University of Hawaii Manoa
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Fast-Track Initiatives (PDF Version)

Through the listening project, the Manoa Strategic Planning Process initially yielded a multitude of data on ways to improve our campus. What follows is a list of “quick fix” initiatives that could be fast-tracked into action. The items listed in RED were addressed.

Last updated: April 21, 2005.

Office of the Chancellor

  • Require routine prescribed attention to all purchases to assure disability access (furniture, technology, etc.).
  • Discontinue listing courses in the catalogue that are never/no-longer offered. (The College of Arts and Sciences Program and Curriculum Committee this year sent out a memo to all departments requesting that they review whether the listed courses have been offered over the last 3 to 5 years!  The committee will again request departments to review their courses this fall!)
  • Offer regular civil rights education workshops for students, faculty, and staff.  Workshops should include information on available resources, and services as well as procedures. Support “safe-zone” training on campus. (A presidential directive mandating on-going training in civil rights for all students, faculty and staff is being sought!  The Student Equity Excellence and Diversity Office will be providing funding for a faculty specialist at UH Manoa to conduct Safe Zone Training and related student service projects in Fall 2002.)
  • Create a task force to deal with on-going recycling concerns, make recommendations, and take the lead in recycling efforts. (Read the story!)
  • Follow up with students on the status of the new cafeteria near student housing. (Read about the plans for Fall 2002!)
  • Support the establishment of new Manoa Faculty Senate committees: Faculty Salaries, Part-time Faculty, Accountability.
  • Offer more pre-retirement counseling and workshops.
  • Waive the need for faculty and staff to have to reapply to UHM every time they want to take a class. (For the convenience of faculty and staff, Admissions & Records has devised a modified, short, half-sheet form that only requests name, date of birth, social security number, phone number and signature of the department chair to verify employment status of the faculty member!)
  • Provide suggestion boxes in every office that provides services.
  • Rename more buildings after Native Hawaiians.
  • Organize cleanup of Manoa Stream, co-sponsored with other community organizations. Make an on-going schedule for cleanup activities.  Encourage broad participation. 
  • Invite Hawai‘i International Film Festival filmmakers to UHM as guest lecturers.
  • Offer a farmers market with fresh fruit and vegetables on campus. (The first Farmer's Market opened on Earth Day (April 22, 2002 ) in the Campus Center, and has been on-going ever since!  The project is sponsored by the Graduate Student Organization!)
  • Establish a UH day for volunteering to help the community.
  • Find ways to encourage ride sharing. Look into a van pool service for UH w/ free parking. (See parking section below!)
  • Increase number of journal subscriptions at the library.
  • Approach the City for discounted bus passes for all UH students/employees. (The City and County of Honolulu, via Councilmember Duke Bainum, recently introduced a bill that would provide bus passes to all students at the University of Hawaii at no cost.  The University supports this bill and will work with various departments to make this available once the bill is passed.)
  • Have faculty synchronize their watches (regarding students accused of tardiness).
  • Establish a committee or task force to identify unique collections and primary resources available on UH campuses, in UH departments, and institutional and private collections in the state. Draft recommendations for collaboration. Encourage faculty to build the use of primary resources into their courses. (The Library will facilitate this by sending out a preliminary survey to campus departments and programs to determine the breadth and scope of this issue!  Recommendations will follow after results of the survey are known!)

Alumni Affairs

  • Recognize alumni for their volunteer efforts and service to UHM. (The Alumni Affairs Office is in the midst of its own strategic planning process, and volunteer recognition will be a prominent theme!)

Office of Student Affairs

  • Offer direct deposit for financial aid checks. (A student account system, a basic requirement for direct deposit, is included in a new project being developed and is scheduled to be available in January 2003!)
  • Extend hours of operation for the Cashiers Office (closes at 3:30 p.m.). (The Cashier's Office offers extended hours during peak registration periods 8 am to 4 pm instead of 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.  Students can call their office and make special arrangements to pay if they cannot make it by 3:30 p.m. (6-7554)! The Cashier’s Office also offers mail-in, web, and telephone payment options!)
  • Regularly provide  “safe-zone” training. (The Student Equity Excellence and Diversity office will be providing funding for a faculty specialist at UH Manoa to conduct Safe Zone Training and related student service projects in Fall 2002! The Office is currently working with the President's Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues to seek funding for a systemwide training component for Manoa students, faculty and staff.)

Housing: Dean of Students

  • Allow students to remain in the dorms over winter break. (Read the Story)
  • Allow candidates for graduation to remain in the dorms until after commencement, especially international students. (The Residence Hall Council is looking into options for candidates for graduation!)
  • Organize student town meeting to discuss student housing issues. (Each semester, an open meeting with all residents is held with the Director of  Student Housing Services!)
  • Invite Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other charities to campus for unwanted items left by students at the end of spring semester. (Such a program is in place and is intended to continue.  Similar pick-ups are scheduled for the end of Spring 2002.  Items are donated to various charities!)
  • Fumigate the dorms as needed.
  • Fix the showers in the dorms that are “Temporarily Out of Service.” (This repair and maintenance project is part of the renovations scheduled for Summer 2002!)
  • Clean, repair ceiling and repaint Johnson Hall Basement. (The interior and ceilings of Johnson Hall are scheduled to be repainted in Summer 2002!  Exterior painting of Johnson Hall is scheduled as well.)

New Student Orientation

  • Include all new students (traditional, exchange, international, transfer students) in New Student Orientation, free of charge. 
  • Make New Student Orientation mandatory.

Recruitment & Retention

  • Make recruitment teams diverse so that students see people with whom they can relate. (Plans are in progress to increase the diversity of all recruitment teams. In addition, one goal of the recently adopted Manoa Recruitment Plan is to increase coordination of student diversity with School and College Services and Admissions and Records recruitment activities.  Kua'ana Student Services, the Office of Multicultural Student Services, the College Opportunities Program, GEAR UP, and Na Pua No'eau are composed of diverse recruiters who also  reach out to underrepresented groups!)
  • Publicize the Bridge-to-Hope program in the Public Assistance Office. (The program is regularly publicized, however efforts will be increased through new brochures and UH staff working more closely with the Public Assistance case workers!)
  • Involve the alumni in recruitment efforts. (Alumni are valued as effective, helpful, enthusiastic members of recruitment teams, and the recruitment program continuously seeks ways to involve them! Alumni are regularly involved in recruitment, especially on neighbor islands, the U.S. Continent, and other countries!)
  • Publicize Native Hawaiian tuition waivers in the high schools. (Information on Native Hawaiian tuition waivers is sent to all high schools.  Additionally, high schools with high proportions of Native Hawaiians are invited to attend an annual financial aid information workshop, Hapai pu, at UH Manoa where Native Hawaiian tuition waivers, and all other tuition waiver and financial aid programs, are explained!)
  • Invite high school students to campus to attend selected lectures. (The Student Equity Excellence and Diversity office intends to increase efforts to bring more high school and middle school students to attend selected lectures, cultural performances and workshops!)

Advising

  • Require students to see their advisor before registering.
  • Make training for student advisors uniform. (All academic advisors in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences have been uniformly trained!)
  • Make information available to undergraduates regarding degree requirements from the beginning of the freshman year to help them better plan for completion. (This is happening on several fronts! The Colleges of Arts and Sciences makes this information available in Rainbow Nights, through New Student Orientation, and the First Year Center, formally known as the Freshman Advising Center.  Moreover, students in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences receive e-mail messages on a regular basis regarding degree requirements!)
  • Be realistic from the beginning in telling students how long it will take to complete their degree program. (The Colleges of Arts and Sciences communicates this information through Rainbow Night presentations.  In each presentation, they explain to incoming students that students can graduate in four years if they take the required 15 credits each semester, do not change their academic major, and complete all of the grade point requirements in addition to at least one or two summer sessions.)
  • Define full-time status as 12-15 credits, with 15/semester required to finish in 4 years. (The Colleges of Arts and Sciences, in both the New Student Orientation as well as in their Rainbow Night presentations, explain that students must take at least 15 credits per semester, in addition to one summer school session, in order to complete their program in four years.)

ITS

  • Make all distance learning accessible (e.g. HITS, WebCT), especially to the blind, in accordance with Federal law. (HITS classes are accessible in exactly the same manner as any UH-Manoa classroom instruction -- with the superb assistance of the Kokua Office! The new version of WebCT, in use since Spring 2001, implements measures to address compliance with each of the components of the Section 508 guidelines for accessibility!)
  • Clean up old e-mail and alumni e-mail accounts. (Student accounts have now been cleaned up! Procedures to automate faculty/staff account cleanup are now underway.)
  • Provide a web site for students to sell their books to each other.
  • Set up on-line donation for UH Foundation and let donors specify the program they would like to donate to. (Now available!)
  • Add link on UHM web site entitled "What's new at UHM" or "What's new in research at UHM" to inform the public about the positive things happening here.
  • Include more links to community organizations on the UHM web page. 

Facilities, Grounds and Safety Repairs and Maintenance

  • Establish more accountability for maintenance problems that are not fixed. (The Facilities, Planning and Management Office was recently reorganized to address workload and accountability.  These changes have resulted in organizational and functional adjustments, and a renewed focus to address campus concerns!)
  • Control the cat population. (Building and Grounds has initiated meetings with the Hawai‘i Humane Society to implement the "Trap, Neuter, Return and Manage" program!)
  • Make repairs in Bilger 1st floor chemistry auditorium. (Project is currently out to bid and construction is expected to begin in late May and be completed over the summer!)
  • Repairs in Bilger Hall Addition: Insulate fume hood vents that cause condensation to soak ceiling tiles causing them to mold and fall to the floor. Insulate AC and fume hood conduits. Clean and repaint walls. (A site investigation will be conducted to evaluate the condensation problem and determine the action required!)
  • Fix the door to the 3rd floor women's room in Bilger Addition that sticks shut, trapping women inside. (The door is no longer sticking!)
  • Improve lighting inside Henke Hall – hallways.
  • Trim hedge/foliage between the Henke Hall buildings. (The work is completed and will be handled on an on-going basis!)
  • Replace cardboard window coverings at Henke Hall. (The cardboard covering at Henke Hall #3 has been removed!)
  • Fix leaking ceiling in the Law Library. (The roof leak has been repaired! A project to replace all of the ceiling tiles, including removing the interior wallpaper and painting the interior walls is currently under design.  The project is expected to be out to bid in June with construction over the summer!)
  • Repair fountain at Varney Circle. (The repairs and restoration are currently in design, with the consultant's design plan expected in May 2002.  The project is expected to be out to bid in June with construction over the summer!)
  • Continue painting projects – inside/outside classrooms. (Submit work orders to paint specific classrooms!  Interior painting projects are on-going!)
  • Fix broken elevators. (All elevators are now functioning!)
  • Regularly remove debris, such as cat droppings, beer bottles, leaves and fruit. (Debris is  removed on a daily basis. You may direct your calls to Buildings and Grounds Management at 6-5993!)
  • Regularly replace the light bulbs around campus and in buildings that have burned out. (Building custodians replace all interior burned out light bulbs during the work day.  You may direct calls to the work coordination center at 6-7134!)
  • The A/C can be turned down in most of the buildings on campus.
  • Regularly sweep the emergency exit stairwells. (Custodians sweep the stairwells daily.  You may direct your calls to the Buildings and Grounds Management at 6-5993!)
  • Regularly clean light covers around campus that are filled with insect carcasses. (Custodians check and clean light covers daily.  You may direct calls to Buildings and Grounds at extension 6-5993!)
  • Fix the broken pavement on walkways on campus. (Vice Chancellor Sakaguchi has approved a campus walkway study! The study will be conducted over the summer, and proposals will developed for selected sites.)
  • Add sidewalks in lower campus by the Speech Pathology Building. (A study will be conducted over the summer!)
  • Add sidewalks to north central campus entrance by the thrift shop. (A study will be conducted over the summer!)
  • Make sidewalk through Bachman lawn to the bus stop. (The University has agreed to the City's improvement of the Sinclair Circle express bus stop, including a sidewalk through Bachman lawn.  The project is currently out to bid and construction is expected in June.)
  • Provide more seating areas on campus in the shade – benches with backs, not concrete. (An assessment is underway and an proposal will be developed and shared with the Campus Landscape Committee!)
  • Provide changing tables in the bathrooms.
  • Increase recycling receptacles on campus. (Twelve new bins have been added and more are requested!)
  • Install more drinking fountains on campus.
  • Replace old and broken office furniture (rusted filing cabinets, broken bookshelves, etc.).
  • Cover the bicycle racks.

Facilities Operation

  • Keep bathrooms open as long as the computer labs are open. (Restroom keys will be issued to computer lab monitors for check-out!)
  • Increase the number of left-hand desks available in the classrooms.

Signage

  • Make signage clear regarding the designated smoking and non-smoking areas on campus. (Smoking is prohibited inside University buildings. Revisions to the University's policy to include building courtyards and entrances/exits to buildings are pending!)
  • Provide clearly visible signs for every building on campus.
  • Make all signage in English and Hawaiian.

Landscaping

  • Plant more native plants on campus. (The first priority for plant selection is native plants!  Visit the web site of the Landscaping Advisory Committee and offer your suggestions!) 
  • Landscape the entrances to campus, with easily read signs that greet visitors and demarcate UH. (Waialae entrance gate, Varsity Gate, Dole Street/Hawaiian Studies).

Parking/Transportation

  • Make sure campus shuttle is handicapped accessible. (Recently awarded shuttle service contract requires ALL busses to be accessible.  New buses have been ordered and will be in service for Fall 2002!)
  • Provide shuttle from the dorms to the library until the library closes. (Shuttle hours from the dorms to the library will be extended to 11:30 p.m. Monday - Friday!)
  • Increase shuttle service during “rush hour” – faculty route in particular.  Add shuttles from selected sites in the city (Ala Moana, Puck’s Alley, other areas where students live – Makiki, Kaimuki) to encourage other methods of transportation.
  • Allow vehicles with more than 3 UH students/faculty/staff (with valid IDs) to park for free. (Details of this NEW program will be provided for the Fall 2002 semester!)

Sodexho Marriott/Food Service Issues

  • Require all cafeteria workers to wear hair nets and gloves. (The Office of Auxiliary Enterprises has reminded Sodexho of worker hygiene and coverage requirements!)
  • Have Sodexho Marriott offer a set number of low fat/cholesterol/sodium selections in the cafeteria for every meal. (The Office of Auxiliary Enterprises has submitted this request to Sodexho for implementation!)

Library Operations

  • Restrict library terminals to catalog searches only. (Twenty percent of the public workstations are designated as "Express" stations to be used for "quick lookup" catalogue searching.  Signage will be adjusted to call better attention to these stations.  When the Phase I of Hamilton building reopens to the public in Summer 2002, there will be additional workstations dedicated to the "quick look-up" function!)
  • Discontinue charging the faculty fees for interlibrary loans of published material that is not available online.

Athletics Department

  • Make more student tickets to athletic events available to students. Discontinue selling student seats to non-students.  (Students may sign up for student tickets on-line through the Athletics Department Web site!  Only student seats that are unsold are made available to non-students!)
  • Provide more faculty/staff/student access to the swimming pool and recreational facilities. 

Miscellaneous Items

  • Sell City Bus passes at Campus Center. (Bus passes are available at the ticket counter!)
  • Offer later hours for the game room. (This matter is being discussed with a new approach of integrating gameroom hours, food service and study rooms!)
  • Turn down the volume on the televisions in Manoa Gardens and Campus Center.
  • Sell Nicorette gum/patch and other smoking cessation items on campus, not just cigarettes.  Cigarettes are no longer sold in the Campus Center!
  • Replace the 1974 “Silk Dragon” display in the Campus Center cafeteria. It is tattered and faded.