Column by University of Hawaiʻi Maui College Chancellor Lui Hokoana was published by The Maui News on March 27, 2025.
“The air conditioning went off.” “The elevator isn’t working.” “One of the toilets is clogged.” There is one group of staff that gets these calls and more every day. And it operates, for the most part, out of sight, every single day and night whether the rest of us are here or not.
They are the men and women of our Operations & Maintenance Department, known around here as O & M. A diligent group—short-staffed since the pandemic—that we think deserves to have some sunshine shone on them. While faculty, staff, students, and administration go about the business of higher education, O & M keeps everything humming.
At the helm is Mel Hipolito, Jr. He’s held the post of Facilities Manager for the last five years and he has three clear priorities.
“No. 1 is personal and health safety,” he says. That responsibility falls mostly on our janitorial staff. “They are our ‘first eyes’’ in our buildings, classrooms and restrooms when they start work at 6:00 each morning. Besides cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing these areas, they call in and report other maintenance and repair issues to fellow building maintenance staff and landscapers for support.”
Hipolito’s second priority is reliability. “We make sure the air conditioning, lights, the mailroom, all the buildings on campus are fully functional,” Hipolito explains. “We want to ensure that our students’ learning objectives are met and we also want our students, faculty, and staff to be comfortable on our campus.”
The third priority is aesthetics. “The landscaping, the turf, the appearance of the buildings, things like exterior paint, are all part of our college’s aesthetics,” says Hipolito. This is what the community sees when they come to our campus. If you’d like to see a perfect example, just take a look at the beautiful dryland kalo growing alongside the Ka Lama Building.
“We’re the only campus in the UH system that sits a stone’s throw from the ocean and we all know the erosive quality of salt. So, from an environmental perspective, we have to be on it,” explains Hipolito. Birds and the effects they can have on our buildings and landscaping are also part of the environmental equation.
UH Maui College is also the only college in the system with facilities on three islands – Maui, Molokai and Lāna’i. O & M oversees maintenance and repair for Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi, as well. “We support the entire Maui County advanced learning opportunities for our community,” says Hipolito.
Our Kahului campus—which is comprised of 40 buildings with 500,000 square feet of footprint covering 79 acres—is evolving. Right now, the 1960s era library is going through a renovation that will basically render it new. On the drawing board is the renovation of our Heona arts studio into a high-end art and ceramics facility and the revamping of our AC/Chillwater system designed to cool our buildings more efficiently.
Hipolito is most looking forward [to] upgrading the irrigation system to one that is high-tech, and weather-based. “Part of our campus is irrigated by County water,” he explains. “When we remove that, we’ll save money, put Wailuku water back into the aquifer and then work to convert the campus landscape to Native Hawaiian plantings from this ahupuaʻa. Eventually, we want to work with local cultural organizations to help it grow and make it a cultural resource.”
Hipolito, by the way, has a history with this institution that goes back much further than his current post. He came to Maui Community College right after graduation from Maui High School in 1975 and received his building maintenance certification.
“I went directly to Maui Pineapple Company as an apprentice and eventually received my journeyman’s status,” he says. When the company closed in 2009, he came back to UH Maui College. While pursuing his Associate’s Science Degree in Sustainable Construction, he served as Student Body President from 2011 until he graduated in 2012. It was a doubly happy commencement ceremony. “My oldest son, who was in the Agriculture Program, graduated the same night,” he says proudly.
When we lured him away from his private sector job in 2019, Hipolito expected his tenure to be short but he is, obviously, still here. In addition to his O & M duties, Hipolito sits on the Chancellor’s Advisory Board, teaches classes, volunteers on various boards and is a Maui Planning Commissioner. “We’re the only advanced learning institution in Maui County,” Hipolito says. “The journey continues. I’m committed.”
For information on job openings in the O & M Department, please email HR at maui-hr-l@lists.hawaii.edu For complete information about UH Maui College, please visit maui.hawaii.edu/
Lui K. Hokoana is Chancellor of the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College. Kaʻana Manaʻo, which means “sharing thoughts,” is scheduled to appear on the fourth Thursday of each month. It is prepared with assistance from UH Maui College staff and is intended to provide the community of Maui County information about opportunities available through the college at its Kahului campus and its education centers.
