New Directors Appointed

August 8, 2001

Contributed by CEO Message

Teresa Haunani Makuakane-Drechsel, Ed.D., has been named to the newly created post of Director of Financial Aid, Counseling & Scholarship Services, a division of Ke Alii Pauahi Foundation. In her new position, Dr. Makuakane-Drechsel will seek to expand financial, guidance and educational opportunity services to the Native Hawaiian community.

Dr. Makuakane-Drechsel is a 1971 graduate of Kamehameha Schools and has earned degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia and the University of Southern California. Her doctoral dissertation was selected "Outstanding Dissertation of the Year" by USC's Rossier School of Education.

Dr. Makuakane-Drechsel spent 15 years at Kamehameha as both director and principal investigator for three federally funded programs and director for KS' outstanding Post-High Counseling Program and she brings this comprehensive experience to her new post.

"Hawaiian parents, like most parents, want the best education for their children," Dr. Makuakane-Drechsel said. "But many parents don't necessarily know where to go for information or assistance to get to quality educational services. That's why Kamehameha Schools' early education and extension education program and the Ke Alii Pauahi Foundation services will play important roles in helping the Hawaiian community access those educational services and financial resources.

"Kamehameha scholarship programs are unique in that we offer counseling and other support services in addition to financial resources," she said. We want to help students and families anticipate problems, focus on solutions, and get their support system in place before the academic year begins. We believe that helping students and their family to 'get ready' for each new phase of the educational cycle is critical to their long-term educational success."

Shawn Malia Kanaiaupuni, Ph.D. has been named to the post of Director of Policy Analysis & System Evaluation (PASE), the research arm of Kamehameha Schools. A 1983 graduate of Kamehameha Schools, Dr. Kanaiaupuni received her BA degree from the University of Denver. She received her master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago, and was a National Services Research Award recipient as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow.

An assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison prior to returning to Kamehameha as a demographer/research scientist, Dr. Kanaiaupuni is also on the clinical faculty of the Public Health Sciences & Epidemiology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a member of the affiliate graduate faculty of the Department of Sociology at UH-Manoa.

Commenting on her work ahead, Dr. Kanaiaupuni said, "We look to produce highest quality research and empirical data needed to best guide decision makers at Kamehameha. We also want create a presence in the Hawaiian community - and make available to them - reputable sources of research and data about and for our Native Hawaiian community."

Dr. Kanaiaupuni has taught at the universities of Wisconsin and Chicago, has been the recipient of 27 post graduate grants, awards and fellowships, is the author or co-author of 18 scholarly publications (including seven papers in progress and under review) in the field of demography, presented more than 25 invited papers/talks to professional audiences and held the position of principal investigator on nearly a dozen professional studies all within the last decade.

Currently the editor and, since 1993, publications specialist for Kamehameha Schools Press, Henry Bennett has been named to the new post of Director of Kamehameha Schools Press.

Bennett's 30-plus year career in publishing spans the spectrum of print activities including writing; editing; design, layout and graphic coordination; production oversight of printing and binding; marketing and management.

Among his professional credits, Bennett served as managing editor for UC Berkeley's Daily Californian and as production manager for the Bay Area weekly The Night Times. Bennett later served as production editor and book designer at the prestigious University of California Press; as director of the Media Production Center and as associate managing editor for the Curriculum Research and Development Group at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

As editor/manager of Bishop Museum Press, Bennett was responsible for the general management of the museum's internationally recognized imprint. Among his accomplishments, Bennett oversaw the production of Hawaii - A Calendar of Natural Events and Mary Kawena Pukui's acclaimed Olelo Noeau:

Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings. Bennett later served as vice president for marketing for Pacific Trade Group (now Booklines Hawaii), the largest book wholesaler in Hawaii.

"I have long looked forward to the opportunity to see Kamehameha Schools Press reach completely new levels of performance," said Bennett of his new post as Director of KS Press. "We have every reason to expect that KS Press has only just begun to fulfill its publishing purpose by playing a leading role in the continuing renaissance of the Hawaiian culture, the Hawaiian language, and the Hawaiian community at large."

Please join me in congratulating our colleagues on their new appointments.