College and university system in the US state of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven community colleges, an employment training center, three university centers, four education centers and various other research facilities distributed across six islands throughout the state of Hawaii in the United States. All schools of the University of Hawaii system are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The UH system's main administrative offices are located on the property of the University of Hawaii at Mnoa in Honolulu CDP.[4][5][6]

The present-day University of Hawai'i System was created in 1965 which combined the State of Hawai'i's technical and community colleges under one system within the University of Hawai'i.

The University of Hawai'i was created by the Territory of Hawai'i in 1907 as a land-grant college of agriculture and mechanical arts and held its first classes in 1907. In 1912 it moved to its present location in Mnoa Valley and being renamed College of Hawaii. In 1919 the College of Hawai'i obtained university status by the Hawai'i Territorial Legislature and was renamed the University of Hawai'i.

In 1965, the state legislature created a system of community colleges and placed it within the university. The university was renamed the University of Hawai'i at Mnoa to distinguish it from other campuses in the University of Hawai'i System in 1972.

The University of Hawaii at Mnoa is the flagship institution of the University of Hawaii system. It was founded as a land-grant college under the terms of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Programs include Hawaiian/Pacific Studies, Astronomy, East Asian Languages and Literature, Asian Studies, Comparative Philosophy, Marine Science, Second Language Studies, along with Botany, Engineering, Ethnomusicology, Geophysics, Law, Business, Linguistics, Mathematics, and Medicine.

The second-largest institution is the University of Hawaii at Hilo on the "Big Island" of Hawaii, with over 3,000 students. The University of Hawaii-West Oahu in Kapolei primarily serves students who reside in Honolulu's western and central suburban communities.

The University of Hawaii Community College System comprises four community colleges island campuses on O'ahu and one each on Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii. The colleges were created to improve accessibility of courses to more Hawaii residents and provide an affordable means of easing the transition from secondary school/high school to college for many students. University of Hawaii education centers are located in more remote areas of the State and its several islands, supporting rural communities via distance education.

In accordance with Article X, Section 6 of the Hawaii State Constitution, the University of Hawaii is governed by a Board of Regents, composed of 15 unpaid members who are nominated by a Regents Candidate Advisory Council, appointed by the governor, and confirmed by the state legislature. The board oversees all aspects of governance for the university system, including its internal structure and management. The board also appoints, evaluates, and if necessary removes the President of the University of Hawaii.[9]

The university's governing board includes a current student appointed by the Governor of Hawaii to serve a two-year term as a full voting regent. The practice of appointing a student to the board was approved by the Hawaii State Legislature in 1997.

Alumni of the University of Hawaii system include many notable persons in various walks of life. Senator Daniel Inouye and Tammy Duckworth both are veterans of the US military who were injured in the line of duty then later entered government service. Bette Midler and Georgia Engel are successful entertainers on the national stage. Composer Hsiung-Zee Wong also attended the University of Hawai'i. President Barack Obama's parents, Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham, and half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, also earned degrees from the Mnoa campus, where his parents met in a Russian language class. His mother earned three degrees from the University of Hawaii including a PhD in anthropology.

Mazie Hirono is a current U.S. Senator. She graduated from the University of Hawaii with a BA in Psychology. She is the first elected female senator from Hawaii, the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, the first U.S. senator born in Japan, and the nation's first Buddhist senator.

Alice Augusta Ball was not only the first woman to graduate from the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaii) in 1915, but was also the first African American research chemist and instructor in the college's chemistry department. In addition, she was the first person to successfully develop a water-soluble form of chaulmoogra oil that was used for decades to relieve the symptoms of Hansen's disease (leprosy).[10]

The University of Hawaii system has had many faculty members of note. Many were visiting faculty or came after they won major awards like Nobel Laureate Georg von Bksy. Ryuzo Yanagimachi, principal investigator of the research group that developed a method of cloning from adult animal cells, is still on the faculty.

In July 2019, Bob Huey, a professor of Japanese literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, was presented the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, one of Japan's highest honors for those without Japanese citizenship.[11]

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