Campus Spotlight

Supporting the Keiki with Early Childhood Education at Honolulu CC

Honolulu Community College plays an important role on Oʻahu with its Early Childhood Education (ECED) Program. The college recently expanded with a certificate for infant and toddler caregivers, which was built on the momentum from the Ready Keiki initiative, increasing access to early childhood education options.

“This certificate creates a promising efficient pathway specialized for those who want to work with infants and toddlers. It is a thoughtfully constructed pathway to build Hawaiʻi’s infant and toddler caregiver workforce,” said Caroline Soga, assistant professor and program coordinator. “This certificate is also stackable and enables students to continue on to finish an associate degree and then transfer to a four-year university, if they choose.”

The infant and toddler caregiver certificate requires a 21-credit sequence designed to meet the Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services’ education and experience qualifications of an infant and toddler caregiver. The new certificate is in addition to offerings, such as the ECED associate in science degree, with either preschool or infant and toddler specializations, and certificates of competence.

Another aspect of the Ready Keiki initiative is the Early Childhood Educator stipend program. The stipend program provides financial assistance to any student pursuing an Early Childhood Education certificate, degree or license.

Learn more about the certificate and Honolulu Community College’s Early Childhood Education Program.

System Initiatives: What you need to know

Perkins Request for Proposals are Available

Each December, the Perkins Request for Proposals is distributed to the Deans of Career and Technical Education to solicit campus proposals for innovative projects and plans supporting workforce development programs. The 2024-2025 Perkins RFP form and Perkins Guidelines for 2024-2025 are now available. Proposals are due to your dean by March 8, 2024. Notification of awards will be made in May 2024.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE)

Many of you may remember UHCC’s participation in CCSSE during the spring semester every other year. The pandemic led to a disruption of our every two year cycle, but we are pleased to announce a return to this important measure of student engagement and success. The UHCC System Office will be coordinating the online survey this year and funding the cost of the survey as well. Joshua Kaakua will be leading efforts to create a consistent, seamless distribution process that can collect student engagement data from all of the community colleges. This online version of the CCSSE will limit disruption to instructional time. Please encourage your students to participate when the survey is announced.

UHCC Systemwide Team Spotlight

13th Year Initiative

The Hawaiʻi 13th Year Initiative is an innovative program designed to encourage non-college-bound high school students and adults to attend, and successfully complete, their first year of community college. The program's success is largely due to the efforts of the 13th Year System Coordinator, Kimo Perry, and the campus coordinators who have worked to develop and expand the program at their respective colleges.

The campus coordinators are:

• Kanaloa Ducosin, Ēlama Project and Hilo One Program Coordinator, and Kalei Haleamau, Director, Hawaiʻi Community College-Pālamanui
• Kaleialoha Lum-Ho, Kalani Flores-Hatt, and Kahele Saito, Niuhelewai Program Managers, Honolulu CC
• LaVache Scanlan, Lunalilo Scholars Program Coordinator, Kapiʻolani CC
• Lahea Salazar, Waiʻaleʻale Project, Program Coordinator, Kauaʻi CC
• Momi Kamahele, Kahua Ho'omau Ola Program Coordinator, Leeward CC
• Luana Kawaʻa, Mānaiakalani Scholarship, Director, Pai Ka Māna TRIO SS, UH Maui College
• Sarah Akina, Paipai o Koʻolau Program Director, Windward CC

The program provides financial and other student supports that reduce barriers to entering, and succeeding in, college. Services include guaranteed financial support covering tuition, books, and fees; program-specific academic supports; supplemental counseling and advising; and informational services to encourage student achievement. This comprehensive commitment to student success makes the 13th Year Initiative unique among other scholarship programs that do not otherwise provide integrated support beyond their financial contribution.

The initiative was created in 2010 as a pilot project at Kauaʻi Community College called the Waiʻaleʻale Project, and has since expanded to include eight affiliate programs at all seven UH community colleges. Now in its thirteenth year, the 13th Year Initiative has served more than 2,900 students through its respective programs, with plans to increase enrollment and expand its impact in upcoming years. To achieve its mission, the 13th Year Initiative seeks to recruit students who:

• Have minimal or no previous college experience
• Have demonstrated financial need that creates a barrier to entering college
• Will not be able to attend college without the scholarship due to other life challenges
• Are able to demonstrate Hawai῾i residency as determined by the
  UH System Common Scholarship Application

While participation in the Hawaiʻi 13th Year Initiative is not limited to Native Hawaiians, the program’s focus on Native Hawaiian success, its active recruitment and presence in the Hawaiian community, and its emphasis on reaching the most underserved populations means that more than 70% of the students currently enrolled in the program are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Most importantly, students who participate in a 13th Year program are more likely to persist in the second second semester and second year than non-participants. Additionally, participants are more than 20% more likely to earn a certificate and/or degree within three years than non-participants. The outcomes for Native Hawaiian students are even more positive, as those who participated are 44% more likely to earn a certificate or degree within three years than a non-participant.

This initiative has made a significant impact on those students least likely to attend and persist in higher education. It is largely due to this success that the initiative recently was awarded almost $2,000,000 over three years by Kamehameha Schools. The 13th Year Initiative is now well-positioned to continue its support for underserved students at the UH Community Colleges. We look forward to seeing this program’s long term impact across the state.

UHCC System Updates

UHCC Strategic Plan Framework

We have finalized our UHCC Strategic Plan Framework. The UH Strategic Plan working committees are planning activities to engage constituents systemwide. Please watch for announcements on upcoming events.

Upcoming Legislative Session

The 2024 Legislative Session opens on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at the Capitol. This is a supplemental budget year, and the University of Hawaiʻi has submitted a supplemental budget request that was approved by the Board of Regents.

2024 HISSI Request for Proposals

The 2024 Hawai‘i Student Success Institute (HISSI) is scheduled for Friday, March 8, 2024, at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and is open to administrators, faculty and staff from all areas of the UH Community Colleges.

This year’s theme, Building Dreams, Strengthening Communities: 60 Years of Hawai‘i Community Colleges, celebrates our 60th anniversary and recognizes the positive impact we have had in our local communities and the state. With this focus in mind, 2024 HISSI is open to a variety of presentations that will appeal to the broad sectors of the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges. Target audiences include: executives/managers, faculty/lecturers, APT (Administrative, Professional and Technical), Civil Service (white and blue collar), and others.

Submit a presentation proposal. DEADLINE TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS (extended): FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22 BY 4:30PM

If you are interested in leading a cross-campus discipline, program, employee group or special topic discussion (e.g., OER, English, Financial Aid), please complete the proposal form with your contact information so we can reserve you a room.

Helpful Resources and Articles

• AI and Higher Education: Implications for Learning, Curricula, and Institutions
  Webinar from AAC&U; free registration required
  Live: Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 9:00–10:00 am HST
• Perspectives on AI in Higher Education
  Webinar from the University at Buffalo, Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation
  Live: Monday, January 22, 2024, 5:00–7:00 am HST
• Teaching: Practical AI Strategies for the Classroom (The Chronicle of Higher Education, (free account may be needed)
  This newsletter from Beckie Supiano offers ideas about student use of AI and also how to discourage use of AI in the classroom. You can also sign up to receive the newsletter every Thursday. This Teaching newsletter always has great topics for faculty.
• Dual Credit Data Story Hawaiʻi’s Public Investment in Increasing College Access and Success
  Hawai‘i P-20 announced the Dual Credit Data Story has been updated with data up to the Class of 2022. It provides a short history of the expansion of dual credit throughout the state, who the program serves, and the outcomes of students who have participated in dual credit. Linked as a resource at the bottom of the data story is the 2023 Data Summit presentation, Moving the Needle: Effective Uses of Data in Evolving and Growing Hawaiʻi’s Early College Program, which provides an excellent view into how data is being used to make decisions around the Early College program.
• National Higher Education Teaching Conference(June 13-14, 2024)
  
  • Accelerating Student Success and Belonging
  • Hilton Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN
• Innovative Educators’ Go2Knowledge
  • Take advantage of our free UHCC systemwide Go2Knowledge membership for all CC campuses. Contact: uhccids@hawaii.edu
  • Innovative Educators’ Go2Knowledge offers training on a wide range of topics that are timely, practical, and relevant for higher education. The format includes both live webinars and a digital library for on-demand access. Sign up for a UHCC Go2Knowledge account (or log in if you had an account with a CC campus before), and take advantage of quality professional development from anywhere. Here are a few samples of upcoming live webinars. Recordings can be viewed on demand later:
    • Elevating Education Through The Art of Storytelling & Authenticity
      Live: Wednesday, January 17: 10:00-11:00 am HST
    • AI & Student Affairs: Strategies, Applications & Best Practices For Efficiencies & Retention
      Live: Tuesday, January 23: 10:00-11:30 am HST
    • Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices: How To Create An Inclusive Climate
      Live: Tuesday, January 30: 8:00-9:00 am HST