College of Arts, Languages & Letters

Administration

Hawaiʻi Hall 314
2500 Campus Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-6460
Fax: (808) 956-9085
Web: manoa.hawaii.edu/call/
Dean: Peter J. Arnade
Associate Dean for Administration & Operations: Andrea Berez-Kroeker
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Kimi Kondo-Brown

Research and Resource Centers: School of Pacific and Asian Studies (Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Center for Korean Studies, Center for Okinawan Studies, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Center for Philippine Studies, Center for South Asian Studies, Center for Southeast Asian Studies), Center for Biographical Research, Center for Language and Technology, National Foreign Language Resource Center

General Information

The College of Arts, Languages & Letters (CALL) serves as the cornerstone of the liberal arts at UH Mānoa. Encompassing the study of the arts, humanities, languages, and area studies on a global scale, CALL places a strong emphasis on Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, and Asia through its degree programs, interdisciplinary centers, and initiatives. Home to sixteen academic departments, the School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and multiple national research and resource centers, CALL fosters a dynamic intellectual community. Its strengths span from the creative arts to an extensive focus on language studies, from the foundational liberal arts to pioneering interdisciplinary collaborations—both within the College and across academic programs at Mānoa. CALL is committed to delivering a high-quality education for undergraduate and graduate students, grounded in both time-honored and innovative pedagogy. Our faculty are leading scholars and artists who produce cutting-edge research, performances, and publications, ensuring that student learning and original scholarship remain at the heart of our mission.

Advising

Students are active partners in the advising process, which includes clarifying their life and career goals, developing meaningful educational plans, and preparing for productive lives, enlightened citizenship, and life-long learning. Students at UH Mānoa have exceptional freedom in crafting their college experience. Students are able to explore connections between fields, engage in co-curricular activities, and develop unique combinations of majors, minors, and certificates. In addition to meeting all mandatory advising initiatives required by their major departments, declared CALL majors meet with their advisors throughout their career at UH Mānoa for clarification of degree requirements, individual concerns, and resolution of complex academic issues.

Advising Office for Undergraduate Majors

Sakamaki D-202
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-8755
Fax: (808) 956-9796
Email: advising@hawaii.edu
Web: www.manoa.hawaii.edu/advising

Student Organizations

Societies and clubs associated with many departments within CALL give students opportunities to explore a field from an informal perspective, get acquainted with other students with similar interests, and learn of the options available upon graduation. CALL highly recommends active student involvement in these associations for the academic and professional enhancements they provide. Check with your major department’s advisor for information.

Undergraduate Programs

Detailed program information is available from specific CALL departments. CALL students must fulfill the following four areas of requirements: UH Mānoa General Education Core; UH Mānoa Graduation; CALL College; and CALL Major. When selecting courses and making plans, students should refer to their respective program requirements and sample four-year academic plans.

General Education Core Requirements

CALL students must fulfill the UH Mānoa General Education Core, which consists of Foundations and Diversification requirements. Some of the courses that fulfill these Core requirements may be double-dipped with other requirements (see “General Education”). The minimum course grade to fulfill Core requirements is a D (not D-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option.

College Requirements Credit Maximums*

• Practicum courses: 12 credits
• Directed reading and research (-99) courses: 9 credits
• Activity courses (such as KRS): 8 credits

*CALL students can take as many credits in these areas as they would like, but only credits up to these maximums apply to the total 120 credits needed for graduation.

Graduation Requirements

CALL students must fulfill the UH Mānoa Graduation requirements, which consist of Focus, Hawaiian or Second Language (HSL), and credit and grade point average (GPA) requirements (see “General Education” and “Undergraduate Education”).

CALL Undergraduate Major Requirements

CALL major requirements further develop liberal education skills and offer students specialization in an academic field of study. Major requirements contribute to the ideal liberal education, which prepares students for productive lives and careers, enlightened citizenship, and lifelong learning. Major requirements are explained in the department sections in this Catalog and on department websites. The minimum course grade to fulfill major and major- related requirements is a C (not C-). These requirements must be taken for a letter grade, unless the course is offered only with the CR/NC grade option. CALL students should meet regularly with their advisor to ensure their progress and to graduate on time.

Double Majors/Degrees

Many of CALL undergraduate students are double majors to obtain additional skills and diverse perspectives and to expand future career opportunities. See the “Undergraduate Education” section in the Catalog for specific information.

Graduate Programs

Prospective students interested in CALL graduate programs should contact the respective program or refer to the program listing in the Catalog.

Combined Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree (BAM) Pathways

CALL offers BAM Pathways in Asian Studies, East Asian Languages & Literatures, English, Pacific Islands Studies, Philippine Language and Culture, and Second Language Studies (SLS). They allow highly motivated students to efficiently complete a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in a shorter time frame by double-counting course work (3 courses) at the undergraduate tuition rate. In most cases, pathway students graduate with the Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree within 5 years (total). For more information, please contact the relevant department.

Resource and Research Centers

Center for Biographical Research

Web: blog.hawaii.edu/cbrhawaii/

The Center for Biographical Research (CBR) is dedicated to the interdisciplinary and multicultural study of life writing. CBR programs include teaching, publication, and outreach activities.

In conjunction with the Department of English, CBR offers thesis advising for PhD and MA projects, and awards the Biography Prize annually for work in life writing by a UH Mānoa graduate student. The Department of English also offers a number of graduate and undergraduate courses in life writing.

CBR publishes Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, the premier scholarly journal in the field. Appearing continuously since 1978, Biography explores the theoretical, historical, generic, and cultural dimensions of life writing. CBR also sponsors the Biography Monograph series, a book publishing enterprise designed to further the study and practice of life writing in all its forms.

CBR maintains a library and resource collection and has organized, since 1988, the public lecture series Brown Bag Biography, part of the center’s commitment to supporting and publicizing contributions to life writing. The center regularly hosts visiting scholars from academic institutions throughout the world. CBR is a founding partner of Biography Hawaiʻi, a television documentary series that focuses on residents whose lives have had a lasting impact on these islands. The center also manages iaba-l@hawaii.edu, the listserve and discussion forum for the International Auto/Biography Association.

Center for Language and Technology

Web: clt.manoa.hawaii.edu

The Center for Language & Technology (CLT) is a specialized professional service and research unit whose goal is to enhance and support the research, learning, and teaching of languages through the use of technology. CLT faculty and staff design, engage in, facilitate, and promote programs of research and development that impact how languages are learned, taught, and assessed. By engaging in these activities, the CLT generates knowledge and expertise that is disseminated locally, nationally, and internationally in numerous ways, such as professional events and publications.

The CLT fulfills its kuleana through scholarly activities and services that are specific to language teaching and learning, such as a) supporting the research and development of technology-based materials; b) providing professional learning opportunities on technology integration; c) providing expertise in instructional media design, production and delivery; d) researching and supporting innovative technology tools and pedagogical approaches; and e) providing flexible, technology-rich physical spaces that are designed with consideration of the technology needs for language teaching and learning.

The CLT offers professional consultation and support for curriculum development, online and blended learning, human language technology, design and production of specialized digital materials or resources; human language technology and assessment, and production of media for language research and instruction.

The CLT engages in and supports research and practice. CLT research and scholarship appear in major national and international publications. CLT support for research and practice includes specialized rooms; multimedia labs equipped with specialized software and hardware; video and film projection rooms; teleconference and seminar rooms; and technology research rooms with specialized instructional and research equipment (e.g., interactive board, eye-tracking hardware and software, EEG, etc.).

The CLT leverages its professional and research capabilities and specialized physical spaces to secure sponsored funding. Currently, the CLT is home to two prestigious national programs: the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, and the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center (Tech Center), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.

National Foreign Language Resource Center

Web: nflrc.hawaii.edu

The National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) is one of 16 Language Resource Centers across the U.S. and the only one to have been continuously funded since the establishment of the program by the Department of Education in 1990. The mission of the NFLRC is to improve the learning and teaching of world languages, while focusing primarily on the underserved populations of both teachers and students of the less commonly taught languages of Asia and the Pacific.

Taking advantage of Hawaiʻi’s geographic location and drawing on the rich expertise of the College of Arts, Languages, & Letters, the NFLRC works to improve teaching through the production and dissemination of a broad range of resources, including instructional materials, scholarly books, and edited collections. Online resources include four e-journals, podcasts, videos, MOOCs, interactive lessons, and other open educational resources. Recent projects have focused on project-based language learning (PBLL) and online language pedagogy

NFLRC works closely with the Center for Language & Technology on a number of initiatives, for example, developing and researching instructional models that combine distance and face-to-face instruction and collaborating in the design and development of technologies that support those models. Throughout the year, the NFLRC hosts and co-hosts local, national, and international conferences and workshops.

School of Pacific and Asian Studies

General Information

Web: manoa.hawaii.edu/spas/

Strategically located with a multicultural heritage, the state of Hawaiʻi has always been uniquely international in outlook. Reflecting this perspective, the School of Pacific and Asian Studies (SPAS), in the College of Arts, Languages & Letters (CALL), represents the ongoing commitment of UH Mānoa to enhance international awareness and intercultural understanding throughout the educational experience. In fulfilling this commitment, SPAS has become one of the largest resource facilities for Asian and Pacific studies in the world.

Established in 1987, SPAS consists of eight resource and research units (the Centers for Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, Korean Studies, Okinawan Studies, Pacific Islands Studies, Philippine Studies, South Asian Studies, and Southeast Asian Studies) and two academic departments (the Departments of Asian Studies and Pacific Islands Studies). Research supported by SPAS appears in a wide range of journals, monographs, and occasional papers published by its centers. Complementing these publications are monographs, translations, and journals published by SPAS or one of its centers in association with UH Press. Specialized training and instructional programs, conferences, symposia, resource development, and a full schedule of co-curricular activities and cultural programs are all a part of SPAS.

Instructional/Research Facilities and Programs

Center for Chinese Studies

The Center for Chinese Studies aims to foster an interdisciplinary understanding of China ( Hong Kong, Macao), Taiwan and other Chinese-speaking societies worldwide as well as Chinese civilization and its long connections to Hawaiʻi. It pursues this goal through instruction from 47 faculty members in some 30 departments who teach approximately 150 Chinese Studies related courses; research by faculty, who collectively publish an average of six books and a score of articles on greater China each year; service publications, such as its quarterly journal China Review International, which provides an overview of current worldwide scholarship in the field of Chinese Studies; a website (manoa.hawaii.edu/chinesestudies); and community outreach, conferences, and national and international linkages with institutions such as Peking University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Zhejiang University, Tongji University, National Taiwan University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. From 2006- 2019, CCS housed a Confucius Institute (CI-UHM), funded by the PRC Ministry of Education and was named a Model Confucius Institute in 2014. From 2007-2022, with a break for the pandemic, CCS hosted an annual STARTALK Chinese Teacher Training Institute and Student Language Summer Camp, funded through annual grants from the Department of Defense. In 2020, CCS hosted the inaugural Hawaiʻi International Conference on Chinese Studies (HICCS) on the UH Mānoa campus, which is expected to be an annual event in the future. In 2020, CCS celebrated the centennial of its founding by hosting a research project focusing on our history, and a virtual exhibition of this history put together by the Asia Collection. By creating a stimulating environment for the faculty and the approximately 100 mainly graduate students specializing in Chinese Studies, CCS supplements basic scholarly offerings, and focuses attention on the university’s significant resources for the study of greater China. These include the CCS Webinar Series every semester featuring CCS faculty from UH Mānoa, as well as national and international scholars, the Asia Collection in Hamilton Library, the Wong Audiovisual Center’s collection of Chinese music and film, the Undergraduate Chinese Flagship Program in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, and the National Foreign Language Resource Center in the College of Arts, Letters and Languages. Furthermore, the Centers for Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, and Korean Studies together formed a National Resource Center for East Asian Studies (NRCEA), which is supported by major funding from the U.S. Department of Education. More information about CCS may be found at manoa.hawaii.edu/chinesestudies. Interested parties may also connect with CCS via Facebook (ccshawaii), Instagram (uhawaiiccs), and YouTube (go.hawaii.edu/T7V).

Center for Japanese Studies

The Center for Japanese Studies promotes the study of Japan within a global context and across academic disciplines at UH Mānoa. Japanese studies faculty include 30 professors, 10 Japanese language instructors, 1 library specialist, and a chanoyu (tea ceremony) instructor who, collectively, offer over 100 courses in 16 instructional units to approximately 2,000 students annually. The Dr. Sen Soshitsu International Way of Tea Center is an integral part of CJS perpetuating tea culture by offering tea practicum courses and coordinating tea-related outreach projects. CJS also regularly administers two U.S. Department of Education grants: the National Resource Center East Asia grant which provides funding for curriculum development, outreach activities and library resources for East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Okinawa) across the UH Mānoa campus, and The Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship grant, which provides generous scholarships for UH Mānoa undergraduate and graduate students who study East Asian languages and area studies. The center coordinates Japanese studies at the university and serves as a clearinghouse for inquiries related to the field. CJS offers other student scholarships and faculty professional development funding, provides student advising, sponsors seminars and conferences on Japan, sponsors visiting scholars, coordinates a summer student internship program in Ehime in partnership with the Japan-America Society of Hawaiʻi, and supports several partnerships with overseas research institutes.

Center for Korean Studies

The Center for Korean Studies coordinates and develops UH Mānoa’s resources for the study of Korea and Koreans abroad. The 41 faculty members affiliated with the center represent the disciplines of anthropology, music, business, communication and communicology, economics, English, ethnomusicology, history, language and literature, linguistics, law, political science, social work, sociology, and urban planning. The center promotes interdisciplinary and intercultural approaches to the study of Korea. It regularly conducts scholarly conferences, sponsors research projects, offers presentations by distinguished specialists, hosts visiting scholars from other institutions, and publishes monographs and an interdisciplinary journal, Korean Studies. The center also offers scholarships for students engaged in Korea-related studies. It houses a small collection of books, journals, and audio-visual materials as an adjunct to Hamilton Library’s Korea resources. The collection also includes a number of important archival and manuscript collections related to Korean-American relations and the history of Korea and Koreans in Hawaiʻi.

Center for Okinawan Studies

The Center for Okinawan Studies (COS) was established in 2008, and has the distinction of being the only center of its kind outside of Japan. COS is a coordinating unit with a mission to promote the study of the Ryukyuan archipelago, Okinawa, and the Okinawan diaspora by encouraging the development and offering of both credit and non-credit courses in the performing arts, history and social sciences, language and culture. COS is committed to supporting the research and teaching of Okinawa/Ryukyu-related subjects by its faculty, staff, and students, as well as providing outreach to the general community in the form of lectures, workshops, seminars, and conferences. COS also works toward strengthening connections and partnerships with people and institutions worldwide including universities in Okinawa, Japan, and the U.S.

Center for Pacific Islands Studies

The Center for Pacific Islands Studies brings together people and resources to promote an understanding of the Pacific Islands and issues of concern to Pacific Islanders. Its innovative instructional program is regional, comparative, and interdisciplinary in nature. After 60 years of offering the nation’s first and only MA program for the study of the Pacific Islands, the center launched a BA program in 2011. The center sponsors an annual conference and a seminar series that features a variety of visitors en route to and from other Pacific Islands. The program publishes a series of occasional papers, the Teaching Oceania Series, and, in collaboration with the UH Press, the Pacific Islands Monograph Series, and The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs.

Center for Philippine Studies

The Center for Philippine Studies at UH Mānoa is the only university center offering a comprehensive academic program on Philippine studies in North America. With an interdisciplinary faculty based in various departments, it promotes a broad understanding of Philippine society and culture, including Filipinos in Hawaiʻi and in the diaspora, through academic course offerings, library resources, lectures and seminars, scholarly conferences, research and publications, visiting faculty, international exchange programs, cultural presentations, outreach with the Filipino community in Hawaiʻi and in the homeland, institutional linkages, and other professional activities. UH Mānoa has a large concentration of internationally known Philippine specialists and experts in various disciplines. The center has served as the Secretariat for the International Conference on Philippine Studies (ICOPHIL), and works closely with the Philippine Studies Conference in Japan (PSCJ) held every four and three years, respectively, and with the Philippine Studies Group of the Association for Asian Studies in the U.S. every year. For more details, visit www.hawaii.edu/cps.

Center for South Asian Studies

The Center for South Asian Studies at UH Mānoa serves as an intellectual hub in the Pacific for research on and learning about a highly diverse region that encompasses Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Lakshadweep, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet. The center was founded in 1985 with the main purpose of promoting interdisciplinary research on South Asia and the diaspora, as well as assisting undergraduate and graduate students in the humanities, arts, language and linguistics, social sciences, business, and applied sciences to focus on the societies and cultures of the region. The center’s activities include colloquia, invited lectures and workshops, an annual spring symposium, cultural education, and community building. For this, the center works together with universities around the world, as well as local institutions, such as the Honolulu Museum of Art and Shangri La. The center also facilitates study and research abroad for undergraduate and graduate students. The library’s South Asia collection is ranked among the top ten in the U.S. The center draws on the expertise of more than 40 distinguished faculty members whose research interests spread over many geographical regions and disciplinary foci. For more information, visit www.hawaii.edu/csas/, and follow CSAS on Facebook (www.facebook.com/UHCSAS/), Twitter (twitter. com/UHCSAS), and Instagram (@csasuhmanoa) to receive job alerts and event announcements.

Center for Southeast Asian Studies

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) acts as a coordinating body for Southeast Asian studies throughout UH Mānoa. With more than 50 affiliated faculty members distributed through 21 departments, the center interacts with the largest concentration of Southeast Asia specialists in the U.S. The objective of CSEAS and its affiliated faculty is to promote educational and cultural awareness of Southeast Asia, its diverse peoples, religions, history, economics, geography, art, cultures, science, and politics.

Based on the strength of the program, the Center has been given Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) Southeast Asia status by the U.S. Department of Education, one of only eight NRC-SEA in the country. This distinction comes with a yearly federal grant to support program development and fund top students studying Southeast Asian languages (Indonesian, Khmer (Cambodian), Tagalog (Filipino), Thai, and Vietnamese) at UH Mānoa. Academic year 21-22 also marks the beginning of a 5-year project with Luce Foundation support of a joint UH Mānoa/EWC project titled LuceSEA Transitions: Environment, Society, and Change. This initiative will address how socio-economic and political shifts are transforming Southeast Asia (SEA) societies in a time of accelerated climate and environmental change.

More information on the UH Mānoa Center for Southeast Asian Studies can be found at cseashawaii.org.

Campus Events and Community Programs

SPAS and its centers sponsor lectures, colloquia, teacher workshops, conferences, film festivals, concerts, and special events, such as the Grand Kabuki performance, Chinese martial arts performances, and the Southeast Asian Wayang Listrik theatrical training and performance. The centers’ outreach programs take UH Mānoa expertise into the community and K-12 schools.

Departments and Programs