two red hibiscus flowers

[ Staff & Committee Members ]

In October 2000, the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo received a Title III grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve institutional weaknesses that were found through a self study. The Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Program (NHSI) is expected to continue for five years and has three key goals for native Hawaiian students:

To reach these goals, the project has two main activities. The objective of Activity One is to increase support services for native Hawaiian students to increase retention and graduation rates. A UHH student support program for Native Hawaiians called Kīpuka has been established to help obtain these goals. Student participation in this program has increased almost monthly, especially since the renovation on the computer lab and offices was completed in August of 2004.

The objective of Activity Two is to offer a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies through distance learning to the outer islands and eventually to the mainland. The Elementary Hawaiian Language class (HAW101) was offered asynchronously via the Internet in Fall 2002. Read the Hawaiian Language and Culture Classes Online brochure for more information, or visit the College of Continuing Education and Community Service (CCECS) web site.

You may also read about this new class in an article published by The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper in their August 30, 2002 edition. Along with another section of Hawaiian 101, Hawaiian 102, the follow up course, was offered online in spring 2003. In Fall 2003 and Spring 2004, Hawaiian 101 and Hawaiian 201 will be offered to students via the Internet.

In April 2001, the first Annual Performance Report was turned into the US Department of Education. Based on the progress of the project, funding was continued for a second year. In September 2002, the program received funding for a third year. Funding was also received for year four and five of the project.