About the Center
About the Center
Embedded Files
The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) has a history of excellence in the Pacific Islands with the first thesis on the region completed in 1923. In 1950, UHM established the Pacific Islands Studies Program (PIP) and became the first institution of higher learning in the world to offer an interdisciplinary MA in Pacific studies. Reorganized as the Center for Pacific Islands Studies (CPIS) in the 1970s, the center has maintained an active publications program that includes the Pacific Islands Monograph Series; the semiannual interdisciplinary journal, The Contemporary Pacific; a periodic newsletter; an occasional paper series; an open-source textbook series Teaching Oceania, and an extensive and expanding collection of digital resources for researchers, instructors, and students. CPIS also organizes a wide range of Pacific-related outreach activities, including K-12 teachers' workshops, seminar series, and international conferences. CPIS faculty are increasingly involved in community outreach through service learning, as well as efforts to improve recruitment and retention rates among students of Pacific ancestry, an underserved population at UHM. CPIS was also home to a MA, Graduate Certificate (for doctoral students), and BA programs until the establishment in 2020 of a new Department of Pacific Islands Studies (DPIS) which now houses these academic programs. CPIS works directly to advance the success and impact of DPIS and its students and faculty.
Mission: CPIS is home for initiatives that bring together people and resources to promote an understanding of the Pacific Islands and issues of concern to Pacific Islanders.
Who we are: The center and department draw on the expertise of eight core faculty, two staff, a lively network of cooperating and affiliate faculty from across campus, and access to one of the finest collections of Pacific research materials in the world through the Pacific Collection at Hamilton Library. The department offers interdisciplinary programs of study including a BA, Minor, Bachelors to Masters (BAM) pathway, MA and Graduate Certificate in Pacific Islands studies.
Highlights
Highlights
The center is proud of our nearly 280 MA in Pacific Islands Studies graduates, with our first graduate, Marion Kelly, in 1956. Our alumni have gone on to doctoral work in art, anthropology, history, and other disciplines at top schools in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom, Hawai’i and the US continent. Alumni are also employed across the Pacific and elsewhere in a variety of professions–as university professors and teachers, social and community workers, environmentalists, museum curators and artists, consultants, journalists, and government leaders and diplomats to name just a few.
The center’s partner unit, DPIS, offers interdisciplinary programs of study including a BA, Minor, Bachelors to Masters (BAM) pathway, MA and Graduate Certificate in Pacific Islands studies, and a Dual Degree in Master of Library and Information Science (MLISc) degree and the MA in Pacific Islands Studies.
CPIS Publications
CPIS Publications
The Contemporary Pacific aims to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary developments in the Pacific Islands region and the diaspora. It features refereed, readable articles that examine social, economic, political, ecological, literary, and cultural topics, along with political reviews, book and media reviews, resource reviews, and a dialogue section with interviews and essays.
The Pacific Islands Monograph Series (PIMS), launched in 1983, publishes scholarly works in the humanities and social sciences. The PIMS Editorial Board encourages submissions that address issues of concern beyond a single discipline. It is especially committed to promoting works by emerging and Indigenous scholars.
Teaching Oceania is a publication series to address the need for appropriate literature for undergraduate Pacific Islands Studies students throughout Oceania. The series is designed to take advantage of digital technology to enhance texts with embedded multimedia content, thought-provoking images, and interactive graphs.
Drawing on CPIS’ broad network of scholars, community members, and political leaders across the region, the podcast presents innovative research, nuanced analysis, and engaging storytelling that is of, for, and about Oceania. The medium of the podcast is intended to engage a broad audience both in and outside the academy around issues important to communities across Oceania.
Anniversary Celebrations
Anniversary Celebrations
Conference. The CPIS 75th Anniversary conference, Pacific Islands Studies Continuity and Community: 75 Years at Mānoa, will run from 5-7 November 2025 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The conference will feature discussions about the present, past, and future of Pacific Islands Studies, with attention to shifting currents and emerging tides. We particularly encourage community, students, and alumni to join us in shaping conversations as we navigate forward.
Publications. In celebration of CPIS’ 75th Anniversary, several publications are in production including a TCP / PIMS collaboration, Return Voyages, co-edited by Alexander Mawyer, Katerina Teaiwa, Hōkūlani Aikau, and Terence Wesley-Smith, featuring the ‘best of’ The Contemporary Pacific since the founding of the journal along with a cover essay on the primary scholarly currents featured in our field-leading journal over last four decades; a special issue of The Contemporary Pacific, edited by Lisa Uperesa and Alexander Mawyer, on the past, present, and future of teaching Pacific Studies, including contributions from over 20 early, mid, or late-career scholars teaching in Pacific Studies including many CPIS graduates or close-colleagues of the center; an anticipated new volume of our Occasional Series featuring works from our 75th conference; and a history of CPIS graduates and the UH Mānoa “school of Pacific Studies” intended for publication by The University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Giving
Giving
The milestone of 75 years of Pacific Islands Studies at UH Mānoa also serves as an opportunity to raise funds to continue the work for another 75 years! Join us in our "75 for 75" fundraising drive to continue supporting students, events, community, and visiting scholars.
To make a tax-deductible gift to the Pacific Islands Studies Outreach Fund please visit the UH Foundation site here.
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