Kahiau Foundation supports Mellon-Hawai'i Fellowship Program

The Kahiau Foundation has announced it will join The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, and The Kohala Center in supporting the Mellon-Hawai'i Fellowship Program. The gift of $125,000 will be used to support the expansion of the Fellowship Program in the academic year 2010-2011 to support a total of five doctoral and postdoctoral fellows.

The Mellon-Hawai'i Fellowship Program is designed for Native Hawaiian scholars early in their academic careers and others who are committed to the advancement of knowledge about the Hawaiian natural and cultural environment, Hawaiian history, politics, and society.

"This generation of young Hawaiian scholars is remarkable," said Allene Wong, a Kamehameha Schools graduate who established the Kahiau Foundation along with her husband David Eckles. "They are rigorously trained in both Western and Hawaiian research and interpretive traditions. They are courageous in seeking the truth. Hawaiian history voiced by native scholars offers perspectives that need to be heard."

Current Fellows are University of Hawai'i at Mānoa postdoctoral scholars Ku'ualoha Ho'omanawanui and Karin Ingersoll, and University of Hawai'i at Hilo doctoral scholar Kauanoe Kamanā.

  In 2008-09, postdoctoral fellowships were awarded to University of Hawai'i at Mānoa scholars B. Kamanamaikalani Beamer and Sydney Iaukea, and to University of California at Berkeley scholar Kathleen L. Kawelu. Doctoral scholars in 2008-09 were Noelani Arista, Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts; and Nanette Nālani Sing, Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 "Given the Kahiau Foundation's commitment to excellence from Hawai'i-and for Hawai'i and the world-we are honored by the Foundation's recent gift," said Roberta Fujimoto Chu, president of the board of The Kohala Center.

Through the Fellowship Program, doctoral fellows are given the opportunity to complete their dissertations before accepting their first academic posts. Postdoctoral fellows are given the opportunity to publish original research early in their academic years. Doctoral fellows are awarded $40,000 for the academic year, and postdoctoral fellows are awarded $50,000. Application materials for the academic year 2010-2011 are now available at http://kohalacenter.org/mellon/app.html. Completed applications must be received by February 15, 2010.

"Since we are pushing hard to create a knowledge-based economy and society in Hawai'i, we are enormously grateful to the Kahiau Foundation for its support," said Matt Hamabata, executive director of The Kohala Center. "As we work with others to create that society in Hawai'i, we will need a powerful group of kama'aina intellectuals to serve as leaders of our growing number of educational and research institutions. We see the Mellon-Hawai'i Fellows as an important part of that group of scholarly leaders."

The Kohala Center, which created the fellowship program in collaboration with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Kamehameha Schools, is an independent center for research and education based in Kamuela, Hawai'i. The Kohala Center creates greater educational and employment opportunities in Hawai'i by caring for and celebrating Hawai'i's unique natural and cultural landscape. For more information, visit www.kohalacenter.org

Photo: The Learning Community

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