{"id":236144,"date":"2026-06-16T15:43:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=236144"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:45:32","slug":"ka-wai-ola-indigenous-planning-grad-certificate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/06\/16\/ka-wai-ola-indigenous-planning-grad-certificate\/","title":{"rendered":"Ka Wai Ola: New graduate certificate in Indigenous planning"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"people
Ka Papa Loʻi<\/span> ʻo<\/span> Kānewai<\/span> (taro patch) at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article by Native Hawaiian Initiative Alakaʻi<\/span> (coordinator) at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa Kamakanaokealoha Aquino was first published in Ka Wai Ola on June 1<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A new graduate certificate in Indigenous Planning<\/a> will be offered at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa. A partnership between the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the College of Social Sciences and the Kamakak\u016bokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies in the Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> School of Hawaiian Knowledge, this graduate-level certificate offers students and professionals an in-depth understanding of Indigenous Peoples, processes, and practices to enrich urban and regional planning.<\/p>\n

Through planning and several consultations over the past 2 years, Priyam Das, a professor in urban and regional planning, and Konia Freitas, a specialist in Hawaiian studies, developed a program that will prepare students to engage respectfully with Indigenous worldviews, knowledge systems, and methodologies; to apply Indigenous and Hawaiian-informed approaches to land use, sustainability, housing, and community development; and to center planning practices around core values such as pilina, kuleana, and aloha, with a focus on ethics, equity, and inclusion.<\/p>\n

Students and professional planners will be equipped with culturally grounded tools to navigate complex land-use, social, and environmental challenges. This certificate requires the completion of six courses: one required course in the foundations of Indigenous planning; one capstone course on an individual project of analysis, plan preparation, policy, and program evaluation; and selection of four elective courses from planning, Hawaiian studies, geography, law, natural resource management, political science, or Pacific Island Studies.<\/p>\n

This new graduate certificate is the latest collaboration between the urban and regional planning and Hawaiian studies departments, which began in 2017, when both departments signed a memorandum of agreement allowing urban and regional planning graduate students to enroll in designated Hawaiian studies courses with prerequisites waived.<\/p>\n

Then, in Fall 2022, a bachelor\u2019s-to-master\u2019s degree pathway was established. Students can pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree in Hawaiian studies through a master\u2019s degree in urban and regional planning within a shorter timeframe of 5 years by double-counting up to three courses at the undergraduate tuition rate. Students are able to save money and time to enter the workforce.<\/p>\n

These programs will help build capacity in the planning workforce in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and across the Pacific that centers Indigenous values, concepts, and methodologies in the field of planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new graduate certificate in Indigenous Planning will be offered at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[301,1500,551,1503,9,365],"class_list":["post-236144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-hawaiian-studies","tag-hawaiinuiakea-school-of-hawaiian-knowledge","tag-kamakakuokalani-center-for-hawaiian-studies","tag-uh-manoa","tag-urban-and-regional-planning","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t