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The objectives of Women's Studies are closely aligned with the University's mission statements as articulated in (a) University of Hawaii System Strategic Plan, Entering the University's Second Century, 2002 - 2010, (b) University of Hawaii at Manoa Strategic Plan, Defining Our Destiny, 2002 - 2010, and (c) Greater Expectation, a recent campus-wide effort to re-energize undergraduate education. All emphasize the mission of UHM to serve the public by generating and transmitting knowledge pertaining to democracy, social justice and human diversity. Women's Studies realizes this mission in more than one way. The program constitutes an exceptionally active, vibrant entity of multicultural and global education and research, whose faculty members exemplify gender, ethnic and national diversity (3 out of 7 faculty members are foreign women of color) and whose students reflect Hawaii's multicultural demographics. The program pursues rigorous research and educational activities with a focus on gender in the Asia-Pacific specifically and transnationality more generally. The large number of local female and ethnic minority students the program serves, the increasing number of local, national, and international inquiries into and demands placed on its faculty's expertise, the high volume of article - and book-length publications the faculty annually produce, and the high degree of collaboration with other units through cross-listing of courses, colloquium presentations, interdisciplinary research, etc., all reflect and in turn confirm the significant function Women's Studies performs as an institution of excellence in research, education and service.
In the area of curriculum and instruction, WS has been steadily expanding with an increasing enrollment in both undergraduate and graduate programs. While the program has historically served a large number of local female students, we have begun to see an increasing number of both mainland students and male students as our majors and certificate students in the past five years. Several factors contributing to the program's success include the high quality of education, continuous efforts toward compliance with UHM assessment criteria, active mentoring and advising, regular monthly faculty discussions concerning recruitment, curriculum, and instruction, among others.
In recent years, WS has begun a number of initiatives to nurture our students' identification with WS and CSS, to train them for post-baccalaureate education and employment, and to prepare them to become well-informed citizens of the globalizing world. Included among the initiatives are Women's Studies Club, teaching apprenticeship, academic mentoring and advising as well as recruiting efforts, articulation and dissemination of SLO (Students Learning Objectives), and career and employment mentoring and advising.
In the area of research, WS has maintained excellence in interdisciplinary and transnational gender scholarship. One indicator of excellence is its receipt of a prestigious and nationally competitive three-year Rockefeller grant on Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific. The grant has led to visiting scholarship of more than a dozen intellectuals of diverse ethnic and national backgrounds as well as 4 volumes of working papers and a publication of an edited volume, Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific: Method, Practice, and Theory (2008, University of Hawaii Press). Another equally visible sign of WS excellence is its representation at the UHM Author's Book Festival in Fall 08. Out of 6 FTE, WS presented 5 books at the fair, far exceeding any other program in publishing record this year and signalizing its disproportionately higher productivity as a research unit within CSS and across UHM. WS excellence in research is further supported by other indicators, such as applications for and receipts of external and internal grants, academic publications, academic presentations at local, national and international conferences, and collaborative and interdisciplinary research with other units and institutions. WS consists of a diverse faculty whose work closely reflect the mission of the program, CSS, and UHM. The program's faculty include three experts in the area of Asia and the Pacific. Dr. Koikari is a historical sociologist whose work examines gender, race, and nation in colonial and postcolonial context. Dr. Das Gupta is a sociologist who studies gender, race, class intersections among East Asian immigrant workers in the US and transnational setting. Dr. Kimura is a rural sociologist whose work focuses on a cutting-edge field of food science in Southeast Asia. All four remaining faculty members, Dr. Meda Chesney Lind (sociology), Dr. Kathy Ferguson (political science), Dr. Susan Hippensteele (psychology and law), and Dr. Ruth Dawson (German), have conducted some or all of their research in or about Hawaii and the Pacific region.
In the area of scholarship of application, WS has maintained an excellent record. Needless to say, our research activities directly inform our pedagogical activities, which, as CAFE evaluations readily indicate, is well appreciated by our students. In addition, WS serves our local communities in various ways. Dr. Hippensteele provides pro bono legal service to victims of domestic violence and works with community board and organizations concerning sexual and domestic violence, substance abuse, among others. Dr. Chesney-Lind has served on numerous community boards and organizations relating to girls, crime and violence, and works with the courts developing model programs for girls. Dr. Ferguson tutors dyslexic children and has served on boards of directors of various community organizations. Dr. Dawson has conducted extensive research into Hawaii's historic role in the national struggle to achieve and maintain reproductive rights. Dr. Das Gupta has worked with local and mainland immigrant groups and labor unions. Dr. Koikari maintains a close tie with local Japanese American veterans' community, about whom she is now writing and publishing a series of articles. These activities have been well acknowledged within and outside UHM. One member of WS has been selected for the BOR Medal for Excellence in Research, two have received the Hung Wo Elizabeth Lau Ching award for faculty service to the community, and one has received the Robert S. Clopton Award for outstanding service to the community. WS faculty members are also regular recipients of college level awards.
While Women's Studies is a fairly new field, with the first programs appearing in the early 1970s, it has grown substantially in the last 35 years. Neither our disciplinary organizations nor the National Research council at present conducts assessments or rankings of Women's Studies. However, because our program includes several nationally and internationally known scholars and our overall expertise in the areas of transnational feminist scholarship may well be unrivaled, we are confident that we would rank near the top of any departmental ranking system if and when such a system would be established in the near future.
Contact
Women's Studies Program
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
2424 Maile Way
Saunders Hall Room 722
Honolulu, HI 96822
Telephone: (808) 956-7464
Facsimile: (808) 956-9616
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