Maya Soetoro, distinguished educator and peacebuilder in the at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, has been selected as a recipient of the LLAP Tribute Award from the Nimoy Knight Foundation. The honor recognizes her lifetime commitment to conflict transformation, intellectual humility, dialogue across cultural and ideological divides, and advancing peace and human dignity.

As a faculty member in the , Soetoro has dedicated her career to advancing peacebuilding and conflict transformation education. Her scholarly work focuses on reconciling differences within oneself and across communities—exploring how individuals and societies navigate dual identities and connect with each other in an increasingly divided world. Her research and teaching emphasize the role of disciplined inquiry and collaborative problem solving in transforming conflict.

“Spock’s commitment to logic was never cold detachment; it was a disciplined devotion to reason over reaction, to dialogue over violence and to collective survival over ego,” Soetoro said. “Leonard Nimoy himself carried that ethos beyond the screen through his art, photography, writing, and advocacy—uplifting marginalized voices, celebrating human dignity and building bridges across difference.”

Soetoro draws inspiration from Spock’s navigation of dual identity, noting that the character’s journey mirrors the lived experience of many who inhabit multiple cultures, nations and world views.

“Our foundation committee unanimously agreed that Dr. Soetoro’s dedication to peace and her commitment to reconciling difference make her a worthy honoree of this award,” said David Knight, co-director of the Nimoy Knight Foundation, alongside Leonard’s daughter Julie Nimoy. “Her work reflects the very ethos that Leonard championed throughout his life-bridging divides and building a more compassionate world.”

‘Live long and prosper’

The LLAP Tribute Award, named after Leonard Nimoy’s famous benediction “Live Long and Prosper,” celebrates individuals whose work embodies the values and ideals the late actor and artist lived and championed.

Previous recipients include Mayim Bialik, Bill Nye, LeVar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Billie Jean King, as well as actor George Takei.

The Nimoy Knight Foundation is dedicated to honoring the life and legacy of Leonard Nimoy through grants, awards and initiatives that promote peace, diversity and human dignity.

Two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa doctoral students are advancing their dissertation work in peace studies as 2025 Nobumoto Tanahashi Peace Fellows.

Wiwik Dharmiasih, a PhD student in , is researching efforts to protect Bali’s subak—thousand-year-old, cooperative rice terraces that utilize an ecologically sustainable irrigation system. Her work examines how local farmers view the sustainability of UNESCO protections and how community driven decision making can help preserve the cultural landscape.

Fellow recipient Emi Obana, a PhD student in music composition and graduate certificate candidate in conflict resolution, is exploring peace through musical composition. Her dissertation centers on how personal transformation can inspire community peace, and she plans to use the fellowship to support a live performance of her final piece.

“I was deeply inspired by Nobumoto Tanahashi and his vision,” Obana said. “He made world peace his personal mission. Going through the application process helped me reflect on what peace truly means for me, and it strengthened my resolve to make world peace my own personal mission.”

The fellowship honors the legacy of Reverend Nobumoto Tanahashi, a Japanese businessman and spiritual leader, and founder of the Heiwa Kyokai (Order of Peace Congregation).

His 1986 gift to ����Ӱҵ, the Hawaiʻi Peace Memorial outside Kennedy Theatre, reflects his vision for global harmony and recognizes the contributions of Japanese immigrants to peace in Hawaiʻi.

The awards the fellowship each spring. For the entire story and more information on the fellowship, .

Blending local knowledge with ecological conservation efforts by engaging young adults aged 18–25 in oral history documentation is the focus of a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa project that was awarded $114,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, International Program Office and U.S. Agency for International Development.

The project “Enlivening Forest Landscapes in Hawaiʻi and Indonesia,” will be led by Thao Le, principal investigator, professor and chair in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, alongside Micah Fisher, co-principal investigator and assistant professor at the , which is housed in the .The Project also partners with Ming Li Yong at the East-West Center Research Program.

“We hope that this grant helps a group of students from Hawaiʻi and Indonesia learn and experience humility by honoring and respecting the wisdom of our elders, kupuna, who really knew what it means and what it takes to care for the land, and by land, we mean all the elements that sustain a community,” said Le.

Learning from elders, community leaders

Students will interview elders and community leaders in both Hawaiʻi and Indonesia, deepening their understanding of the cultural significance of landscapes. The initiative is a collaboration with Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, providing students from both institutions with hands-on experience in place-based oral history documentation.

“I’ve always believed in the power of field-based learning and its transformative opportunities,” said Fisher. ”It allows us to learn in different ways, from different people, different places, and through the sharing of experiences across cultures, environments, and backgrounds. Having this sort of grounded context also helps to deepen learning opportunities in the classroom after students return.“

The project will take ����Ӱҵ students to the Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park in Sulawesi. Participants will gain insights into climate change, environmental governance, and social justice histories. The experience will culminate with an exhibition and video documentation of the oral histories collected at ����Ӱҵ Mānoa.

In spring 2025, students will delve into environmental ethics and governance, with Indonesian students invited to ����Ӱҵ Mānoa to facilitate an exchange of ideas and knowledge.

This spring, the welcomed three revered Buddhist monks who have dedicated their lives to teaching peace, love and compassion. Venerable Kou Sopheap and Venerable Hak Sienghai traveled from Cambodia, joined by Venerable Sok Theavy, a resident monk on Hawaiʻi Island toured the Mānoa campus and delivered a webinar for both in-person and virtual audiences.

Hosted by the ����Ӱҵ Mānoa (CSEAS), the hybrid webinar at explored Buddhism’s role in Cambodia’s recovery from conflict, reflecting on its absence during the Khmer Rouge regime and the subsequent peace efforts since 1992. They shared the importance of non-violence, and problem-solving in an effort to demonstrate how ancient wisdom can address modern challenges.

“I believe these conversations about mindfulness and peace need to be more prevalent on campus,” said Sothy Eng, a ����Ӱҵ Mānoa associate professor in . “Raising awareness through such discussions is important for our campus community.”

The monks also met with leaders from the (EWC). They learned about the center’s various programs that engage Cambodian students, scholars, researchers. EWC also offers graduate fellowships for study at ����Ӱҵ Mānoa and leadership programs such as the .

CSEAS, and EWC collaborated to host this event, which aligns with ����Ӱҵ’s commitment to fostering cultural understanding and global dialogue.

What happens when the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� (SCI) throws its first open house? The results are more than 160 RSVPs to lively mini workshops attended by (CSS) students and alumni; an all-encompassing presentation about the within SCI; and a networking reception honoring the first five SCI distinguished alumni for their exceptional leadership and significant contributions to the community.

It all happened on April 5, at George Hall and the Architecture Building at the SCI event spotlighting the programs of , , , , and the . Now one of the largest academic units at ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�, SCI has 24 faculty members, 305 undergraduate majors and 76 graduate students, with a total of more than 4,000 ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� students taking 220-plus SCI classes over the course of an academic year.

Communication competence, information literacy and communication technology literacy are foundational skills that our students need to succeed in today’s world.—Hye-ryeon Lee

“The open house aimed to showcase the new school’s core values of communication, connection and community, and to foster relationships with alumni and community partners for collaborative growth and development,” said Hye-ryeon Lee, SCI chair and communicology professor. “Communication and information are at the core of our existence. Communication competence, information literacy and communication technology literacy are foundational skills that our students need to succeed in today’s world. The SCI is the core unit that provides this important education at the university.”

Announced at the presentation were the five inaugural recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award. They are Ruth Horie, retired catalog librarian at ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�; Nyle Sky Kauweloa, director of ����Ӱҵ Esports and faculty specialist in interdisciplinary studies; Anne Marie Smoke, administrator of the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary’s Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution; Jennifer Sur Matayoshi, lead deputy Title IX coordinator and senior investigator at ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�; and Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum, president of the East-West Center.

In October, undergraduate and graduate students from around Oʻahu gathered at the for a three-day workshop to engage on nuclear policy issues. The workshop featured lectures from leading experts, group discussions and a crisis scenario exercise. In addition to discussing policy issues at the global level, students also thought critically about the ways nuclear policies impact Hawaiʻi and the Asia-Pacific region.

“This workshop may very well be the first time deterrence, nonproliferation and disarmament have been discussed on the ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� campus since the Reagan administration,” said Brien Hallett, professor in the at the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz�.

The Honolulu Nuclear Policy Workshop was organized by the in partnership with ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�’s and and the at the East-West Center. It was the latest in a series of workshops the Truman Center has convened in cities such as Chicago and Atlanta with the goal of diversifying the pipeline of people working in U.S. nuclear security. This diversity ensures a more comprehensive representation of communities affected by those policies and fosters a more inclusive policy making process.

Encouraging diverse perspectives

No prior expertise with nuclear issues was required to apply for the workshop, and the organizers actively encouraged applications from women, people of color, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ students. Thirteen undergraduate and graduate students from ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�, Hawaiʻi Pacific University, Chaminade University of Honolulu and University of the South Pacific were selected to participate.

“I came away with a new perspective and more confidence in my ability to discuss nuclear policy issues,” said Monica Orillo, a graduate student in at ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�.

The first day of the workshop kicked off with sessions addressing the dawn of the nuclear age and nuclear deterrence led by Lily Wijtowicz from the Truman Center. The second day included a breakout session on proliferation in East Asia and a lecture on deterrence in East Asia by David Santoro from Pacific Forum, a Honolulu-based non-profit foreign policy research institute. The third day began with a session on nuclear disarmament led by Jana Wattenburg from Aberystwyth University, followed by a lecture on why nuclear testing matters for Hawaiʻi by Lilly Adams from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Nuclear weapons, public health, environmental preservation

Throughout the workshop, discussions highlighted the links between nuclear weapons, public health and environmental preservation. Participants explored the continued risks that nuclear weapons pose to people around the world, especially those in historically underserved communities. Students were encouraged to think critically about the policy making process and to consider how the inclusion of new voices could impact their communities and the world.

“Prior to the workshop, I had never thought about viewing nuclear politics through a gender lens, or using feminism as a tool for world peace, or that increased gender representation at nuclear arms control and disarmament discussions could potentially shape a different kind of foreign nuclear policy,” said Elizabeth Yen Tzu Liew, a student in the ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� Master’s in Asian International Affairs program.

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on careers in nuclear policy featuring speakers working in a variety of fields. Liew said, “This experience was instrumental in inspiring me to see the myriad of career opportunities where nuclear politics could merge with soft power, my area of interest, and that one need not be a nuclear scientist to pursue a career related to nuclear policy.”

In these modern times, the question may not be whether democracy is under threat in the U.S., but why—in this era of critical contemporary social, political and economic upheaval in North America, the Asia Pacific and beyond—is democratic backsliding occurring and what can be done about it?

The public is invited to an open town hall meeting, “,” on Friday, October 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom at the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz�. The 2023 Fulbright Canada Colloquium Town Hall is the culmination of several days of meetings and related events, including an authors’ workshop designed to produce an edited volume.

Town hall panel participants will include:

• Davianna McGregor, retired ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� professor and founding member of the ’ (CSS) , and former director of the .
• Jane Kabubo-Mariara, executive director of the Partnership for Economic Policy based in Nairobi, Kenya.
• Rana Sarkar, Consul General of Canada in San Francisco/Silicon Valley.
• Moderator Colin Moore, director of the at CSS and a political analyst.

The town hall will focus on the critical and increasingly complex challenges to democracy and democratic institutions in the U.S., Canada and the broader international community. It will examine whether creative institutional reforms can help address the following issues:

• Heightened political and cultural polarization.
• Widening gaps between people and power.
• Threats to multi-ethnic democracies.
• Economic instability.
• Growing maldistribution of wealth and income.
• Discontent with democracy.
• The rise of populism.

Past colloquiums have addressed:

• In 2018—The exploration of significant, complex issues surrounding sovereignty, sustainability and rights of and reconciliation for Indigenous peoples.
• In 2017—The future of trade and international economic cooperation between Canada and the U.S.
• In 2016—The examination and evaluation of North America’s response to domestic and international challenges posed by increasing incidences of violent extremism.

The 2023 Fulbright Canada Colloquium Town Hall is a partnership of CSS; Fulbright Canada; the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Plattsburgh; and the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco.

Coordinating the colloquium are Michael Hawes, president and CEO of the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the U.S. (aka Fulbright Canada); Denise Eby Konan, CSS dean; and Christopher Kirkey, director of the Center for the Study of Canada at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Light refreshments will be served.

.

To share knowledge and explore new approaches to corrections, diversion and re-entry, the (����ӰҵCDC) hosted “Breaking Cycles Symposium: Re-envisioning a Health, Housing, and Corrections Continuum” in partnership with the Department of Public Safety, Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission, Correctional Reform Working Group, YWCA Oʻahu and the Governor’s office on October 10–11.

“This was a true collaboration that demonstrates how the university can create new space for government and community members to come together to work towards real systems change,” said Cathi Ho Schar, an associate professor at the , director of ����ӰҵCDC and a co-organizer for the event.

Throughout the last year, the ����ӰҵCDC team, including faculty, staff and students from the School of Architecture, , , , and the , engaged the community around alternative models to a new jail facility and a more robust community-based continuum of care.

Talking to incarcerated individuals, their families, cultural and spiritual leaders, community organizations, public agencies and elected officials led the ����Ӱҵ team to plan the event, in response to a call for more collaboration across public and private entities.

Important messages from Gov. Josh Green, Public Safety Director Tommy Johnson and others highlighted the need to address the mental health, substance abuse, housing and justice needs in Hawaiʻi through stronger partnerships with the community.

“We genuinely appreciate this opportunity to look at our many challenges as a collective of agencies and organizations,” said Johnson.

The event ended with a workshop soliciting action items related to whole systems change.

Find more information on the . For more information on the project go to the .

Boosting voter turnout, increasing public trust in government and reducing corruption are some of the benefits of using public funds to finance political campaigns, according to public campaign financing advocates. Hawaiʻi has had a system of partial public financing for more than 40 years, but the amount of candidates who have participated and the amounts disbursed have both diminished since the mid 1990s.

According to data from the Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission, in 1994 the program disbursed $1.7 million in inflation adjusted dollars. In 2022, just $71,000 in funds were given to 15 candidates.

A new (����ӰҵERO) brief by Colin Moore explores possible solutions to create a more robust public campaign financing system. Moore is associate professor of ����ӰҵERO and the , and the chair of ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�’s .

Concerns about the corrupting influence of money in politics, including in Hawaiʻi, have led to renewed interest in public campaign financing. According to Moore, Hawaiʻi’s current program has extremely low rates of participation because the level of public funding is too low and the rules are complex and confusing.

Advocates argue that public campaign financing can: encourage electoral competition; reduce overall spending; boost voter turnout and participation in the electoral process; equalize resources available to candidates; encourage more direct engagement with voters; increase public trust in government; reduce corruption; and foster public policies that more closely reflect the needs of average citizens.

After reviewing decades of political science research and current public funding programs across the country, Moore provides three possible options:

• Transform the current system into a supermatch program. This option would follow the recommendations of the House Commission to improve standards of conduct, but with a much more generous match than the $2 proposed by the commission. Following New York City, Hawaiʻi could adopt an $8 match for contributions up to $100, while increasing the maximum amount of public funds available to a far greater percentage of the total expenditure limit for each office. In New York City, candidates are eligible to receive up to 89% of the total expenditure limit in government campaign funds. If Hawaiʻi adopted a similar policy, these public funds, when combined with the money raised through qualifying donations, could provide sufficient resources to run a competitive campaign.
• Create a block grant program. State Sen. Karl Rhoads has introduced a bill to provide qualifying candidates with grants that approximate the spending of a typical incumbent. Under his proposal, candidates could qualify for public funds that range from $20,000 for Office of Hawaiian Affairs candidates, $50,000 for House candidates, $100,000 for Senate candidates, and $2.5 million for gubernatorial candidates. A greater percentage of the money would be given to candidates in the primary than in the general to recognize that many of the most closely-fought contests in Hawaiʻi occur during primary elections. Advocates of this proposal estimate that it could cost as much as $25 million per year. Ultimately, it is difficult to estimate how many candidates would qualify for this program, but the experience of other block grant states suggests that the costs would be manageable. Connecticut’s program, for example, offers generous levels of funding and has a high participation rate, but cost only $13.5 million during the 2020 election year.
• Distribute campaign vouchers. Hawaiʻi could create a voucher program similar to the one currently in place in Seattle by providing four vouchers worth $25 each to every registered voter in the state. Although this system demonstrated the most impressive results in increasing electoral competition, it is also the most difficult to administer. Seattle uses paper vouchers, which must be gathered by campaigns and redeemed for public funds. Providing administrative oversight and security for such a system would likely require more resources and personnel for the Campaign Spending Commission. Although the cost of this program could be extremely high if all registered voters redeemed their vouchers, the relatively low rates of participation in Seattle suggest that it would be manageable. Assuming a similar rate of participation in Hawaiʻi, the price of this program would be approximately $4.3 million per election.

“Any one of these policy options would likely create more political competition by leveling the playing field and could be supported by a relatively modest appropriation from general funds,” according to the brief. “Public campaign financing programs may not deliver all of the benefits promised by advocates, but they can be an effective investment in local democracy.”

. ����ӰҵERO, the School of Communication and Information and the Matsunaga Institute for Peace are housed in ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�’s .

Five academic units from three different colleges at the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� are combining this fall to establish the (SCI) within the (CSS). The units, which have related yet distinct approaches to communication and information, are:

• The (COM) program, formerly in the School of Communications in CSS.
• The (COMG) program, formerly in the College of Arts, Languages and Letters.
• The (JOUR) program, formerly in the School of Communications in CSS.
• The Library and Information Science (LIS) program, formerly in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences in the College of Natural Sciences.
• The , formerly in the in CSS.

“This faculty-driven reorganization effort brings together units from across campus to leverage synergies and interdisciplinary opportunities for students interested in these fields,” said CSS Dean Denise Eby Konan. “It will allow them to explore the complexities of communication in one school to meet personal, relational, professional and community needs.”

Consultation of individuals and groups impacted by the proposed reorganization occurred from fall 2020 to fall 2021. The faculty-led working group reorganization team shared information and met with various units and constituencies across campus, set up a website for announcements and feedback, and held a series of town hall meetings. Faculty, staff and students have expressed enthusiastic support for the new school.

SCI is fundamentally concerned with the study of communication, including the creation and flow of information among people and communities, through media and technologies, and across time and cultures. The new school will help students to acquire the knowledge, skills and ethical perspectives to create, gather, analyze and share information. SCI graduates will have the tools and perspectives to solve problems by combining multiple approaches within the realm of communication and information.

“����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� students will now learn about communication from several distinct disciplinary perspectives,” said Colin Moore, inaugural SCI chair. “Students interested in all aspects of communication—from speech and persuasion, to technologies that facilitate communication, to how information is organized, to how it is reported by journalists—can take classes across disciplines without having to search through different colleges.”

With the support of ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� Provost Michael Bruno, ����Ӱҵ President David Lassner signed the reorganization proposal this past summer, making it effective July 2022. SCI will be in a transition phase for the next academic year.

For more, see the .

, a 1-hour film on energy and climate, premiered on Earth Day 2022 and was shown on multiple TV stations across the state. Footage for the film was collected over 10 months and included one-on-one interviews and talk story sessions with numerous Hawaiʻi leaders—including University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� experts—and an with learning stations.

����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� experts who contributed to and were featured in the film included:

• Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience Makenna Coffman discussed the impacts of climate change on Hawaiʻi and what Hawaiʻi is doing to mitigate or adapt to climate change.
• Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Management Susan Crow spoke on a panel discussing decarbonizing the economy and carbon sequestration.
• Professor of Information and computer sciences Jason Leigh and his LAVA team’s project HAVEN—an interactive 3D energy planning modeling tool—was featured in the film. HAVEN was created in partnership with Hawaiian Electric and the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office.
• Director of the Spark Matsunaga Institute for Peace Maya Soetoro-Ng expressed what gives her hope.

The film showcased the diverse efforts and the innovative solutions charting the way in Hawaiʻi, navigating a path toward a resilient and sustainable future. Narrated by Kathy Muneno, the filmmakers hoped to inspire new conversations around adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, transitioning to clean energy, creating a decarbonized economy, conserving our natural resources, and reducing our collective carbon footprint.

Other speakers include: Navigator Nainoa Thompson, Barack Obama, Scott Glenn (Hawaiʻi Chief Energy Officer), Mike McCartney (DBEDT), Celeste Connors (Hawaiʻi Green Growth Local 2030 Hub), Melissa Miyashiro (Blue Planet), Ulalia Woodside (Nature Conservancy) Peter Ingram (Hawaiian Airlines), Scott Seu (HEI), Shelee Kimura (Hawaiian Electric), Vic Angoco (Matson), Brian Kealoha (Hawaiʻi Energy), David Bissell (KIUC), Matt Gonser (Honolulu Office of Climate Change), Micah Kane (Hawaiʻi Community Foundation).

Learn more about the .

The Confabulous summit for ����ԴDz� stakeholder organizations including the University of Hawaiʻi was held virtually on December 5. The summit was designed to help ����ԴDz� organizations to get to know each other better through round robin discussions, scavenger hunts, social network mapping, and collective problem solving and more. The organizations shared their mission statements, needs, wants and suggested types of community service projects for potential collaborations with other stakeholders.

partnered with ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� (DURP) Professor Dan Milz, also of the , to facilitate the virtual summit via Zoom. Graduate students from Milz’s PACE/PLAN 668 course, entitled Facilitation: Facilitating Community and Organizational Change, worked on a service learning project with leaders from Mālama ����ԴDz�.

“We often hear so much about how online meetings have fall short; they’re awkward, they’re not great for public participation, et cetera,” said Milz, “but here we have a group of students who gave serious consideration to the question of ‘can we do it better?’ And, based on the reaction of the people who attended the Confabulous, the answer is a resounding ‘yes!’”

Milz also helped summit organizers to coordinate with Assistant Professor Suwan Shen, whose DURP undergraduate students worked on a service learning project to analyze the data from the ����ԴDz� Community Needs Survey.

“This was a great opportunity for students in my facilitation course to design and facilitate activities in a real-world setting, with actual community leaders,” said Milz. “This has been a great applied learning project for them, and I’m grateful for Helen Nakano and her colleagues at Mālama ����ԴDz� for making this happen.”

The participating Confabulous summit organizations were:

• Mālama ����ԴDz�
• Hale Kokua o ����ԴDz� Adventist Community Center
• ����ԴDz� Valley Church Pre-School
• ����ԴDz� Chinese Cemetery
• ����ԴDz� Outdoor Circle
• ����ԴDz� Heritage Center
• MoʻO School
• ����ԴDz� Japanese Language School
• Church of Crossroads
• Streams of Life Fellowship
• Be Ready ����ԴDz�
• Living Life Source Foundation
• BSA Troop 33
• ����ԴDz� Public Library
• Lyon Arboretum
• Maryknoll School
• Mid Pacific Institute
• ����ԴDz� Neighborhood Board
• ����ԴDz� Elementary School
• Honolulu Christian Church
• University Avenue Baptist Church
• ����ԴDz� Valley District Park
• ����ԴDz� Lions Club
• Punahou School’s Luke Center for Public Service
• University of Hawaiʻi System

Homeless activists on Oʻahu are taking charge of the growing issue in the islands and tackling problems on their own terms. The University of Hawaiʻi’s seeks to amplify some of those voices and spotlight initiatives from Waiʻanae to Waimānalo.

The livestream conversation, Finding Home, Building Community, will be held on Friday, September 17 at 3 p.m. The forum will explore how a new generation of grassroots leaders are paving a path for finding homes and building community. The livestream event is open to the public. (.)

“If we build the right relationships, houseless people can be part of the solution, instead of people seeing us only as a problem,” said Twinkle Borges, an activist with Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae, a village that has come together on state land on the shoreline near the Waiʻanae Boat Harbor.

Borges will be featured on the forum, alongside Jessy Freddy Francis (We Are Oceania); Tina Grandinetti, ����Ӱҵ alumna who works at the state Legislature; Ronette Kawakami, associate dean at the ; James Koshiba (Hui Aloha); Blanche Macmillan (Hui Mahiaʻi Aina); and Lindsay Pacheco (Ka Poʻe O Kakaʻako).

Maya Soetoro-Ng, ����Ӱҵ faculty with the , will serve as moderator.

“Houselessness is a complex problem and requires many solutions,” explained Soetoro-Ng. “This is a chance for us to examine some of the solutions that are really working, in which unsheltered families are coming together and building their own communities from the ground up.”

The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series is a joint venture of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Kamehameha Schools and ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�.

Lead sponsors for this forum include the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and the William S. Richardson School of Law. Co-sponsors include Ceeds of Peace and the College of Social Sciences.

For more information, visit the ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� Better Tomorrow Speaker Series website or email btss@hawaii.edu.

An annual conference bringing together youth peer mediators for more than 30 years is going virtual for the first time. Hosted by University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz�’s in the , in partnership with more than 20 Hawaiʻi organizations, the conference aims to connect peer mediators around Hawaiʻi and others aspiring to develop their own peer mediation program. Free virtual events are being offered throughout the month (details below).

The 34th Annual Peer Mediation Conference kicked off on April 7 with an opening panel on peer mediation programs across the state. Experts describe peer mediation as a process where two or more students involved in a dispute meet in a private, safe and confidential setting to work out problems with the assistance of a trained mediator.

The opening panel featured Susan Chang, ; Noelani Anderson, ; Shelly Andrews, ; and Majidah Lebarre, Kuʻikahi Mediation Center. It was moderated by Katie Ranney, president, and ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� alumna with a master’s in communication and graduate certificate in conflict resolution from the Matsunaga Institute for Peace.

“The Matsunaga Institute’s involvement in the Peer Mediation Conference is at the core of its mission to promote cross-cultural understanding, collaborative problem solving, critical thinking and lifelong skills to groom leaders to address contemporary and complex issues near and far,” said José Barzola, educational specialist and affiliate faculty at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace. “The conference brings together people of all ages with a shared passion to be conflict resolvers, as well as the ability to further equip them with the skill sets of collaborative governance through facilitation, mediation and negotiation.”

30+ years of peer mediation

Chang has trained thousands of students and adults in Hawaiʻi on conflict resolution techniques such as mediation, and has led the conference since its inception.

“Conflicts are a part of our everyday life,” Chang said. “It helps to remember that we all have choices in how we handle those conflicts. Trained peer mediators can’t tell people what to do but they can help people think, talk about what’s happening, and work with them to figure out a fair solution.”

Free virtual events

• , April 8, 2 p.m.
• , April 8, 2:45 p.m.
• , April 13, 2 p.m.
• , April 13, 3 p.m.
• , April 14, 2:30 p.m.
• , April 14, 3:30 p.m.
• , April 15, 2 p.m.
• , April 15, 2:45 p.m.
• , April 20, 2 p.m.
• , April 21, 2:30 p.m.
• , April 22, 2 p.m.
• , April 27, 2 p.m.
• , April 28, 2 p.m.
• , April 28, 3 p.m.
• , April 29, 2 p.m.
• , April 29, 2:45 p.m.
• , April 30, 2 p.m.

For more information, visit the .

This work is an example of ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�’s goal of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

—By Marc Arakaki

As fears build following a stark rise in anti-Asian attacks largely targeting senior citizens, many are wondering what they can do to stamp out the violence. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will host a live online conversation with author and activist , one of the country’s most prominent Asian-American voices against hate and homophobia.

The livestream conversation, “The Long Road to Atlanta: Anti-Asian Racism and Misogyny,” will be held on Monday, April 12, at 4 p.m.

“The University of Hawaiʻi is deeply troubled by recent acts of violence and discrimination,” said ����Ӱҵ President David Lassner. “We look forward to this conversation with Helen Zia as we come together to condemn racism, xenophobia and misogyny, and we try to lift each other up and create a kind and caring ����Ӱҵ community.”

“As an unwavering voice for social justice, Helen Zia will help us reckon with racial and sexual violence in America’s past and present,” said Mari Yoshihara, scholar of Asian American history and ����Ӱҵ Mānoa American studies department chair.

The event is open to the public. ()

Former ����Ӱҵ Mānoa American Studies Professor Theodore S. Gonzalves, past president of the Association for Asian American Studies, will interview Zia and field questions from the audience.

More on Zia

Zia, a daughter of immigrants from China, authored Last Boat out of Shanghai, My Country Versus Me and Asian American Dreams. She gained prominence in the 1980s as the national organizer and spokesperson for the Justice for Vincent Chin campaign, a story currently under development as a television series. Zia writes regularly for the New York Times, Washington Post.

The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series is a joint venture of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Kamehameha Schools and ����Ӱҵ.

Lead sponsors of this event include the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi; Association for Asian American Studies; ����Ӱҵ Mānoa ; ; and the . Co-sponsors include the ����Ӱҵ Mānoa Departments of , , , , and , as well as the .

For more on information, visit the ����Ӱҵ website or email btss@hawaii.edu.

The presence of racism in conflict resolution; perception and judgment when opinions on issues differ; and mastering conflict creatively. These are some of the topics that will be discussed in a forum series co-sponsored by the in the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� .

The “Difficult Conversation Series” is a set of six virtual workshops designed to address tough topics that may be discussed in personal and professional environments.

“We hope that the viewers will feel better prepared to have difficult conversations in their own professional and personal lives,” said José Barzola, educational specialist and affiliate faculty at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace. “It is normally when we lean into our discomfort that we can grow personally and further develop our skill sets on how best to respect and interact with each other.”

Barzola added, “The goals of the Matsunaga Institute fits perfectly with the intent of the series, as we emphasize critical thinking and collaboration to develop leaders who will address contemporary and complex issues.”

Tickets are $30 and will include admission to the six events, access to recordings of sessions 1–4 and 6 (session 5 will not be recorded), and membership to Hawaiʻi nonprofit organization (CRA) through December 31, 2021. .

“Each workshop in this series addresses a different facet of any peacebuilder’s life and career, so they can improve themselves and their communities’ conversations and work,” said Katie Ranney, CRA president-elect, and ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� alumna with a master’s in communication and graduate certificate in conflict resolution from the Matsunaga Institute for Peace.

Series workshops

• Session 1: “Exploring Racism in Conflict Resolution” on September 10, noon–1:30 p.m. featuring panelists José Barzola, Amrita Mallik and Katie Ranney
• Session 2: “Eh?!? You making stink eye?!? No Judgments, No Assumptions. Creating Space for Critical Conversations” on September 18, 3–4 p.m. with Vince Abramo and Barbara Fischlowitz-Leong
• Session 3: “Reinventing Government: A Partnership rather than an Adversary” on September 25, noon–1:30 p.m. featuring Gerald S. Clay
• Session 4: “Managing the Tide for Generational Divide” on October 5, 3:30–5 p.m. with Brianna Blackburn and Katie Ranney
• Session 5: “Discuss What Matters” on October 15, noon–1 p.m. featuring panelists Carol Catanzariti and Robert Lillis
• Session 6: “Why Can’t We All Get Along: The Art of Creative Conflict” on October 29, noon–1:30 p.m. with Loretta Chen

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COVID-19’s devastating impact on the health and welfare of Hawaiʻi’s families is the focus of a released by the (CSS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz�, in partnership with .

“I commend the researchers for their quick work to bring to light important data and analysis that would otherwise be untold,” said CSS Dean Denise Eby Konan. “I’m especially grateful to our partnership with First Insurance Company, as they compelled us to respond to an urgent gap in knowledge facing our state at this critical time.”

“Our goal is to provide evidence-based social sciences research, so that Hawaiʻi’s leaders can make more informed and compassionate policy and business decisions as our state deals with the rapidly changing COVID-19 situation,” said Jeff Shonka, president and CEO of First Insurance Company of Hawaiʻi.

Current papers:

• by Wei Zhang, professor, and Margaret Walkover, PhD student,
• by Anna Pruitt, post-doctoral researcher,
• by Timothy J. Halliday, professor, and
• by Ji Young Kim, associate professor,
• by Lawrence H. Nitz, professor,
• by Monisha Das Gupta, professor, and Richard Cullen Rath, associate professor, , in collaboration with UNITE HERE! Local 5 and Hawaiʻi Workers Center
• by Davianna ��ō�������첹ʻ�� McGregor, professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, , in collaboration with ���ܲ�ʻ�徱�Բ� Ulu ʻAuamo
• by Krisna Suryanata, professor, , and Nicole Milne, The Kohala Center
• by Dan Milz, assistant professor, ,

All papers are circulated to stimulate policy discussion and comment. The views expressed are those of the individual authors.

—By Lisa Shirota

Update July 20, 2020: Lawrence Miwa will share his story through an online talk “That Unforgettable Morning: Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor, Larry Miwa” on August 5 at 1 p.m. HST. .

Update April 28, 2020: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution has created a .

Original story:

“No clouds, beautiful blue skies, and then when you look at the surface, it was dark. You can never imagine that a couple of months before that, 140,000 people were there and then I was the only one looking at the city,” Lawrence Miwa, an atomic bomb survivor, recalled his life in Hiroshima, Japan days after U.S. troops dropped the nuclear weapon on August 6, 1945.

Miwa, now 89, says that he was 14 years old when the bomb was dropped. He was approximately 20 miles away with his school class studying, but still could see what had happened.

“That was like a toy,” Miwa said. “From 20 miles away, it looked like it was about ten inches. But when you look at it right in front of you, it was about four feet. What I remember was that there was a yellow flash from the bomb.”

Miwa’s several other family members survived the attack, including his parents and sister. His diary, family photos and other artifacts surrounding the attack are on display at the as part of the Beginning and End of the Bomb exhibit marking the 75th anniversary of the development and use of nuclear weapons during World War II. The showcase, presented by the in the , can be viewed in ’s Bridge Gallery until April 30.

Approximately 70,000 people were killed when the U.S. military dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima during World War II. Tens of thousands later died from radiation exposure and other effects. Three days later on August 9, 1945, another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki killing about 40,000 people. The exhibit includes sections on both bombings, the first nuclear test in New Mexico in July 1945 and newspaper excerpts signifying the end of the war.

“I hope that they can get the impression how horrible it is to have atomic bomb weapons,” Miwa said.

The exhibit originated in 1995, marking the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This year’s exhibit has some new features, including access to a “Nukemap” interactive simulation of the effects of a nuclear explosion on Oʻahu.

Miwa talked about his experiences at a panel event on March 5 in Hamilton Library. Tom Coffman, the author of a book detailing Miwa’s story called Tadaima! I Am Home and Miwa’s son, ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� alum Stephen Miwa, also spoke. The panel was moderated by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto.

—By Marc Arakaki

The excelled in the statewide Kindness Challenge this past October and has has been recognized for its strong participation. Organizations, like ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� and individuals throughout Hawaiʻi took the challenge to engage in five small acts of kindness each day throughout the month of October in recognition of Conflict Resolution Month. The challenge was sponsored by the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), Hawaiʻi Chapter.

The association singled out ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� for recognition of the strong support on social media provided by students, faculty and staff members in support of the campus’ participation in the Kindness Challenge.

“We are thrilled to see great participation in the Kindness Challenge from the ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz� community,” says José Barzola, education specialist with the and president-elect for ACR Hawaiʻi. “Our next generation of peacebuilders starts here.”

“Building the community we want to see at ����ԴDz� begins with small acts of kindness that honor our dignity and respect for one another,” adds Amrita Mallik, campus climate program officer. “We were honored to work with our community partners to spread kindness throughout the campus and the state. Even though the Kindness Challenge is over, I hope we can all still try to do five small acts of kindness every day.”

More information about this year’s Kindness Challenge can be found at the .

What separates healthy and happy relationships from miserable ones is a balance of positive to negative interactions. Studies in the field of social psychology show that it takes five positive interactions to make up for every one bad encounter you have with someone.

During the month of October, people throughout Hawaiʻi are participating in the , and the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz�’s Campus Climate Initiatives and want the whole campus to be a part of it.

“Strong relationships are the foundation to a strong community,” said Amrita Mallik, campus climate program officer for ����Ӱҵ ����ԴDz�. “This is a great opportunity for all of us at ����ԴDz� to renew our commitment to treating each other with dignity, respect and kindness. Let’s see how far five small acts of kindness a day can take us!”

Pay someone a compliment. Offer a few encouraging words. Give a two thumbs ups. Smile and show appreciation. Make someone laugh. These simple actions can make someone’s day. If you can change someone’s life in just a few seconds, why not make it for the better.

“The Matsunaga Institute’s mission is to support peace building and relationship building, and kindness is one of our most important tools,” said Jose Barzola, education specialist for the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution. “We are excited to bring the Kindness Challenge to ����ԴDz�.”

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Be sure to tag pictures on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with #KindnessMatters and #����ӰҵManoa!