Empowering West and Central Oʻahu

One Region, Clearer Pathways

A Shared Regional Strategy for Higher Education in West Oʻahu

Leeward Community College (LeeCC) and the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu (UHWO) came together eight months ago to begin exploring opportunities to create a more cohesive, flexible, responsive educational environment built around what we know about students’ needs, lives, schedules, and aspirations. This is a deliberate journey of shared opportunity, united by a common vision to invest targeted UH system resources directly into the West Oʻahu region and elevate our ability to serve the community. Guided by place and purpose, our goal is simple: eliminate institutional barriers, accelerate degree completion, and support community well-being.

The Joint Advisory Group (JAG) is one of the groups guiding this exploration. This group comprises a balanced representation of faculty, staff, and students from both institutions, leveraging cross-campus expertise. Together, we have identified some practical opportunities for increased alignment. Our actions include gathering constituent feedback, sharing transparent progress updates, and analyzing community perspectives alongside operational data. Ultimately, the JAG synthesizes these insights into actionable recommendations that drive student-centered strategy and long-term institutional success.

Overall, we are driven by a commitment to student success. This collaboration improves institutional and system effectiveness. Elevating the student experience yields stronger outcomes for graduates, creating a lasting ripple effect that strengthens local families, addresses regional workforce needs, and supports the broader health of our Oʻahu community. These explorations are moving alongside other possible changes, including expanding the UH West O‘ahu Pueo Shuttle routes to serve Waiʻanae Moku students, directly aiding those concurrently enrolled across campuses, and exploring options to extend UH West O‘ahu student health services by using existing capacity at the Leeward CC Health Center.

From the outset, University of Hawaiʻi President Hensel has explicitly defined, honored, and publicly reaffirmed the foundational intentions of this effort across multiple forums. This initiative was never intended to be a merger or a cost-cutting measure, but instead an exploration of possibilities to strengthen the impact of both institutions. There is no predetermined outcome to combine institutions, and there is no scenario in which there will be a reduction in workforce. The system is honoring these commitments and celebrating the distinct culture, identity, and intertwined histories of each campus as we align our strengths to eliminate administrative hurdles, invest in more relevant and responsive learning, and ensure clear, seamless pathways from high school to high-impact careers.

The Strategic Priorities

Over the summer of 2026, the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) has elevated two distinct strategic priorities that respond directly to dynamic learner demographics and remove structural obstacles to persistence and completion. These are:

Eliminating Schedule & Structural Barriers Through Designer Pathways

Our shared students, many of whom are working professionals, parents, over-employed, shift workers, or part-time learners, are balancing childcare and commutes. One place they face friction is with mismatched course schedules and program offerings. For example, requiring core major courses strictly in person while general education requirements are taken exclusively online forces students to juggle broken schedules, transition commitments from semester to semester, and at times, choose unfavorable learning modalities, all of which can stall or halt degree progress.

Program-Level Schedule Optimization – Rather than building new degrees from scratch, we will evaluate and restructure existing high-demand, workforce-aligned pathways. This eliminates disconnects between face-to-face and online, optimizes time-to-degree, and aligns course delivery across both campuses to create predictable, uninterrupted academic progress.

Targeted Investments – An open opt-in process allows academic programs and concentrations to “raise their hand” for direct financial and operational support to transition to the Designer Pathways model, with enhanced technology, specialized curriculum, and counseling support.

Regional Workforce Alignment & Demographic Adaptation

In the coming decades, with the projected statewide decline of up to 30% in traditional high school-age demographics, legacy higher education recruitment models will no longer be sufficient to sustain long-term regional vitality or meet local labor market needs. To best serve the community, innovation will be required.

Broadened Target populations – Operations will expand beyond traditional enrollment models to build tailored pipelines for three distinct groups:

Local High School Students: Strengthening Early College and direct pathways into post-secondary education.
Adult Learners: Providing flexible, supportive pathways for returning students to complete degrees.
Working Professionals: Designing targeted upskilling and reskilling programs tailored to local industry demand.
Employer Partnerships: Program advisory boards will be systematically strengthened with regional employers who actively serve as capstone hosts, internship preceptors, and direct employers of graduates.
Credit for Prior Learning (CPL): Formal CPL pathways will be built to recognize industry expertise and translate hands-on experience into academic credentials for working professionals.
K-12-to-Career Continuity: Designer Pathways will connect directly with Department of Education (DOE) high school Early College and Career Technical Education (CTE) programs, creating an uninterrupted pathway from high school to degree completion and local employment.

Actionable Next Steps

To transition from strategy to execution without increasing workload, leadership and the JAG are examining targeted action steps and empowering faculty and staff to maximize our existing efforts towards collective impact on student access, learning, completion, and regional community well-being as a healthy Native Hawaiian Place of Learning.

One Vision, Two Campuses

Carlos Peñaloza, Ph.D. Interim Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu and Chancellor, Leeward Community College

Dr. Carlos Peñaloza serves as the dual Chancellor for Leeward Community College and the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu. He was appointed Chancellor of Leeward CC on July 1, 2019, and assumed the additional role of Interim Chancellor for UH West Oʻahu on January 1, 2026. In this unique capacity, he leads a strategic exploration to co-create a dynamic “West Oʻahu Educational Ecosystem,” aiming to bridge the strengths of both institutions to better serve the region’s students and workforce.

During his tenure at Leeward CC, Dr. Peñaloza has prioritized innovation and equity, overseeing the expansion of the Waiʻanae Moku Education Center, the opening of the Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center, and the launch of the Hō‘ikeākea Gallery. Under his leadership, the college has garnered national recognition for its professional development programs and made significant strides in closing achievement gaps for Native Hawaiian and underserved students.

A biologist by training, Dr. Peñaloza has over a decade of biomedical research experience and more than 20 years of teaching and administrative experience. Prior to Hawaiʻi, he served as Provost at Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences and Vice Chancellor at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City. A native of Venezuela, he is a proud product of the community college system, holding an A.S. in Liberal Arts and a B.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Biology from the City University of New York (CUNY).

View message sent to University of Hawaiʻi community on January 5, 2026.
View minutes from Board of Regents meeting held at UH West O‘ahu campus on May 21, 2026.
View presentation shared at the Board of Regents meeting at UH West O‘ahu campus on May 21, 2026.

The Joint Advisory Group

The purpose of the Joint Advisory Group is to be the engine of exploration, not a new layer of governance. Responsibilities of the group will include:

Explore opportunities for synergy
Engage with various groups and units across both colleges
Synthesize data, surveys, and feedback
Provide recommendations for consideration through existing governance channels

The composition of the group will be broad and inclusive, with balanced representation from UH West Oʻahu and Leeward Community College faculty, staff and students.