Noelani Goodyear‑Kaʻōpua is set to step into a major systemwide role at the University of Hawaiʻi, with the university announcing this week that she has been recommended as interim director of its Native Hawaiian initiative. Her appointment would fill the Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office after director Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe departs to serve as Poʻo Kula (head of school) at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama. The UH Board of Regents is slated to take up the interim appointment at its June 4 meeting.
According to University of Hawaiʻi News, President Wendy Hensel recommended Goodyear‑Kaʻōpua for the interim post, saying the move is intended to keep the systemwide Native Hawaiian work on course. The announcement quotes Goodyear‑Kaʻōpua as saying she is "honored to walk a path cleared by kūpuna" and that she looks forward to supporting educators across the UH system's ten campuses.
Leadership Shuffle At Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao
The transition follows Dr. Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe’s selection as Poʻo Kula at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, according to the UH Board of Regents. The minutes note that Lipe is working on a transition plan with President Hensel and Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao staff so the office’s work on the "Kuleana Imperative" continues without interruption.
Background And Community Ties
Goodyear‑Kaʻōpua is a longtime UH Mānoa faculty member and community leader. She has taught at Mānoa since 2007 and holds a PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz, the Kamehameha Schools trustee profile notes. She co-founded the Hālau Kū Māna charter school and helped launch the Nā Koʻokoʻo undergraduate leadership program, which the UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences describes as an immersive, place-based leadership cohort.
Her previous honors include the UH Board of Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching and a 2022 Native Hawaiian Education Association educator recognition, according to University of Hawaiʻi News. Taken together, her résumé reads like a checklist of UH and community touchpoints that are closely tied to Native Hawaiian education.
What The Office Does
Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao is the university's Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office, charged with implementing the Kuleana Imperative and coordinating indigenous-serving efforts across UH’s ten campuses. The office’s materials describe work that spans language revitalization, cultural curricula, and systemwide support for campus-based Native Hawaiian councils, all with an eye toward making UH a model indigenous-serving university. Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao lays out these priorities in detail.
Next Steps And Why It Matters
If the Board of Regents signs off at its June 4 meeting, Goodyear‑Kaʻōpua will step in as interim director while a longer-term leadership plan is worked out. Local coverage has already picked up the news, as Maui Now reports, and university materials highlight her years of teaching, community programs and past honors as key reasons she was tapped. The move is being framed as a way to keep momentum behind Native Hawaiian education and support for educators across the islands while UH figures out its permanent leadership lineup.
