SCI-West 2015 University of Hawaii Meeting

A team from the NSF program "Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities" (SENCER) will be in Hawaiʻi  to consult, inspire, and learn about existing and new Hawaiʻi SENCER initiatives. Opportunities for further work with SENCER and proposal development to NSF will also be explored. 

SENCER is NSF's leading initiative to reform undergraduate science education. The SENCER team is interested in how the University of Hawai'i is integrating SENCER principles and practices in both the natural and social sciences with a sharp focus on Native Hawaiian culture and epistemology. From that interest came the idea of making Hawaiʻi a model state in the SENCER context.

As a first step, the SENCER Center for Innovation West, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's College of Social Sciences and its Native Hawaiian Initiative team, as well as the KCC-led, Hui o Moku inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional, Hawaiʻi SENCER team host a faculty institute, regional meetings, consultations, and house calls during the period from February 26 to March 6, 2015. 

Please join us at the faculty institute and take advantage of the opportunities to meet and work with members of the SENCER leadership teams.

Faculty Institute Schedule:

(8-10 am: Meeting time for inter-island groups, including the Hui O Moku group; the Hawaiʻi Pacific Islands Campus Compact leadership group; and the Sustainability Summit Leadership debrief) 

10am-12:30 pm: Introduction to SENCER theory and practice by SENCER leaders 

12:30-1:30pm: Networking lunch, poster presentations

1:30-4pm: Presentations of work linking social, natural sciences and indigenous knowledge in Hawaiʻi

4:15-5:30pm: Work session at tables: Brainstorming about sencerizing courses and civic-engagement programs in break-out groups. 

5:30-6pm: Summary and closing - planning for the future

The SENCER conference/workshop is focused on faculty and administrators, but some of the presentations involve students and community leaders.