Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence

Kimber Deans is an Investigator and Institutional Analyst at the University of Hawaiʻi System Office of Institutional Equity. A proud graduate of UH Mānoa, Kimber began her career as an undergraduate office assistant in the EEO Office serving Mānoa and System employees. She now leads investigations into discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; translates institutional data into actionable compliance initiatives; and crafts University policy language in alignment with federal and State civil rights requirements. Kimber specializes in federal contract compliance, employee accommodations, and developing systemwide training that promotes a safe, inclusive learning and working environment. She collaborates closely with Human Resources and ADA Coordinators to evaluate accommodation requests, promote best practices in workplace accessibility, and support the University’s commitment to equity and nondiscrimination.

Alyssa Calasicas joined the Scheduling Office in November 2025. She previously worked with Hawai’i P-20. She 15 years of experience in college access, project management, and workforce development. She has a BA in Economics from Reed College and a M.Ed in Learning and Design Technology from UH Mānoa.

Nikki Chun is Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a proud Native Hawaiian higher education leader. She is passionate about expanding educational opportunity, supporting student success, and helping students and families navigate the college journey.

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.

Sandra Fujiyama, Executive Director of PACE at the UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business, oversees university-wide entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives. Through hands-on, experiential learning, she helps students across all disciplines build the invaluable, real-world skills needed to go from the classroom to career-ready. In this talk, Sandra will share how students, faculty, and community members can engage with PACE’s diverse co-curricular programs—all of which are offered free of charge to every UH student.

Dr. Amy Hubbard serves as the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s interim Assistant Vice Provost for Student Academic Success, a key leadership role in the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Success. She oversees academic advising, tutoring and related support services, civic and community engagement, and first-year programs.

Dr. Hubbard has over 30 years of service to the university and is also a full professor in the Communicology Program in the School of Communication and Information in the College of Social Sciences.  She has held various administrative roles in that unit, including as program director, department chair, graduate chair, and undergraduate chair.

Mari Ishii joined the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence (OVPAE) in November 2025 as an Investigator. Prior to joining OVPAE, Mari was an Investigator and Compliance Officer with the Office of Compliance, EEO, and Title IX in the Office of the Vice President for Community Colleges at University of Hawaiʻi. She was a Workers’ Compensation Claims Adjuster for a local insurance company where she investigated claims and assisted both employees and employers through the Workers’ Compensation claims process. Mari also has experience as an insurance defense attorney, focusing primarily on personal injury cases. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi and her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and minor in Women’s Studies from Southern Oregon University.

Dr. Kaaloa is a Kanaka Maoli educator and researcher with more than 20 years of experience in graduate and Indigenous education, online learning, and the integration of technology to support ‘ike Hawaiʻi. She currently serves as the interim Associate Dean of the Graduate Division at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she is deeply committed to mentoring graduate students and faculty and advancing an innovative and supportive academic environment. Prior to her current role, she served as an Associate Specialist and graduate chair at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies in the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. With a PhD in Learning Design and Technology and grounded in ancestral knowledge and cultural practice, Dr. Kaaloa brings a unique perspective as an instructional designer to shaping graduate education that uplifts both academic excellence and cultural integrity.

Jessica Kaneshiro serves as the Case Resolution Officer and Investigator for the Mānoa Office of Title IX. Jessica holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Communicology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Having been with the office since 2017, she brings nearly a decade of experience in assisting students, faculty, and staff as they navigate the Title IX process.

Alexander Khaddouma is an Assistant Specialist at the Counseling and Student Development Center (CSDC) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and a board-certified specialist in couple and family psychology. He currently serves as the Coordinator of Clinical Services and psychologist at the CSDC.

Sunja Kim serves as the Institutional Research Analyst at the Mānoa Institutional Research Office (MIRO), having joined the team in June 2025. She focuses on data analysis and reporting to support strategic planning, institutional effectiveness, and data-informed decision-making,

Jordan Lewis is Aleut and Sugpiaq from the Naknek Native Village and currently the Director for the Center on Aging at the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health. I am a community psychologist, gerontologist, and social worker and have been exploring Indigenous understandings of healthy aging for the past 19 years.

Jeffery Long has served as Director of the UH System Office of Human Resources since 2021, and has been with the System office since 2018. He has a PhD in English.

Laura E. Lyons was appointed the Interim Vice Provost for Academic Excellence at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in July 2021, and previously served interim positions as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature. As the Interim Vice Provost for Academic Excellence, she advises the Provost and oversees the planning, development, coordination and management of academic programs at Manoa. She works with deans, directors and chairs to ensure that Mānoa offers a portfolio of high-quality, inspiring, and responsive undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs that prepare students for lifetime success. She is also responsible for assisting the academic units with recruiting, retaining, and supporting a diverse, world-class faculty with excellence in teaching, research, and service.

A Professor of English, Lyons joined the Mānoa faculty in 1993 and has taught classes in Irish and post-colonial literatures, cultural theory, globalization, and life writing. She is a recipient of the Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching, the highest teacher award at the University.

Dr. Maeda has been with the University of Hawaii at Manoa since 1999. She started as a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science and served as Department and Graduate Chair. She joined Graduate Division in 2013 as Associate Dean and has served as Interim Dean since 2023. Since joining Graduate Division, she has handled personnel and student issues, curricular matters, and has collaboratively worked with faculty to propose new degrees and GCERT programs as well as modify current programs to stay on the cutting edge. This work has also contributed to efforts to improve the overall graduate student experience.

Dr. Kamal Masaki is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai‘i, which is a John A. Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatrics (one of 25 in the U.S.). She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine and was elected to be a Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society. She has been an clinician educator and scientist doing aging and dementia research for over 35 years. She is a co-author on over 325 publications in scientific journals.

Bryson McFeeley has been the IT Specialist for the Mānoa Institutional Research Office since 2018. His work, which includes developing MIRO’s Decision Support reporting system, supports the office’s mission to empower university decision makers.

Maggie McGehee joined UHM in 2019. She came to higher ed after 15 years as a transportation planner, including roles as Commuter Services Supervisor for Seattle Children’s Hospital and a bus service planner for King County Metro. She holds a BA in linguistics from Rice University, an MS in urban planning from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MA in second language studies from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Outside of UH, she teaches piano lessons and early childhood music, and is the accompanist for the Rainbow Chorus of Honolulu.

Paul McKimmy is interim Associate Vice Provost for Academic Excellence at the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa where he manages the tenure and promotion process, facilitates distance learning programs, acts on policy and contract cases, and leads OVPAE projects such as implementation of micro-credentials. Dr. McKimmy has over thirty years of experience in higher education, including twenty years with the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa College of Education. As the College’s Director of Technology & Distance Programs, he planned and managed instructional support services, technical services, and distance program development. 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.

Tarra is a medical anthropologist with more than two decades of global health experience, and her broader research portfolio spans work-practice ethnography, healthcare organizational culture, and the system- and provider-level factors that contribute to severe maternal morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Jennifer Matayoshi is the Interim Director of Mānoa CARES. She previously served as Lead Deputy Title IX Coordinator and Senior Investigator in the Mānoa Office of Title IX. Prior to joining Title IX, Dr. Matayoshi taught communication and speech courses as instructional faculty in the Department of Communicology at UH Mānoa. She holds a PhD in Education with a focus on Higher Education Administration. Her research examines the intersection of Title IX compliance, communication, and faculty decision-making in response to student disclosures of sexual misconduct.

Kara Moran is an Associate General Counsel with the University of Hawai`i’s Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs and University General Counsel. Kara practices in the area of Labor and Employment, with an emphasis on discrimination law. Prior to joining the University in March of 2022, Kara worked in a variety of legal fields, including litigation, transactional, family law, workers’ compensation and employment law. In her role at OGC, she dedicates her time to advising and counseling University clients, representing the University before the EEOC and HCRC, and adding higher education law to her broad array of practice areas. Kara is a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa graduate and enjoys bringing her many years of experience in private practice to the University. She earned her juris doctorate from Stanford Law School.

Sarah Moriarty, JD, is the Executive Program Officer for Faculty Excellence in the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She serves as CoChair of the University of Hawai‘i Commission on the Status of Women, advancing systemwide efforts to promote gender equity and inclusive leadership practices. As a member of the University’s Presidential Advisory Council on Federal Policy, she supports institutional strategy and communication in response to emerging federal developments.

A licensed Hawai‘i attorney with over 15 years of experience in labor and employment law, human resources, and higher education compliance, Sarah brings both legal and leadership expertise to her work with academic leaders. In her current role, she works closely with department chairs and academic administrators to strengthen institutional culture and leadership effectiveness, designing and facilitating initiatives, including training sessions for the Leading with Excellence program, the Leadership Matters workshop series, and mentorship programming for emerging academic leaders.

She joined the University of Hawai‘i in 2016 as an Associate General Counsel representing the University in employment matters and later served as an Investigator and Compliance Officer with the Community Colleges System Office of Compliance, EEO, and Title IX, supporting investigations, policy development, and institutional training.

Prior to joining the University, Sarah was a Staff Attorney and Senior HR Consultant (SPHR) at ProService Hawai‘i, the largest HR firm in the state, advising clients on HR compliance strategy and leadership development. She also practiced labor and employment law at Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda, LLP, representing management in discrimination litigation and administrative proceedings.

Sarah received her Juris Doctor from the University of Hawai‘i William Shaw Richardson School of Law; Bachelor of Arts in English, with minors in International Comparative Studies and Sociology, from Duke University; and academic honors diploma from the Kamehameha Schools.

Jamie Newalu is a licensed social worker currently serving as a Confidential Advocate at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She brings professional experience across a range of social work settings, having served as an assessment clinician for the National Center for PTSD, a juvenile probation officer, a domestic violence crisis advocate with the Navy’s Family Advocacy Program, a Title III counselor, and an inpatient hospital social worker. With more than a decade of experience supporting individuals affected by trauma and crisis, Ms. Newalu remains committed to advancing crisis intervention and prevention efforts both at the University and throughout the broader community.

Thanh Truc Nguyen is the interim Director of the UHM General Education Office where she oversees the implementation and assessment of the General Education Program, and provides support for faculty development opportunities that will strengthen the delivery of General Education at UH Mānoa. Truc is a faculty member in the College of Education with 20 years of curriculum development and research experience. She teaches courses in research methods and technology in education, and conducts research in leveraging learning technologies for maximum influence and the Internet’s impact on teaching and learning. Her most recent work is in AI policy, guidelines, and instructional considerations.

Dr. Gloria Niles is the Chief Academic Technology Innovation Officer for the University of Hawaiʻi System. In her executive role within the Office of the President, she provides strategic leadership in artificial intelligence (AI), online education, and technological innovation across all 10 campuses.

As a recognized thought leader, Dr. Niles establishes robust governance frameworks for the responsible adoption of technology and oversees programs designed to bolster digital learning across the university community. She leads the development of system-wide AI strategies and roadmaps to enhance student access, advance research productivity, and improve administrative efficiency. Her initiatives ensure that the university remains at the forefront of the ethical and impactful application of advanced technology solutions.

Nicole Ogawa serves as the Associate Director for the System Office of Human Resources. She previously served as the Interim HR Manager, EEO/AA Coordinator, and Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Leeward Community College. She has over 10 years of experience in human resources including work in both the private and public sectors.

Katrina-Ann R. Kapāʻanaokalāokeola Oliveira is the interim Vice Provost for Student Success at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.  She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian Studies, a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution, a master’s degree in Geography, a master of Business Administration degree, and a doctorate in Geography from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has nearly three decades of experience teaching Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she also served as the head of the Hawaiian language program for a decade. Her research interests include Hawaiian language revitalization, Hawaiian immersion literacy, Kanaka methodologies, cultural geography, and place-based experiential learning curriculum development.

Lauren Robel is Val Nolan Professor Emerita, Dean Emerita, and Executive Vice President and Provost Emerita at Indiana University. She is a teacher and scholar of constitutional law and the federal courts who has written two books and numerous articles on topics in those areas. Robel served as Dean of the Maurer School of Law for ten years, and then as Executive Vice President and Provost at Indiana University’s flagship Bloomington campus for ten years. She has served as President of the Association of American Law Schools; a board member and officer of the American Bar Foundation; Chair of the Big Ten Academic Alliance; and an elected Fellow of the American Law Institute. She has taught constitutional law and federal courts for the last several years at the University of Hawai’i Richardson School of Law, and currently serves as a consultant to the University’s Office of Institutional Equity.

Jennifer Solidum Rose is the Director of the recently-launched Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), 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.

Dr Tetine Sentell is the Interim Assistant Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) and a Professor of Public Health in the Department of Public Health Sciences (DPHS) in the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health at UHM. Dr. Sentell served as the Director/Department Chair of DPHS, the inaugural Chin Sik & Hyun Sook Chung Endowed Chair in Public Health Studies, and as the Interim Dean for the Thompson School. Dr. Sentell is an internationally recognized scholar with over 30 years of research experience in understanding and addressing health inequities from strengths-based perspectives. Dr. Sentell has published over 130 papers and led projects from the National Institutes of Health, the Hawai‘i Department of Health, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality among other funders. She has served in a World Health Organization expert role, as a Senior Scientist with the Queen’s Health Systems, was a Fulbright Specialist, and was selected for the UH Board of Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Monica Stitt-Bergh, interim Director of Program Development and Review in the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Excellence (OVPAE), specializes in learning assessment, educational evaluation, and learning improvement.

Jeanelle Sugimoto-Matsuda is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences (DPHS), within the Social and Behavioral Health Sciences Specialization. She is also Graduate Chair for DPHS’ MPH/MS programs. Her research focuses on mental and behavioral health, including suicide prevention, bullying and violence prevention, and health policy/advocacy and systems-building. She is Co-Chair of the Prevent Suicide Hawaiʻi Taskforce, the State’s network of agencies and community members leading suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention work.

Alice Swift is an instructional designer with the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) Online Innovation Center who supports faculty teaching online, hybrid, and web-enhanced courses across the UH system, along with other department initiatives. With a background in food & beverage (F&B) and hospitality, she also teaches as a lecturer for the UH Mānoa School of Travel Industry Management at the Shidler College of Business. Alice holds a B.S. in Hospitality Management from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, a M.S. in Instructional Design and Technology from California State University, Fullerton, and Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Additional research interests include student engagement, educational technology, AI integration into teaching and work contexts, and humanizing online teaching and learning.

Dr. Tanouye has 34 years of service at the Counseling and Student Development Center (CSDC) at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

Tracie Ann Tjapkes serves as the Director of Organizational Resiliency at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine, where she works with leaders to strengthen resilience, wellbeing, and organizational culture. She is also a nationally board-certified Health and Wellness Coach and Executive Coach with more than 20 years of experience partnering with health care, education, government, and business leaders.

Passionate about her life mission to “grow people,” Tracie Ann helps individuals and teams create environments where trust, learning, and belonging can thrive. Her work focuses on building psychologically safe cultures that invite everyone to the shared table through everyday practices of mālama (care) and kuleana (stewardship).

Dr. Helen H. Yu is the Director of the Public Administration Program and has been with the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa for nine years. She is a veteran and retired from the Air Force after 20 years of active duty service. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Public Personnel Management, one of the premiere journals in public administration. Her research interests include the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women in nontraditional occupations, specifically federal law enforcement, and policy decision-making in policing.

Rob Wright currently serves as the Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu. Prior to this he spent eight years as the Director of the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, and has been at UH Mānoa for 27 years, first as a post-doctoral associate, then soft-money faculty, and then tenured faculty. He is an Earth scientist whose research uses satellite and space-based technologies to study active volcanism. Educated in the United Kingdom, he earned his Ph.D. from The Open University after studying at the University of London (M.Sc., University College London and Imperial College London).

He published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers and over 150 conference abstracts and papers, and raised more than $24M as PI. He led the development of the first system to use orbiting satellites to monitor all of Earth’s volcanoes in real time, and his work has advanced lava-flow hazard modeling, volcanic gas spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging, and CubeSat technologies for Earth remote sensing. His research has been supported primarily by NASA. He has served on five NASA instrument or mission science teams and recently completed a five-year term on NASA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee. At UHM he has regularly taught undergraduate classes about how instruments carried on satellite can be used to measure the properties of the surfaces and atmospheres of the Earth and planets.

Erin Kahunawaikaʻala Wright is from Kalihi, Oʻahu and serves as the interim Associate Vice Provost for Student Success and Dean of Students for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Dr. Wright holds a Ph.D. in Education and M.A. in Higher Education from UCLA, and a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies from UH Mānoa. For 17 years, Dr. Wright worked as a student affairs professional, primarily focused on supporting Native Hawaiian higher educational journeys. Since 2014, she has served as a faculty member in Educational Administration in the College of Education.