Jay Halfond: When you first began at Windward, you relocated from a tribal college in Nebraska to Hawaii as a single mom with two preschool children—and transitioned into a very different community and professional role. Can you describe these challenges?

Ardis Eschenberg: Fifteen years ago, I applied for a deanship at Windward and was brought out to visit and then offered the job. I had no childcare set up, no relatives to help—but this college is an amazingly supportive family-based institution. As my kids grew, I enrolled them in public schools that taught Hawaiian language and culture.

The magic of this college is its ties to native Hawaii. I’ve learned to appreciate that indigenous Hawaiians are truly a nation within a state, especially as pride in language and culture flourished on the island. Many of our students are now in Hawaiian Studies programs.

Jay Halfond: As chancellor, you now oversee a multi-generational and ethnically diverse institution grounded in the Hawaiian heritage. And your early experiences ultimately inspired one of your major initiatives, didn’t it?

Ardis Eschenberg: Yes, since becoming chancellor six years ago, an important accomplishment was creating a Hawaiian immersion childcare center, the only one in the University of Hawaii. It was a crazy dream, but the students wanted it—and many appeared at every on-campus meeting we held, lobbied legislators, and helped overcome resistance. I didn’t even have to ask.

The Hawaiian renaissance is one of the most successful examples of language revitalization in America. Families now speak their ancestral language in their homes.

Jay Halfond: And like many other US community colleges, you also serve high schoolers. What is that program like?

Ardis Eschenberg: Yes, about 20 percent of our students are either “early college”—embedded in the high school—or “middle college”—on our campus. We teach in every local public and charter school, as well as in immersive, culture-based schools across the islands. Rather than focus on advanced placement students, we prioritize first-generation, free lunch students, and native Hawaiian high school students. We even teach in Hawaiian to high schoolers across the entire state.

We have high school students in our middle college on campus two days a week and in service learning one day a week out in the community. These students have access to all our resources. They eat lunch with the older students, attend classes and events, and use our library.

Jay Halfond: Windward also does significant work with incarcerated students by teaching classes in local prisons. Can you tell us about that?

Ardis Eschenberg: We have such high rates of incarceration in Hawaii. Just within our local community, Windward has several prison sites, including a women’s prison and a youth facility, where we teach liberal arts and Hawaiian Studies. We recently added a nearby men’s prison, as well as prison education for the approximately 900 men from Hawaii incarcerated in Arizona. We are proudly the only University of Hawaii college offering degree programs within the carceral system and possibly the only US college teaching prisoners in another state.

Jay Halfond: What’s it like being part of such a unique state system as the combined, centralized University of Hawaii?

Ardis Eschenberg: Windward is the smallest college on this island, so the beauty of our university system is access to human resources, such as legal counsel, as well as the inspiration and collaboration that my colleagues across the system provide. Hawaii is such a human-size state. And the legislature is very community college-centered because we’re the ones they see day to day helping their communities. As two examples, we created the only theater conservatory program in the state and the only Hawaiian music certificate anywhere.

Jay Halfond: Students come from many backgrounds and countries of origin, with none in the majority, and this variety probably allows students to be more comfortable expressing their backgrounds.

Ardis Eschenberg: Definitely. The relationship with the land and genealogy is very important here. Many non-Hawaiian families have been here for generations, often with great grandparents who worked on the plantations.

Jay Halfond: Your remarkable acceptance within this adopted community has created opportunities to strengthen and extend education in such various ways.

Ardis Eschenberg: Mahalo! This community is extraordinarily kind, and they appreciate your heart when you’re working hard on their behalf. I’m so honored to work at this institution.