4 Sunday, March 6, 2016 Hawaii Tribune-Herald CUSTOM METAL ROOFING WINDOWS & DOORS CABINETS & COUNTERTOPS INTERIOR & EXTERIOR PAINT FROM YOUR FOUNDATION TO YOUR ROOF & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN, WE’LL HELP YOU BUILD BETTER HILO 935-0875 • KONA 334-4200 • WAIMEA 885-6036 • KEA`AU 966-5466 KAUA`I 332-7376 • O`AHU & MAUI 682-8560 • ONLINE HPMHAWAII.COM UNIVERSITY TOWN student who wants to earn a tertiary degree here on Hawaii Island can. To help achieve this, we were awarded $45.5 million in financial aid to our students last year. This is a tremendous increase from 10 years ago when we awarded $15 million. The bulk of the $45.5 million, almost 77 percent (up 2 percent from the previous year), is from state and federal grants and loans. Scholarship programs also are an important way to provide access, and we are working to increase them. More scholarships mean we are less dependent on government. In this area, we need the community’s help. Private donors play a vitally important role in opening up access to higher education. For example, the College of Hawaiian Language recently honored three local families with ties to UH-Hilo for making it possible to increase the numbers of Hawaiian speakers, cultural practitioners, and teachers. The families of Daniel and Lydia Makuakane, Lawrence Silva and Haunani Bernardino each established endowed scholarships to preserve and perpetuate the Hawaiian language and culture. While we focus on local students, we’re also looking to bring in international students to enrich our campus with diversity and a broad spectrum of culture and knowledge. We are developing new programs designed to attract international students who would like to experience our “living laboratory” island for one or two semesters. In turn, local students in Study Abroad leave us for a year to study at universities throughout the world — and they return to finish their degree with an expanded vision for their careers and their own communities. We also look to prepare our students for the industries of the future. For example, an energy science certificate program was recently approved by the UH-Hilo curriculum committee. This type of program will benefit local students greatly, much like our pharmacy degrees that allow local students to stay on the island while being educated for careers of the future. Also looking to the future, an aviation degree is being planned with three tracks: fixed wing, rotary and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). This is a completely new career path not available anywhere else in the state. UAV alone will have a major impact on the future of agriculture, astronomy, biology, geography, geology, marine science and natural resource management, and we will have graduates ready to meet the demand. We’re also planning to build on our world-renowned Hawaiian language program with a liberal arts degree to be taught entirely in the Hawaiian language. Another important program just launched last fall is a master of arts in heritage management for students who seek careers in the interpretation and preservation of cultural heritage in Hawaii and the Pacific islands. We will continue to grow as a practical university, focusing on preparing students for careers that will bring meaningful work and are of benefit to our island. This is why we also are focusing on applied learning across all our majors, where students can apply the knowledge gained in the classroom to real world experience in our local community and our island environment. A good example of this is our graduate program in tropical conservation biology and environmental science, where we’ve launched more than 132 graduates into careers throughout the course of 11 1/2 years. During their graduate studies, they all participated in field work, and now most are managing local resources and applying the science learned at UH-Hilo to protecting our island home. UH-Hilo cannot grow on its own. We need to work with our local community to the benefit of all. This, combined with our strong partnership with Hawaii Community College, will ensure Hawaii Island’s high school students, upon graduation, will have the options they need to access higher education here at home. Donald Straney is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. SUPPORT From page 2
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