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At commencement, pictured are HPU School of Social Work faculty from left to right, Peter Mataira,Ph.D., Tammy Kahalaopuna Kahoʻolemana Martin, Ph.D., Paul Tran, Danielle Giroux, Ph.D., Gia Douglas, Vince Okada, Ph.D.,and Lori Daniels, Ph.D.
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HPU School of Social Work faculty from left to right, Danielle Giroux, Ph.D., GIa Douglas, Peter Mataira, Ph.D., Paul Tran, Tammy Kahalaopuna Kahoʻolemana Martin, Ph.D., Vince Okada, Ph.D.,Lisa Dunn, Tracy Stewart, Ph.D., and Lori Daniels, Ph.D.
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CIRCELS Fall 2025 event at AWA with BSW and MSW students.
The Hawaiʻi Pacific University School of Social Work (SWRK) has been selected by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) for the 2026 Community Partnership Action (CPA) Social Work Program Award. This prestigious national honor recognizes our program’s dedication to building reciprocal community relationships that advance social and environmental justice. SWRK faculty will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, this October to accept the award at the CSWE Annual Conference. SWRK proudly dedicates this achievement to Aunty Māhealani Kaʻawa, MSW, and her 'ohana at the ʻĀina Wellness Academy (AWA) in Makiki Valley, where SWRK hosts the Culturally Immersive Reciprocal Community-Engaged Learning and Service (CIRCELS) initiative as the BSW/MSW program orientation at the start of each semester.
At the heart of this recognition is the CIRCELS model, developed in partnership with AWA and local community members to serve as a bridge between the classroom and the community. This initiative allows BSW and MSW students to engage in aloha ʻāina (love for the land) and mālama ʻāina (caring for the land) as active partners in social justice. This immersive experience is central to HPU’s unique 10th Social Work Professional Competency, a key program outcome established to ensure students learn to engage, honor, and respect Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing. By integrating these perspectives, we provide a transformative education rooted in pono, preparing the next generation of social work professionals to serve as true allies in community-led change.
