Welcome back, or—for our new students—welcome
to Hawai‘i Pacific University. New or continuing, you
have probably discovered HPU’s diversity. On our campuses,
students from more than 100 countries and different ethnic
groups socialize freely. One of the opportunities you have
at HPU, which may not be available at mainland universities,
is to relate to your peers from other cultures on a daily
basis. You have a chance to develop the ability to work together
across cultural lines. This will prove valuable not only
while you are students here, but also in your personal and
professional lives.
While many mainland universities have started to consciously
and deliberately plan multicultural campuses, HPU’s
multicultural experience has arisen in a more spontaneous
and organic way because of our Hawai‘i location. HPU
has had a large number of international students for many
years, and our host Hawaiian culture has always welcomed
newcomers into the ‘ohana, the family or group.
The spontaneity of our multicultural environment means that
we know something wonderful happens when students join us.
We are still not clear about how that happens, but we are
starting to learn through such events as the symposium on
global citizenship which was held last semester, to be followed
up by another symposium this year. I hope you will take the
opportunity to participate in our efforts to define what
we mean by “global citizenship” at HPU through
our shared learning process. Meanwhile I wish you every success
in the coming semester.
