaching, learning, and other work contexts. Join this session for practical tips and strategies to foster this innovation in your own departments and build collaborations across departments, campuses, and local communities.

In addition, gain insights into PACE’s broader portfolio of free, interdisciplinary programs including the development of a new Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate, along with UHOIC’s other professional development offerings aligned with evolving needs such as the recently launched AI 2 Xcelerate (AI2X) program, UH H5P programs, and more! Leave the session with resources and PD opportunities to help prepare faculty, staff, and students across the UH system to lead with excellence in a dynamic future.

Updates from Global Engagement

TBD

If you were unable to attend the first day of the conference, then please sign-in at main table at the Saunders Hall Courtyard. You will be provided with a name tag with a reminder of session room locations and a welcome folder.

Native Hawaiian Place of Learning

Kaiwipini Punihei Lipe

UH Mānoa has a goal of becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning. How can leaders of all backgrounds begin to do this? This workshop will provide some tools to begin (or continue) this journey.

Rising Discrimination Concerns on Title VI

Teresa Kono, Kapa Oliveira, and Jennifer Rose,

Leading with Purpose and Resilience

Sarah Moriarty and Linda Voong

As institutions navigate evolving challenges in higher education, it is vital to center leadership around purpose, resilience, and the people who bring the mission to life—our faculty and staff. This session presents a leadership framework grounded in the mission, values, and strategic goals of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, enriched by proven organizational practices. Participants will explore actionable strategies to enhance institutional alignment and accountability, build trust through intentional relationship building rooted in place-based values, and foster open communication and collaboration. The session culminates in an employee-centered servant leadership model that empowers academic environments to thrive in alignment with community and institutional purpose..

Mānoa’s research enterprise

Chris Sabine

This session will cover all the different functions of the OVPRS and provide a brief overview of the current local and national situation with respect to research funding.

Classroom Management and Student Conduct

Teresa Kono, Wiliama Sanchez, Kahunawai Wright

Rooted and Rising: Practicing Self-Compassion in a Disrupted World” – Leading with Hānai and Ho‘omalu, Beginning Within

Tracie Ann Tjapkes

In the face of relentless uncertainty, shifting systems, and personal-professional upheaval, many are stretched thin. The fast pace and high expectations of today’s world often leave little space for grace—especially toward ourselves. Yet research shows that self-compassion is not a luxury; it’s a vital leadership and wellness skill. This session explores self-compassion as a powerful practice to counter burnout, build resilience, and sustain wellbeing in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. Participants will reflect on their own self-talk, recognize how harsh inner narratives develop, and practice simple tools to turn compassion inward. Rooted in the understanding that struggle is part of the shared human experience, this session invites participants to slow down, soften self-judgment, and rise stronger from challenge.
By the end of the session, participants will:
– Understand the core components of self-compassion
– Reflect on how you respond to moments of difficulty or failure
– Practice simple, research-backed tools for cultivating self-kindness and awareness
– Connect self-compassion to UH Mānoa values values of resilience and interdependence

Join us for a lunch provided by OVPAE. During the lunch we ask that you participate in the “Mapping tables” to better inform us of what we can do to provide additional support and resources to our Academic Leaders. In doing so, you can find yourself in an environment that will allow for you to engage with your peers and/or colleagues in an unstructured format – this will allow for peers across disciplines to get to know one another and potentially develop a network across the UH Mānoa campus.

Advancing GRAD: Updates & Chair Collaboration

Rochelle Piʻilani Kaaloa, Julie Maeda and Sarah Moriarty

This session offers key updates and practical guidance related to mentoring, support of our Graduate Assistants, addressing student concerns, and revisiting curricula and course plans of study. We’ll also share strategies for building strong research teams and fostering effective collaboration and communication between department/directors and graduate chairs. Join us to learn, share, and strengthen your role in advancing graduate education.

Handling Students of Concern

Kapā Oliveira, Wiliama Sanchez, Kahunawai Wright

Office of Legal Affairs and University General Counsel: Liability

Steven Hall, Teresa Kono, and Lis Contrades

If you were unable to attend the first day of the conference on August 7, 2024 then please sign-in main table, you will be provided with a name tag with a reminder of session room locations and a welcome folder.

Accommodation Training: What Should Faculty Allow

Kimber Deans, Vanessa Ito, Teresa Kono, and Kara Moran

Department Chair: Practical Suggestions for a Challenging Role

Joe Brown, Cathy Clayton and Patricia Halagao

This session will include key context and learning points from a recently appointed department chair. Suggestions for practice relate to the following concepts: leadership, time, presence, vision, change, and trust. We anticipate a balance of time in this session on both the suggestions from the presenter and the ability to offer questions and comments from audience members to discuss further.

Your Workload Policy Update: Late, But Legendary

Teresa Kono and Paul McKimmy

The BOR updated the policy on Work Assignments for Faculty (RP 9.214) in 2023, necessitating updated workload policies. A recommended template for UH Manoa workload policies accompanied an OVPAE request for updated policies in January, 2024. This session is a refresher on the recommended template (Workload Equivalency Framework, or WEF) and a discussion on progress, challenges, and solutions as we refine UHM workload policies.

Acknowledging Staff Performance and Growth

Jeffery Long, Nicole Ogawa and Miki Sugikawa

Session will be an introduction and discussion of the APT Performance Evaluation System, and will include an explanation and description of acknowledging APT growth in position.

Setting Boundaries in the Learning and Working Environment

Jessica Kaneshiro, Teresa Kono, Jennifer Matayoshi, and Kapā Oliveira

Panel Discussion: Implementation of NHPoL at Program Level

Panelists: Mapuana Antonio and Megan Donahue

This panel discussion will explore how units integrate Native Hawaiian Place of Learning (NHPoL) in their respective program/unit/research, using the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and Department of Public Health as a model framework. Panelists will share best practices, tips, and strategies for individuals looking to integrate NHPoL in their own work/department/unit.

Civil Rights and Title IX: A Primer for Deans/Directors on responding to prohibited conduct and complaints under the University’s new policies

Jenn Rose, Jenn Matayoshi, Kimber Deans, Jess Kaneshiro, & Jeanie Sohn

Deans, Directors, and Chairs play a critical role in creating welcoming, safe and intellectually vibrant departmental cultures and must be proactive in ensuring nondiscriminatory academic and work environments. As leaders, they are often exposed to a wide range of workplace issues where bias and discrimination may arise.

This workshop will provide a primer on:

the University’s recently-updated civil rights policies and procedures regarding sex discrimination and other forms of prohibited conduct (EP 1204, EP 1202, AP 1202);
the role of Deans/Directors and Chairs in responding to complaints and reports of discrimination and harassment; and
Identifying and utilizing appropriate institutional responses to prevent and respond to allegations of prohibited conduct under University policies.

Information to Help Department Planning: Data at Your Fingertips

Monica Stitt-Bergh and Kelly Jung-ts Lin

Please bring a laptop.

Faculty Reclassification Workshop by School/College

Laura Lyons , Paul McKimmy and Linda Voong

Participants of this session have been pre-assigned and should register via a separate registration link. This session is an opportunity for Dean’s Office teams to confer with OVPAE on communication with faculty and responses to requests for reclassification. Dean’s office personnel including: Dean, Associate and/or Assistant Deans, Dept Chairs, Personnel Officer, Fiscal Officer, and Administrative Support may attend as designated by respective Deans.

2025 Conference Events

Conversation Starters: As Academic Leaders, you have the power to change lives and impact the productivity and value of our campus. Let’s use this time to meet someone new by grabbing a “conversation starter” card to help break the ice and having an honest conversation. Pair the conversation with a cup of coffee or tea that will be served throughout the conference.

Lucky Draw: During the conference, attendees coming to the conference will be given a stamp card- if you’re able to complete the stamp card you can enter the lucky draw. Winners will be sent an email at the end of the conference.

Evaluations: You will notice throughout the conference that there will be two sets of evaluations 1) Evaluation of the workshop session – this form will be handed out by the in-room volunteer at the end of your session. We ask that you complete the evaluation of the workshop and submit them back to the in-room volunteer and 2) Evaluation of the Conference – this form can be found in your Welcome Folder – we ask that you complete the form and submit to the registration table, once completed you will be given a token of appreciation.

Lunch: OVPAE will be providing attendees and presenters lunch throughout the three day conference, we ask that you participate in the “Mapping tables” to better inform us of what we can do to provide additional support and resources to our Academic Leaders.

Speakers

Christian Fern, received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa. He also completed the Advanced Labor Studies Program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Fern has served as an associate executive director with UHPA since July 2015.

Prior to serving as an associate executive director for UHPA, Fern worked for the state’s two largest health plans, HMSA and Kaiser Permanente. He worked at HMSA for 16 years in progressively responsible roles that led to his position as manager of the Employer-Union Trust Fund and federal plan. At Kaiser Permanente, he was manager of large accounts for state and federal plans.

Fern worked as a legislative intern for the Senate Judiciary Committee while he was a University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa political science student, and returned to the Senate Judiciary Committee as a committee clerk after he graduated.

Presenting On:

My Role as an Academic Leader – August 9, 2024 at 11:00 am

Presenting On:

Department Document & Criteria Templates – August 7, 2024 at 1:45 pm

De-Mystifying Performance Improvement for Tenured Faculty- August 08, 2024 at 9:00 am

Handling Challenging Situations In and Out of the Classroom- August 08, 2024 at 11:00 am

My Role as an Academic Leader – August 9, 2024 at 11:00 am

Dr. Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe is a Native Hawaiian mother, daughter, ‘ōlapa, and educator. In 2017 she was hired into the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) President’s Office as the inaugural Native Hawaiian Affairs Program Officer where she implements findings from her award-winning research to advance UHM’s goal of becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning. She is also the director of UHM’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Center and the Institute for Hawaiian Language Research and Translation. She is currently a participant in the inaugural Culture of Health Leadership Institute for Racial Healing. She holds a BA in Hawaiian Studies, an MS in Counseling Psychology, and a PhD in Education Administration.

On Names: We kindly ask that a sincere effort is made to pronounce Punihei’s name (and any name in general that we may find challenging at first to speak). We feel that in doing so, we take the time to recognize the significance of names while disrupting the systemic impacts of Native and Indigenous erasure. Please note that a sound file for Punihei’s name is in her email signature.

Presenting On:

Fostering a NH place of learning: Building pilina (relationships, connection) – August 9, 2024 at 9:00 am

Paul McKimmy is interim Associate Vice Provost for Academic Excellence at the University of Hawai`i-Mānoa where he leads the tenure and promotion process, chairs the distance learning advisory committee, reviews policy and contract cases, and coordinates professional development. Dr. McKimmy has a combined thirty years of experience in higher education, including twenty years with the University of Hawai`i-Mānoa College of Education. As the College’s Director of Technology & Distance Programs, his roles included planning and managing instructional support services, technical services, and development of distance programs. As a faculty Specialist in the Learning Design & Technology department, he also developed curriculum and taught courses in instructional design, academic technology, and online learning. He continues to serve on doctoral committees with the department. Dr. McKimmy holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University, Masters degrees in College Student Personnel and Guidance and Counseling from Bowling Green State University, and a Bachelors in Business Administration from Hope College.

Presenting On:

Faculty Classification – August 07, 2024 at 9:00 am

UHM Workload Equivalencies Framework – August 07, 2024 at 10:45 am

Department Document & Criteria Templates – August 07, 2024 at 1:45 am

Dan Meisenzahl has served as director of the UH Office of Communications since 2014, overseeing internal and external communications for UH Mānoa and Hawaiʻi’s 10-campus public higher education system. This includes proactive and crisis communications; media relations; the UH News, UH Mānoa and UH System websites; UH Mānoa and UH System social media accounts; and marketing. Meisenzahl joined UH in 2012 after serving as the spokesperson for the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation and working in local television news for 13 years. He was raised in Hawaiʻi and is a Kalani High School and UH Mānoa graduate

Presenting On:

The Importance of Communications – August 08, 2024 at 9:00 am

Jennifer Solidum Rose is the Director of the recently-launched Office of Equity Assurance (OEA), which houses the (former) System Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), the System/Mānoa Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action, and the Mānoa Title IX Office. OEA coordinates and oversees UH’s system-wide policies, initiatives, and institutional reporting related to Title IX, Title VII, VAWA, EEO/AA and non-discrimination issues.

For over 25 years, Jenn has been recognized for her work on civil rights and gender violence. In 2018, she was presented the Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by Hawaiʻi Women Lawyers. In 2012, she was recognized by the Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation and the Hawai‘i State Legislature for her Title IX work.

From 2015-2022, Jenn served as the Director of OIE, the first System office to address Title IX and VAWA institutional reporting and prevention. Prior to her appointment as Director of OIE, Jenn served as the Gender Equity Specialist at UH Mānoa, providing advocacy and case management services and strengthening institutional responses to sex discrimination. She has taught the Family Law Clinic at the William S. Richardson School of Law, a course on domestic violence and civil remedies and was twice awarded Adjunct Professor of the Year. Prior to becoming faculty at Mānoa, Jenn worked for ten years at the Domestic Violence Action Center as a managing attorney and their first director of community engagement, developing programs increasing access to services for immigrant survivors and other underserved populations.

Presenting On:

Civil Rights and Title IX: A Primer for Deans/Directors on responding to prohibited conduct and complaints under the University’s new policies – August 09, 2023 at 2:00 pm

Dr. Christopher Sabine received his PhD in Chemical Oceanography in 1992 from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). After a few years as postdoc and research staff at Princeton University, he moved to Seattle, Washington to work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Over the next 20 years, he worked his way up from junior researcher to laboratory director. In 2018, he decided to leave his administrative duties behind and moved back to Hawaii to be a professor of Oceanography at UHM. The administrative respite did not last long as Dr. Sabine is currently the interim Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship.

Presenting On:

Administrative Interface with the OVPRS – August 9, 2024 at 11:00 am

Presenting On:

Successful Meetings and Productive Conversations – August 08, 2024 at 2:00 pm

Linda received her Master’s in Human Resources from Shidler College of Business and has been with the University of Hawaii since 2012. Currently, she focuses on developing training and program initiatives focusing on the faculty work-life cycle: recruitment to retirement. Linda also provides guidance on matters related to Faculty Personnel in relation to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Prior to joining the University of Hawaii she worked in Washington D.C. as a Legislative Correspondent in the Office of Senator Daniel K. Akaka.

Presenting On:

Recruitments: What are common pitfalls and strategies we can implement to improve our recruitment process – August 8, 2023 at 9:00 am

Contact Us

Deena Yamamoto

Tamami Mohandie

Human Resources Specialist for Faculty Excellence
Office of Vice Provost for Academic Excellence
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
2500 Campus Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Phone: (808) 956-2508
Email: tamamiha@hawaii.edu