Joshua Faumuina

Joshua Faumuina is a second-generation Pacific Islander of Samoan ancestry completing a juris doctor degree at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Joshua’s career at the University of Hawaiʻi started over a decade ago as a STEM major at Kapiʻolani Community College where he earned an Associate of Science in Natural Science degree with a focus on engineering. He completed a baccalaureate degree in Classics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa while working full-time mentoring underrepresented minority students pursuing careers in STEM fields at the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges.

As a first-generation college graduate, Joshua’s experiences as a UH student motivate him to give back to public higher education to ensure opportunities are available to students of all backgrounds. Through his undergraduate research experiences at Kapiʻolani Community College and UH Mānoa, Joshua gained an affinity for research projects and engineering competitions with the support of a NASA Space Grant and Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). He has translated his undergraduate research experiences to coordinating several National Science Foundation consortium grants supporting UH Community Colleges campuses, in close collaboration with UH Mānoa and partner UHCC campuses. Additionally, Joshua provides operational support to Kapiʻolani Community College’s Title III Project Director.

Joshua is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ individuals and co-authored a publication with his husband on Japan’s marriage equality cases. His scholarly contributions in this publication highlight jurisprudence from the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court to make important connections between our constitutional protections for sexual minorities to propose legal reform in Japan.