Performance Indicators for Prioritization | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

In the fall of 2020, the Provost charged a working group of faculty, staff, students, and administrators to identify the framework and metrics that will guide the evaluation of future budget and hiring requests. The following Performance Indicators for Prioritization reflect the mission, vision, and goals identified in the UHM Strategic Plan, Mānoa 2025. The working group views the Performance Indicators as a tool to support the ongoing identification of, and investment in our priorities. The Indicators will also facilitate the regular assessment of our performance in living our values and achieving our goals. It is expected that the campus will revisit our priorities, indicators, and metrics regularly to ensure that we are agile, innovative, and responsive to the needs of Hawaiʻi and the world.

When evaluating budget and hiring requests, priority will be given to those requests from programs that can provide strong quantitative and/or qualitative indicators of success towards a number of the following broad goals that form the core of our Strategic Plan:

1. Native Hawaiian Place of Learning (NHPoL)

This goal, intentionally placed here as the first among the five strategic goals, has at its core several Native Hawaiian guiding principles:

Mo‘okū‘auhau: Mo‘okū‘auhau refers to the genealogies that shape and connect us. At its core, mo‘okū‘auhau teaches us the familial connections that Native Hawaiians have with Hawaiʻi, pointing to their long-standing relationship of caring for and being nourished by Hawaiʻi. At UH Mānoa, we strive to value the deep Native Hawaiian genealogies of this place and seek to learn from their wisdom in best caring for each other and our island home. Valuing mo‘okū‘auhau is also a way to celebrate the many genealogies of people, places, and knowledge systems that converge on our campus from places near and far, east and west. We believe it is important to foster genealogical reflection because it helps us realize our own and one another’s full identity as well as our connections to one another and the places we live and work. We strive to provide opportunities for each member of our campus community to further connect to and learn from their genealogies, which include not only their family lineages but also the genealogies of knowledge systems and worldviews that have shaped them. By doing so, we cultivate a campus culture rich in diverse ways of thinking about our connections to each other and to our island earth. Data may include research, scholarship, curricula, praxis that contribute to genealogical reflection and connection to one another (including but not limited to students, staff/faculty, community members) and ‘āina.

Kaikua‘ana and kaikaina: From a Hawaiian perspective, knowing our position within a given genealogical context allows us to know our role as kaikua‘ana or kaikaina. Kaikua‘ana is an elder sibling or a senior in some respect. Kaikaina is a younger sibling or a junior in some respect. At UH Mānoa we seek to celebrate the amazing senior expertise that leads and teaches in our schools and colleges across the campus. At the same time we honor that we have much to learn from the generations of knowledge of our host Indigenous culture and our island home. Most importantly, the kaikua‘ana / kaikaina relationship reminds us that we are always in relationship with another and that we have the opportunity to celebrate and seek ways to understand those connections. Data may include research, scholarship, curricula, praxis that contribute to reflection on and fostering connection and interdependence with individuals and/or groups, especially with Native Hawaiians and ‘āina.

Kuleana: Kuleana guides how the kaikua‘ana and kaikaina care for one another. English terms often associated with kuleana include right, dear privilege, concern, and responsibility. At UH Mānoa, we value kuleana because it gives each of us purpose and we seek ways to nurture and sustain the life of each of our kaikua‘ana and kaikaina. Data may include research, scholarship, curricula, praxis that contribute to conversations about, identification of, and fulfillment of kuleana to one another, Native Hawaiians, and ‘āina.

Hānai & Ho‘omalu: Hānai is translated as feeding, fostering, and nourishing. Ho‘omalu refers to protecting. It is the kuleana of the kaikua‘ana to hānai and ho‘omalu those who are younger or junior in some respect. At UH Mānoa, we recognize that our kuleana is to nourish and protect our students and communities. At the same time, we honor that there are many people and places that can also nourish us. We are committed to bringing the best educators and researchers from Hawaiʻi and across the world who come from a variety of cultural, geographical, and academic genealogies to nourish our amazing students. By nourishing our students with both breadth and depth of knowledge and experience, we enable them to become the leading nurturers and protectors of their communities in Hawaiʻi and across the globe. Data may include research, scholarship, curricula, praxis that directly impact student success, support of Hawai‘i’s most vulnerable communities, as well as research, scholarship, curricula, praxis that emphasize how we at UH Mānoa can learn from the intelligence and wisdom of Indigenous Hawaiʻi to solve our 21st century challenges.

Mālama: Mālama is the act of tending to and caring for another. It is the kuleana of the kaikaina to mālama those who are elder or senior in some respect. For many of us, we have experienced this in the way we care for the elders in our homes and communities. At UH Mānoa, we strive to find pathways and best practices to care for the people, places, and knowledge systems that are deeply rooted in Hawaiʻi and can be shared across the globe. We also strive to create multiple pathways through service learning, internships, and place-based projects for our students to give back to the communities that continue to nourish them. Data may include research, scholarship, curricula, praxis that directly impact the health and well-being of ‘āina especially while uplifting Native Hawaiian wisdom as well as impacting the health and well-being of Native Hawaiian communities.

In addition to strong quantitative and/or qualitative indicators of success towards the NH guiding principles as described above, programs should seek to demonstrate strong quantitative and/or qualitative indicators of success towards the following focus areas of becoming a NH place of learning. For more information on these focus areas, please read the NH reports.

Native Hawaiian student success: Native Hawaiian students are holistically supported from recruitment through post-graduation. Best practices are gleaned from efforts to support Native Hawaiian students and are applied to student success strategies for all students across the campus.
Staff and faculty development: Native Hawaiian staff & faculty are holistically supported from recruitment through promotion and leadership development in every unit across the campus. All staff & faculty at UH Mānoa are more knowledgeable and culturally rooted in Mānoa and Hawaiʻi.
Commitment to cultivating a Native Hawaiian environment: the UH Mānoa campus is a physical, cultural, spiritual, and interactive environment that perpetuates Native Hawaiian values, culture, language, traditions, and customs.
Native Hawaiian community engagement: UH Mānoa and Native Hawaiian communities are consistently connected and engaged in order that there can be reciprocal teaching and learning for positive impact throughout Hawaiʻi.

Metrics may include disaggregated enrollment, retention, graduation, and time-to-degree data on student success; programs and initiatives at the unit level to recruit, retain, develop, and mentor diverse staff and faculty (faculty composition); the development of a unit-level NHPoL strategic plan; research, scholarship, curricula, and praxis that contribute to the Native Hawaiian values of Mo‘okū‘auhau, Kaikua‘ana & Kaikaina, Kuleana, Hānai & Ho‘omalu, and Malama (see above); regular engagement with Native Hawaiian communities on and off campus to inform planning and programs; participation in NHPoL initiatives at the campus level, etc.

2. Student Success

Foster a sense of stewardship in all students to be active and engaged members of the Mānoa and wider community.
Grow or maintain a sufficient enrollment across our undergraduate and graduate programs through recruitment strategies for targeted populations, including Native Hawaiian, underrepresented populations in the state, adult learners, transfer students, local students, and students from WICHE member states.
Sustain high first-year, full-time student retention rates.
Increase 4-year and 6-year undergraduate graduation rates.
Develop innovative and rigorous General Education courses taught by instructors at all levels from lecturers to full professors.
Develop innovative and interdisciplinary programs that are responsive to emerging industries, the needs of Hawaiʻi, and the careers of tomorrow.
Prepare undergraduate and graduate students to meet their career goals and become proud members of our alumni.
Enhance the overall student experience.
Utilize the results of assessment and program review to ensure program quality, to modernize the curricula in response to changes within the discipline, and to prepare students for the careers of the future.
Embrace the centrality of graduate education to the research university and support the experience for all who qualify.

Metrics may include disaggregated enrollment, retention, graduation, and time-to-degree data on student success; National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) results; programs and initiatives at the unit level to lower DFWI rates and more generally support student learning; measures to improve retention, advising, and mentoring; graduate careers/placement; student satisfaction surveys.

3. Research and Creative Work

Advance the UHM research portfolio across the full spectrum of extramural sponsors, including government, industry, and philanthropy.
Expand faculty-mentored student research and creative work opportunities.
Develop and maintain critical research facilities, including shared resources.
Provide administrative support for faculty research and creative works.
Effectively communicate the quality & impact of UHM research and creative work.
Achieve highly in national and international rankings and recognitions.
Create public and private collaborations, to leverage extramural funds and philanthropy for research.

Metrics may include rankings (%); number of honors/awards; number and dollar amount of externally-funded projects; faculty scholarly productivity indices (e.g., number of peer reviewed publications, books, citations); number and percentage of students completing faculty-mentored research or creative work projects; indices of community/societal impact of research/scholarship/creative work; research support/infrastructure indices (e.g., amount invested in shared facilities; revenue generated); patents; clinical trials.

4. Responsive to the Needs of Hawaiʻi

Address systemic shortages in critical employment sectors in Hawaiʻi, including, e.g., the knowledge economy, technology, education, healthcare, social welfare, design, and the built environment.
Seed new employment areas and develop new approaches to existing and emerging sectors.
Contribute to General Education so that students become engaged and knowledgeable members of their communities with a set of critical skills that will help them to navigate career changes and personal challenges as well as to address complex problems of local and global importance.
Perpetuate the study, preservation, and appreciation of the cultures, histories, languages, and the arts of the people of Hawaiʻi.
Stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in the state, particularly in emerging industries.
Apply research to benefit the social and economic wellbeing of the people of Hawaiʻi.

Metrics may include placement into high-demand/need sectors of the state’s economy; evidence of responsiveness to or demand from new and/or growing industries identified by the State Bureau of Labor Statistics; partnerships with industry stakeholders to develop new or modified programs, internships and experiential opportunities for students; faculty, staff, student and alumni participation in UH accelerator/incubator programs; translational research that guides the development of policy, and strengthens the state’s economy; percentage of courses that fulfill General Education requirements; participation of tenure-track/tenured faculty teaching General Education courses, particularly at the most introductory level; scholarship, performances, exhibits, and events focused on the people, languages, and cultures of Hawaiʻi, Asia and the Pacific.

5. Outreach/Engagement with the Community

Engage with stakeholders to inform decision-making, program development, and initiatives that benefit the community.
Eliminate barriers and increase access to education and information, especially for underserved populations.
Partner with community organizations and invest in projects and initiatives that address societal problems and advance social justice.
Promote life-long learning through community events, workshops, and performances
Expand service-learning and civic engagement opportunities to enhance the development of critical thinking skills, advocacy, and leadership in our students.

Metrics may include faculty and staff participation in community-serving activities, volunteerism, or grant writing; student enrollment in service-learning courses and civic engagement activities; projects, events, publications, or media that increase community access to education and information; outcomes of grant projects with community organizations; regular use of advisory boards to inform decision-making and program development; community workshops, events and performances.

The evaluation of budget and hiring requests will also consider the following cross-cutting strategic imperatives:

Diversity and Inclusion: Hawaiʻi is our uniquely diverse home, with people and cultures from a vast spectrum of places, backgrounds and knowledge systems coming together to live, work, play, learn, and create new knowledge. UH Mānoa cultivates a campus culture that celebrates diversity and provides a welcoming and nurturing environment for all who seek to work and learn here.Metrics may include research/scholarship/curricula reflective of diverse knowledge systems; diversity in human resources (faculty and staff); diversity in the student body; diversity of experiences; and support for underserved populations.
Sustainability (Efficiency & Quality): We expect that programs and units deemed to be sustainable well into the future will share certain characteristics. Chief among these are education and research/scholarship/creative work of the highest quality that also demonstrate sufficient cost-effectiveness and demand so that they can weather the inevitable fiscal challenges ahead. The value of our work here at home and internationally is Inherent to this strategic imperative.Metrics may include data regarding the quality of publications/scholarship; extramural research funding; maintenance of professional accreditation; rankings; enrollment and SSH (including analyses of constraints related to capacity or accreditation; class size; etc.); time-to-degree; graduation rates; assessment/program review results and the use of results for program improvement; satisfaction of graduates; placement of graduates; staffing of undergraduate and graduate courses.
Innovation & Collaboration: The future will require that we are dynamic, creative and agile in responding to emerging opportunities and challenges, with a focus on viability, and as appropriate, the generation of revenue streams. Such qualities, in turn, require that we create a collaborative environment, leveraging resources both across the disciplines and units in which we work and learn, and with our partners in the community, government, industry, and academia.Metrics may include data on the success of cross-unit and inter-institution collaborations (courses, programs, research, support services); outcomes of contracts and MOU/MOA with external entities; community programs and services; development of innovative tools/practices; and returns on investment in research/scholarship.

“Program” is defined broadly and could be a degree program, an extension or research program, student support unit, or other activity or function that merits university budget support.