Hawaii Pacific University


Hawaii Pacific University is a private university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Oceanic Institute of HPU, an aquaculture research facility, is located at Makapuu Point. HPU is also present on military installations on the island of Oahu.
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History

HPU was founded in 1965 as Hawaii Pacific College by Paul C.T. Loo, Eureka Forbes, Elizabeth W. Kellerman, and Reverend Edmond Walker. Wanting a private liberal arts college in Honolulu, the four applied for a charter of incorporation for a not-for-profit corporation to be called Hawaii Pacific College. The state of Hawaii granted a charter of incorporation to Hawaii Pacific on September 17, 1965.
In September 1966, Honolulu Christian College established in 1949 merged into Hawaii Pacific College, and a new charter was granted by the state of Hawaii. In 1967, James L. Meader became Hawaii Pacific College's first president. Meader, in consultation with community leaders, developed a comprehensive educational program.
When Meader retired in 1968, the board of trustees elected George A. Warmer as Hawaii Pacific's second president. During Warmer's tenure, the college implemented academic programs in the liberal arts and cooperative education.
In 1972, Hawaii Pacific College graduated seven students in its first commencement class and in the same year established a School of Business Administration. Chatt G. Wright became the founding dean of Hawaii Pacific's new School of Business Administration. The following year, the college received full accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The following years saw the creation of the English Foundations Program, offering instruction to non-native speakers of English, and the Division of Special Programs, administering off-campus instruction on various military installations on Oahu.
Warmer retired in 1976 and Chatt G. Wright became Hawaii Pacific's third president. During his time in office, Hawaii Pacific continued to expand and develop through the 1980s. Hawaii Pacific launched a Master of Business Administration program in 1986, a Master of Science in Information Systems program in 1989, and a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management in 1991.
Hawaii Pacific became Hawaii Pacific University in 1990. Two years later, Hawaii Loa College, a small, independent, liberal arts college on the windward side of Oahu, merged into Hawaii Pacific University.
In 2004, the HPU International Vocal Ensemble made their Carnegie Hall debut where they performed Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna and O Magnum Mysterium.
In 2011, president Chatt G. Wright retired and Geoffrey Bannister became HPU's fourth president.
In January 2013, the Aloha Tower Development Corporation consented to the university's ownership and management of the Aloha Tower Marketplace. The approvals passed by ATDC were essential to Hawaii Pacific's plan to move forward in redeveloping the marketplace into a mixed-use property featuring outstanding student housing, retail and dining businesses, and community gathering spaces.
HPU completed a merger to bring Oceanic Institute formally into the university in January 2014. Later that year, HPU held a ceremonial groundbreaking and traditional Hawaiian blessing at Aloha Tower Marketplace, marking the official start of revitalizing this iconic waterfront destination.
The $50 million Aloha Tower Marketplace revitalization project was completed in August 2015, opening to students and the community. Aloha Tower Marketplace serves as an anchor for the university's core downtown Honolulu campus, including a center for higher education and university housing integrated within a community gathering and retail space.
In 2016, John Yukio Gotanda took office as Hawaii Pacific University's fifth president.

Campus

Aloha Tower Marketplace and Downtown Honolulu Campus

HPU's Aloha Tower Marketplace serves as an anchor for HPU in the downtown area. Aloha Tower Marketplace is a mixed-use facility that includes student housing, HPU's Welcome Center, Learning Commons, Lounge, Student Café, ESports Arena, and a variety of restaurants, businesses, classrooms, and meeting rooms for university and community use.
HPU's athletic department is centrally located in Honolulu's business district, and it is a few blocks' walk to the state capitol. HPU's College of Business, which is headquartered in Pioneer Plaza, includes computer based classrooms along with meeting spaces. In 2016, HPU opened its downtown INBRE research labs, providing students with biomedical instrumentation and laboratory facilities.
Hawaii Loa Campus
In summer 2024, HPU closed the Hawaii Loa campus, commonly referred to as HLC. The former campus is located eight miles away from the downtown campus, near Castle Junction in Kāneohe, on the windward side of the Koolau Range. HLC was originally built by Hawaii Loa College, a liberal arts school that was merged into Hawaii Pacific University in 1992. This campus housed the natural sciences, nursing, public health, and social work programs. The name "Hawaii Loa" refers to the Polynesian navigator, Hawaiiloa, who is credited in folklore with the discovery of the islands. In 2017, HPU sold the property to Castle Medical Center, but continued to lease the space until 2024.

Oceanic Institute

The Oceanic Institute of HPU is a research facility focused on the advancement of sustainable aquaculture technologies. OI of HPU is located on a 56-acre site at Makapuu Point on the windward coast of Oahu. OI conducts research, education, and training that focuses on marine aquaculture, aquatic feeds and nutrition, and coastal resource management. In 2013, OI of HPU commissioned a teaching laboratory to complement classroom and conference space at OI of HPU's Ocean Learning Center. The OLC annex supports biotechnology research and education with two research labs, a teaching lab, and a distance learning center

Military programs

HPU's Military Campus Programs operates full-service campuses on Oahu's US military bases, including Pearl Harbor, Hickam Air Force Base, Tripler Army Medical Center, Camp H. M. Smith, Schofield Barracks, and Kaneohe Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Academics

Hawaii Pacific University is made up of the following colleges: the College of Business, College of Liberal Arts, Graduate College of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, and the College of Professional Studies. HPU offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in each of its colleges and schools.
The university also has an extensive distance learning and online-based platform for many of its programs. HPU also has an extensive Study Abroad and Student Exchange Program.
The student to faculty ratio is 15 to 1.
Hawaii Pacific University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission. The School of Education is accredited for its B.Ed. and M.Ed. degree programs by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. The Nursing Program's BSN and MSN degrees are approved by the Hawaii Board of Nursing and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The Social Work Program's BSW and MSW degrees are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

Athletics

The university's athletic teams are the Sharks. They compete in the Pacific West Conference as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division II. Hawaii Pacific University's first venture into intercollegiate athletics came with the formation of the men's basketball team. The university previously competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics before joining the NCAA in the mid-1990s.

Notable alumni