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Erin Kahunawaikaʻala Wright

CTE

Associate Professor
Educational Administration, College of Education

Kahunawai is Kanaka ʻŌiwi Hawaiʻi (Native Hawaiian) from Kaluaopalena, Kalihi, Oʻahu raised on the land that has fostered her mother’s family for the last five generations. Currently, she serves as an associate professor of Educational Administration in the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Previously, she served as the Director of Native Hawaiian Student Services at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. Her scholarship focuses on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander identities in higher education and the ways these identities inform educational environments and kuleana lāhui (native nation-building). It also prioritizes collaboration and praxis as evidenced through her co-edited publications, co- and multi-authored articles and book chapters, co-investigated research projects, grant writing, and diversity of publication outlets. Service is also critical to her work as a way to contribute to the communities that continuously nurture her naʻau. Most recently, she served two terms on the Hālau Kū Māna non-profit board, Papa Kū Māna, after serving two terms previously on their governing board. She also served two terms on the grantmaking board and one and half terms on the board of directors for Hawaiʻi People’s Fund, a non-profit organization of community folx dedicated to providing funding for communities to address root causes of social inequality in Hawaiʻi.