Defining Our Destiny - A Mānoa Strategic Planning Event

On February 1, 2002 over 1400 faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and community members gathered at the Campus Center Ballroom to talk about the future of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Using a process called Open Space Technology, participants initiated topics and led discussions on three questions.

What are your highest hopes and aspirations for our University? What are the key challenges and barriers that we must overcome in the next 5 years? How can we work together now to achieve the vision?

Defining Our Destiny Bulletin Board - General Discussion
Glimpses of the Day - Photo Gallery
Invitation Letter

Topics: Review the raw, unedited work of the “Defining Our Destiny” participants.

• Landscaping
• "Campus Life: Can We Get One?"
• Improving the Learning Environment
• Taking the Distance out of Education
• Vibrancy of Campus Life Through Food Services
• Supporting UH families and their children
• UH Life Beyond the Freeway, Interaction of University and the Community
• UH Alumni...past, present and future, locally and globally
• Class requirements and impediments to graduation in four years
• Skate boarders and property damage
• Philosophy in the High Schools
• Connecting graduate research to undergraduate education
• Addictions studies specialty at UHM
• The voice of the student's in the Strategic Planning Process
• Native Hawaiian issues
• Increasing UH Profitability through Outreach and Corporate Partnerships
• Research opportunities for undergraduate students
• Including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) Issues in Diversity
• What to do with the Waiale'e UH experiment Station on the North Shore
• Repair and Maintenance
• Some random issues that may fall through the cracks: 
• Intellectual mission of UH: to create and share knowledge that is global in scope, with a particular focus on Hawai`i, Pacific, and Asia 
• Assisting the Matsunaga Institute for Peace to become an even more effective player in building peace in our world. 
• To break down the barriers between academic units (depts., colleges, campuses) we should start the process by creating a system wide academic unit of Information Technology and Computer Sciences.
• The University of Hawaii as an Agent for Promoting the Social and Cultural Well-Being of Hawaii's People.
• Educate the Whole Student
• Role of the University in the reform of public education in Hawaii.
• Outreach and enrich for K12 education
• The Importance of Second Language in Hawaii's Multilingual Community 
• More financial assistance and student service support for students from underrepresented ethnic groups (African American, Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoans, Hispanic, Laotians, Vietnamese and Pacific Islanders),
• Internationalizing the Campus
• UHM and Asia: The Place of Research, Teaching and Learning
• Creating an Honors College at Manoa
• The establishment of a comprehensive and independent School of Communication at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
• Difficulty of getting 4-year degree in four years
• Creating a civil, hostility-free and harassment-free learning and work environment.
• Public Health Education--Rebuilding a School of Public Health at the University of Hawai`i
• Strategic Enrollment Management
• Exploring ways to increase collaboration between student development service programs and academic programs to address strategies to increase recruitment and retention for underrepresented students in MA and PhD programs
• A Smoke-Free Campus Environment
• Policy and Salary Equity for Research Staff
• Civil Rights: Ensuring a safe and diverse learning/working environment within our University system.
• Inadequate Parking
• Lack of parking and the need for dorm renovations.
• Access and Preservation of Primary Resources
• Instructional Environment
• A specific budget for Ka Papa Lo'i 'o Kanewai (KPLK) Hawaiian Cultural Garden at the Center for Hawaiian Studies.
• plant native plants on all University property 
• UHEART University of Hawaii EDucation Access Resources and Technology 
• A University of Hawaii that is sustainable in principle, policy and practice.
• Integrating the Art and Science Communities
• Disability Access
• Integrate University resources with other Federal, State and County resources state-wide.
• Support the Arts
• Creating a U.H. Information and Production Commons 
• Place a symbol in the course catalog that states that a specific class is culturally-sensitive. 
• Pacific Studies
• Student Affairs: student issues and campus environment.
• Hawaiian Language & Cultural Issues
• UH Manoa Film School
• Faculty Salaries and Equity
• Ensuring that UHM is accessible to the poor, people with disabilities, returning and transfer students, and all students with special needs.
• Center for the Study of Religion in the Contemporary World
• Creating a University of Hawai`i that is sustainable in principle, policy, and practice