April 23, 2017

Read Time

This article originally appeared on University of Hawai’i News


The University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges’ Sector Mapping Tool was awarded the 2017 Bernice Joseph Award by the Western Alliance of Community College Academic Leaders at the Alliance’s annual meeting in March.

The Sector Mapping Tool uses data visualization and heat mapping to align Hawaiʻi’s economic and workforce needs with academic offerings and production at UH, making a clear connection between jobs and academic programs.

“The tool provides a complete visualization of Hawaiʻi’s economy and K–12 as well as university academic alignments in real time,” said Associate Vice President of the UH Community Colleges Peter Quigley, who along with UH Community Colleges Web Manager Paul Sakamoto recently finished developing the sector mapping tool. “Several states have already expressed interest in having their own version.”

“The sector mapping tool will benefit our academic program planning at the community colleges, and it can inform policy decisions inside and outside of the university,” said UH Vice President of Community Colleges John Morton. “It provides a means for the business sector and the university to identify and address future workforce needs while giving incoming students the ability to make highly informed, career path decisions.”

The Sector Mapping Tool.

About the Bernice Joseph Award

The award recognizes the institution or organization whose tool was selected from those submitted to the Academic Leaders Toolkit during the academic year for its innovation, problem-solving capability, potential for impact and replicability in the two-year institution sector.

“The Alliance is pleased to present the 2017 Bernice Joseph Award to the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges for its data-rich sector mapping tool, while honoring the memory of higher-education visionary Bernice Joseph,” said Jose Fierro, Alliance chair and president of Cerritos College. “The tool is a prime example of the innovative solutions coming out of our two-year institutions to meet the changing demands facing higher education today.”

Funding from Strada Education Network, formerly USA Funds, supported the development of the STEManalytics portion of the Sector Mapping Tool.

“We congratulate the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges on its receipt of this prestigious award,” said William D. Hansen, Strada Education Network President and CEO. “We are pleased to have supported this valuable new resource connecting the business sector, educators and students to promote a more purposeful path for students through college to rewarding careers.”

This is the latest UH-developed program to receive national recognition. In 2016, UH was honored by Complete College America for its STAR-GPS program, which allows students to effectively manage their educational progress and graduate on time, and the 15 to Finish campaign, which supports students in taking at least 15 credits per semester in order to graduate in four years.

See more pictures at the Sector Mapping Tool flickr album.