On September 12, 2017, the Hawai‘i Language Roadmap, in partnership with the State Office of Language Access (OLA), convened the 3rd Roadmap Symposium on Building a Multilingual Workforce for Hawai‘i at the Hawai‘i Imin International Conference Center. The theme of the symposium was “The Multilingual Match: Meeting the Needs of Hawaii’s Workforce through Career-based Pathways to Linguistic Proficiency”. More than 150 Roadmap stakeholders participated in the morning program, which focused on aligning world language education and career training and counseling with the growing demand for additional language skills in the state’s workforce. The symposium brought together workforce and educational expertise to identify best practices for educating, training, and hiring proficient bilingual employees to meet the demands of targeted workforce sectors.
The program opened with an oli performed by students from Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘O Ānuenue. The oli was followed with Welcoming Remarks from Dean Laura Lyons (College of LLL, UH-Manoa) and Deputy Superintendent Phyllis Unebasami (HIDOE). Dr. Richard Brecht, co-Director (American Councils Research Center) then delivered the Keynote Address, entitled, “Building America’s Multilingual Workforce: Why? How? Who? When?“. The morning session concluded with panel presentations by educators and employers, respectively, highlighting the symposium theme of engaging these two groups in constructive dialog to promote the matching of employee language proficiency with workforce needs.
Panel presenters included:
Danicia Honda, Recent Graduate, Chinese Language Flagship Program, UHM
Pohai Ryan, Executive Director, Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (
NaHHA)
Lena Young, Corporate Director of Operations and Human Resources,
JTB Hawaii Inc.
The afternoon session began with remarks by
UH President and UH-M
ānoa Chancellor David Lassner highlighting the diversity of languages spoken in the state, the high employer demand for employees proficient in other languages, and the range of excellent language learning opportunities offered by the university. This was followed by workforce sector-based breakout sessions for Roadmap stakeholders to further explore best practices for bringing the language skills of graduating high school and college students to bear on employer needs for these essential workforce skills. (The program for the 3rd Roadmap Symposium can be found
here.)
Video links to symposium morning sessions:
Click here to view the video of the following segments:
Oli presented by Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘O Ānuenue
Remarks from Deputy Superintendent Phyllis Unebasami (HIDOE)
Remarks from Dean Laura Lyons, Ph.D. (College of LLL, UHM)
Keynote Address by Dr. Richard Brecht, Ph.D.
Co-Director, American Councils Research Center
Click here to view the video of the Educators Panel:
Educators’ perspectives on developing and assessing language proficiency
Kauanoe Kamanā, Ph.D., Principal, Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu
Lisa Kobuke, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Kapi’olani Community College
and Facilitator, Freeman Scholars Program (Japan)
Madeline K. Spring, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Chinese Language Flagship Program, UHM
Danicia Honda, Recent Graduate, Chinese Language Flagship Program, UHM
Click here to view the video of the Employer Panel: Proficiency preferred
Pohai Ryan, Director, Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA)
Danielle Muffatt, Director, Human Resources Manager, Bloomingdale’s Ala Moana Center
Lena Young, Corporate Director of Operations and Human Resources, JTB Hawaii, Inc.
Stanley Olayan, Training and Recruiting Specialist, Mutual of Omaha – Hawai’i
Afternoon Session Opening Remarks
David Lassner, Ph.D., President, University of Hawai’i, and Interim Chancellor, UH-Mānoa
Afternoon Workforce Sector Breakout Sessions Photo Gallery: Coming soon
(Healthcare, Banking and Finance, Retail, Hospitality and Travel, and Community Interpreting)
Mahalo to our Sponsors!
Office of Language Access, State of Hawai’i
College of Languages, Linguistics & Literature, UH-Manoā
National Foreign Language Resource Center, UH-Manoā
University of Hawai’i-Manoā Bookstore
