{"id":223258,"date":"2025-10-07T10:36:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T20:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=223258"},"modified":"2025-10-07T10:43:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T20:43:32","slug":"manoa-leader-national-honoree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/07\/manoa-leader-national-honoree\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa leader joins esteemed group of national honorees"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"portrait
Erin Kahunawaikaʻala<\/span> Wright<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A legacy of leadership in student affairs continues at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa, as interim associate vice provost Erin Kahunawaikaʻala<\/span> Wright joins a distinguished line of UH<\/abbr> leaders recognized nationally as Pillars of the Profession<\/em><\/a> by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

\"group
Wright with niece Kaui, left, and her child Kamakea, right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Past UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa recipients include Amy Agbayani, Doris Ching, Jan Javinar, Lori Ideta and Christine Quemuel, trailblazers whose work helped pave the way for generations of educators and student advocates.<\/p>\n

Wright, who serves as interim associate VP<\/abbr> for Student Success<\/a> and Dean of Students, was honored this year for her sustained contributions to service, teaching, leadership and mentoring. She says the recognition is not just her own, but a reflection of the collective work of the UH<\/abbr> community toward student success, especially those leaders also recognized as Pillars of the Profession.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a kind recognition of the work I\u2019ve invested in student affairs and higher education\u2026I\u2019m proud, and honestly, very surprised to get it. It\u2019s humbling to be recognized,” Wright expressed.<\/p>\n

A journey of discovery<\/h2>\n

A fourth-generation kamaʻ\u0101ina<\/span> (native) of Kalihi, and a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, Wright admits she was not a strong student growing up. She says her academic journey changed course when she discovered ʻ\u014dlelo<\/span> Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a> (Hawaiian language) and Hawaiian studies<\/a> courses at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

“Once I got into n\u0101 mea Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (all things Hawaiian), I felt like, ‘Oh, I could really do well,’ because it was something that I was interested in and I felt motivated by,” she said.<\/p>\n

That experience reshaped how she viewed the power of education, and later inspired her to make higher education more accessible for Native Hawaiians and other underrepresented students (haum\u0101na).<\/p>\n

Dedicated to student success<\/h2>\n

Wright began her career at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in 2008 as the founding director of Native Hawaiian Student Services<\/a> and later served as an associate professor of educational administration<\/a> in the College of Education<\/a>. There, she taught courses and published on research design, research methodologies and Indigeneity in higher education. For her, the work she does at the university is deeply personal.<\/p>\n

“The reward is knowing higher education can change lives,” she explained. “Not just for the individual, but for that student\u2019s entire family and community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erin Kahunawaikaʻala<\/span> Wright joins a distinguished line of UH<\/abbr> leaders recognized nationally as Pillars of the Profession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":223255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[95,1057,1500,1531,9],"class_list":["post-223258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-college-of-education","tag-hawaiian-language","tag-hawaiian-studies","tag-native-hawaiian-student-services","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-wright-pillars-of-the-profession-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223258"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223278,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223258\/revisions\/223278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}