Tomorrow is the first day of classes for the fall semester at UH Hilo!
As we watch news reports from across the country of universities opening and then shutting down, I find myself grateful that we do not have a fraternity and sorority culture at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, nor are we a “party school.” The vast majority of our students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college, are serious about their education and care about their communities.
Those who are here with us on campus know how precious this opportunity for higher education is, and are not inclined to throw it away through irresponsible behavior.
I am also grateful that most courses will be offered online this fall, which allows us to promote and enforce healthy practices on campus. This online format was not our original plan. Indeed, we had prepared to give students the option to take most classes online or in person, but as we saw the cases soar on Oahu and the return of the interisland quarantine, it became more and more obvious that we would have to put more classes online to serve those students who cannot get here and to reduce the number of people on our campus, to make the environment safer for us all.
Some days this rollercoaster of changes we are on becomes overwhelming, but I have been so impressed with the staff and faculty who have been able to pivot as circumstances change, led by their dedication to our mission here at UH-Hilo. Students need the educational opportunities we provide, and the University of Hawaii, all its campuses, are an important part of our state’s future.
On the other side of COVID-19, there will be need for even more economic development that is culturally and environmentally sensitive. We will prepare students for those jobs, and we will work together with the community to create opportunities. When we cannot gather publicly, these community partnerships are harder to maintain, but through community members serving on our strategic planning committees, we are listening and learning, and doing.
In order to keep students on track, we do need to do some things in person, mostly labs, studios and clinical experiences. We certainly want to make sure that those students we are sending out into health care fields know what they need to know to do their jobs. Students in labs need to develop some of the techniques that they will need in their careers or in the next class in their curriculum.
We have incorporated physical distancing protocols and will require masks in our classrooms. Each classroom is equipped with hand sanitizer and disinfectant so that equipment and surfaces can be cleaned. Our facilities and cleaning staff have done amazing work to help get us ready and they will continue to keep our spaces clean.
Our IT staff has put in extra time to make sure we have better equipment for our faculty to use to broadcast their classes so those students learning from home will have the best experience we can provide. Similarly, our faculty have been training over the summer to be ready. We have had much more time to prepare for online learning this fall than we did in March, which means the quality of the online experience will be better for those who need it.
I hope the Hilo and Hawaii Island community will welcome our students who are here with us in person with the warm aloha that they always have. Our students who are emerging from quarantine are genuinely grateful to be here. Classes start tomorrow, and they are eager to experience both our university and our island, even under the current restrictions.
As some of our students from neighbor islands continue to arrive, they, too, are seeking the better life and opportunity that a university education can provide them. They, too, will abide by quarantine rules because they value the opportunity that the university provides.
At UH-Hilo, we will continue to welcome all our students with virtual open arms until we can return to a more normal experience of life and work for us all.
Mahalo nui.
Bonnie D. Irwin is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Her column appears monthly in the Tribune-Herald.