When Helen Cox was selected to be the chancellor of Kauai Community College, it was like a dream come true. “I have connections with Kauai, Maui and more recently, Oahu,” Cox said. “But my connection to Kauai is the strongest,
When Helen Cox was selected to be the chancellor of Kauai Community College, it was like a dream come true.
“I have connections with Kauai, Maui and more recently, Oahu,” Cox said. “But my connection to Kauai is the strongest, starting with my great-grandfather who was a civil engineer for the McBryde Sugar Co. and worked on building Alexander Dam.”
Cox said her father, also connected with Kauai, was a geologist with the University of Hawaii and helped develop the Water Resource Lab.
“I spent my summers on Kauai,” Cox said. “When I was hired, I was so happy to be coming back to the island where I grew up.”
As the head of the community college celebrating its 50th anniversay as part of the University of Hawaii Community College system, Cox utilizes the “connection” she has with the island to connect the college with the island community and the growth into the 21st century.
Armed with a platform of sustainability, the Hawaii Space Flight program, and more, Cox forges forward at the head of full-time instructors, 30 lecturers, and countless number of support staff, recently graduating more than 370 students at the 49th annual commencement ceremony.
TGI: What is the most common misunderstood thing about Kauai Community College?
Helen Cox: You know, everyone knows that we exist, and many people drive by the campus every day, but most people don’t know the diversity or quality of programs we have here on campus. Students can earn certificates and associates degrees in six different areas: business, health, liberal arts, natural science, public health and trades. They can also earn four year and graduate degrees through our University Center.
Kauaians know we have a nursing program and culinary program, but do they know that we were ranked 16th among the 1000-plus community colleges in the nation by Washington Monthly for student engagement? They probably don’t know the wealth of opportunities available for students here, from working on hybrid and electric vehicles as part of a nationally accredited automotive technology program to researching the coral disease outbreak or coastal erosion as part of our marine options program to designing a payload for a satellite to be launched by the University of Hawaii and tracked by our students here on campus.
They probably don’t know that we have sent students to China, Latin America, Japan and South Africa to present or conduct research or participate in service learning. These are just a few of the amazing things our students are doing, and I don’t think most residents on the island have any idea that this kind of thing is going on in their own backyard.
The other thing that people may not know is that we work directly with businesses to do workforce training through our Office of Continuing Education. Also through OCET we offer workforce development classes and life enrichment opportunities. Right now we are helping to train people for the new biomass plant on Kauai, and we also are offering a wine class for those who want to know about how to select wines. So OCET has a wide array of classes tailored for individuals and for businesses.
TGI: When Kauai Community College launched its Hoouluwehi Sustainable Living Institute of Kauai, you mentioned you built an aquaponics set up for your home. How is your aquaponics garden doing? What have been some of the problems you’ve encountered after setting it up?
HC: My husband John Latkiewicz took the residential aquaponics class at KCC and then built a system in our backyard. The initial building went smoothly, and he got assistance from the college whenever he needed advice. We now have a functioning system with lots of fish and leafy greens to eat.
The only real problem we’ve encountered at home is getting the water to be siphoned from the grow beds effectively. I think this might be because we don’t have it absolutely flat? Or maybe it is because our siphons aren’t working as well as they should.
We love the fact that most of the system comes from recycled materials – like empty soda bottles – or easy to purchase items right here on Kauai. And, of course, we love the veggies! KCC also teaches commercial aquaponics, and the produce from that is fantastic and is being sold at the Saturday Kauai Community Market at KCC in partnership with the Kauai Farm Bureau!
TGI: What is your favorite aspect of the Kauai Community Market (done in partnership with the Kauai Farm Bureau), and what areas do you think improvements are needed?
HC: Wow, this is hard to answer because there are so many things I love about the market. I love the fact that when I shop at the market I’m supporting local agriculture here on Kauai, and I’m buying from people I know and care about.
I also love the fact that the produce is really fresh. And I love the fact that the market is more than just a place to buy veggies and fruits. It is also a social event — a place to meet neighbors and friends, a place to talk story!
As for areas of improvement — well, it is getting so big now that we have to consider new ways of handling parking and crowd management. Another area for improvement is to increase the demonstrations and music and other special events. Melissa McFerrin and Jerry Ornellas at the Farm Bureau have been fantastic partners in this venture, and Melissa has done a good job of getting music and demonstrations at the market.
We just need to build on this, and we need to use the Market as a venue to show off the great programs at KCC and the Farm Bureau.
TGI: During many of your addresses, you refer to Kauai Community College as the “People’s college.” What are your thoughts on getting people to believe and embrace that?
HC: We are doing a couple of things to help people understand that we really are the community’s college.
We are inviting people on to campus for tours so they can see for themselves what we have here — the equipment, facilities, programs, and faculty. We call these “Hele-On Tours.”
We also are partnering with institutions in the community to provide educational events that help the community learn about things they care about. Recently we partnered with Surfrider Foundation to have a lecture/discussion to look at the tsunami debris coming to the island.
We partner with NTBG to hold a monthly lecture series on botanical subjects like native plants, invasive species and environmental education.
We also partner with the Kauai Economic Development Board to offer Kids College in the summer on our campus, and we host the Science Olympiad that engages students from middle and high school.
Our students have done a great job of hosting Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and candidate forums as well as fun events like our annual Easter egg hunt. Our Performing Arts Center provides diverse music, arts and cultural programs.
This summer we will be one of the sites for Tropic Care Kauai and the World Hula Conference.
So, in short, getting people on campus is what is important, and addressing the issues they care about. That includes both the right programs for our students and public events which encourage civil and educational dialogue, and enrich our lives. That is what is going to get people to believe and embrace us as the “community’s college.”
TGI: As post-secondary education has become a more significant factor in employment, what are some of the initiatives or plans you have to increase the number of high school graduates who seek post-high school education?
HC: We have a number of ways we are increasing our outreach to high school students and get them into college.
One way we do this is through Running Start and Jump Start. The first is a program where students can take courses that earn them dual credit — for both high school and college — so that by the time they graduate they are already on their way to getting a college degree.
Jump Start is similar but is for career and technical programs. Running Start can take place on our campus or in the high schools and is usually a single class or two.
For the Jump Start program, students come to the campus and enroll in one of our career and technical programs. In addition to offering coursework to high school students, we also offer targeted tours.
Students from elementary, middle and high school identify their areas of interest and then, when they come for a field trip to our campus, we provide the opportunity to meet faculty and students in those areas, and to see the great equipment we have. So, for example, they might see our electric vehicles, our culinary kitchen, or our satellite tracking room.
We are partnering with the DOE to meet with students when they are putting together their academic plan so they know what we offer and hear from students about what going to college is like.
We also plan open houses for students and their parents. We know that we need to show students, and their parents, the importance of going to college for getting livable wage jobs and leading a full life, and we need to excite them about the great opportunities we provide here at KCC. Then we have to make it financially feasible by helping them get federal dollars and providing scholarships.
TGI: Where would you like to see Kauai Community College in the next five to 10 years?
HC: I would like to see KCC as a thriving 21st community college that truly meets the needs of our community. Mostly, I think we have a basis for what we will need in the next five to 10 years in terms of programs. In the past couple of years, we have updated and added programs in business, agriculture, Hawaiian studies, digital media arts, medical assisting, automotive technology, sustainability, and natural sciences.
We have plans for starting a pre-engineering program as well as expanding offerings in computer science. We are moving towards having all of our career and technical programs being nationally certified.
In addition, our Office of Continuing Education will continue to thrive and in five to 10 years, I would like to see the island businesses work even more closely with us to create the workforce development and contract training that will be necessary for new job needs.
So we offer quality in our educational programs, and our programs are relevant for our students and our community/business needs. Although we think we have the right mix of programs now, we need to remain vigilant so that as the needs change, we change as well. So in 10 years I suspect we’ll have a few program changes to reflect our changing environment on the island.
