Gladys Kamakakuokalani ‘Ainoa Brandt Endowed Chair established at UH Manoa

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Carolyn Tanaka, (808) 956-9803
External Affairs & University Relations
Gregg Takayama, (808) 382-3212
Office of the Chancellor
Posted: Jul 26, 2007

PEARL CITY, Oʻahu — The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) has approved the establishment of the Gladys Kamakakūokalani ʻAinoa Brandt Endowed Chair at UH Mānoa. The position will be created from a commitment of nearly $1.1 million from the Gladys ʻAinoa Brandt Estate.

The gift was made to establish an endowed chair in comparative Polynesian studies at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the UH Mānoa Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge to focus and maximize the center‘s interchanges with visiting scholars. The endowed chair will greatly enhance research at the center, attract students and scholars from throughout Polynesia, and encourage positive dialogues between academic disciplines, the university and the wider community.

"This endowed chair will be one hallmark of the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies realizing its potential in helping shape Hawaiʻi‘s future, and fulfilling Mrs. Brandt‘s vision of the center as a conduit for Hawaiian values and practices to reach the world," said Jonathan Osorio, director of the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.

A University of Hawaiʻi alumna, Brandt was an educator and administrator for more than 40 years, and was the first woman principal of a high school in the Territory of Hawaiʻi. The UH Board of Regents voted to name the UH Mānoa Center for Hawaiian Studies in her honor in 2001, with a rededication ceremony held in March 2002, which Brandt was able to attend before she passed away on January 15, 2003.