Hawai‘i Great Teachers Seminar Origin

by Larry H. Fujinaka PhD
ed. Erin Kanoelani Thompson, EdD

The success of the Hawaiʻi Great Teachers Seminar (HGTS) makes it appropriate to explore the origin, the why and how the Hawaiʻi Seminar came to be. 

The 1980s were a difficult time as the Leeward CC Faculty Senate wrestled with faculty concerns such as merit pay. Dennis Kaibara (Professor, Economics) was the Faculty Senate Chair for three years during the early 1980s while Larry Fujinaka (Professor, Psychology) led an Ad Hoc Collegiality Committee. Judy Kappenberg (Professor, Program Officer) and Larry Fujinaka met with Vice President Joyce Tsunoda to plan cooperation. The first of two concrete outcomes was the creation of the Excellence in Teaching Conferences (later to be known as Excellence in Education and HISSI Professional Development Days). The inaugural Hilton Hawaiian Village Excellence in Teaching Conference had over 100 Leeward CC participants. Former Hawaiʻi Governor Neil Abercrombie was the luncheon speaker. Today, the UHCC System office and staunch education advocates such as the Wo Foundation continue to promote this systemwide conference approach. 

The second outcome of Kappenburg and Fujinakaʻs meeting with VP Tsunoda was bringing the National Great Teachers Movement to Hawaiʻi. Fujinaka’s training for creating the HGTS began in June 1985 as a National Great Teacher Seminar (NGTS) participant at the Lake Geneva Wisconsin campus. His NGTS Staff role was from 1987 to 1989. Harold Kozuma (UH Hilo Dean) and Dennis Kaibara were 1989 NGTS Lake Geneva participants. David Gottshall (Founder of the National Great Teachers movement) and Fujinaka were Co-Directors for the first 15 Kilauea Military Camp Hawai’i Great Teachers Seminars from 1989 to 2003. Kaibara served as the business manager. 

HGTS is a unique week-long professional development experience as it is held at Kīlauea Military Camp (KMC) Volcano, Hawai’i island, a sacred natural setting which magnets multilevel, multistate and multinational teachers. Windward CC Dean Hiroshi Kato initially helped secure the KMC location and UH Hilo Dean Harold Kozuma fostered critical Hilo connections that secured this event for decades to follow.

The HGTS was blessed when Cindy Martin (Professor, Faculty and Staff Development) was hired at Leeward CC and became a key part of the third HGTS. Her classy Halekulani Hotel professional skills created the Staff Development Coordinator model for all the community colleges. On November 17, 2014 Martin, Kaibara and Fujinaka received a “50 Finest” award for their dedicated work over the span of several decades leading to the significant contribution of growing and nurturing educators throughout the Hawaiʻi community colleges and beyond.  

Faculty from UH Mānoa, Hawaiʻi Department of Education High School, United Kingdom, Korea, China, and Micronesia as well as Okinawa Christian College President Kimi Hara, Connecticut Great Teachers Director Leroy Barnes and Chair of the 116 California Community College Faculty Senate Chairs Karen Grosz were all early attendees. In 2020, the HGTS was put on a four-year hiatus due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and internal funding and travel restrictions. In 2024, with the financial support of HGTS champion and UHCC Vice President Della Teraoka, the Hawaʻi Great Teachers Seminar was restarted and coordinated by Leeward CC Professor Erin Kanoelani Thompson (Innovation Center for Teaching and Learning) and Kapiʻolani CC Assistant Professor, Amy Shiroma (HOST). Dave Sherrill has served as the “magical” lead facilitator for more than two decades and remains the heart of the program in Hawaiʻi. The HGTS Staff hail from various UHCC campuses and are former participants who have stepped into these leadership roles. Since its return in 2024, the HGTS has served over 80 UHCC educators in its first two years and plans to continue supporting UHCC professional development.

This movement to create space for educators to learn from and with one another began with David Gottshall and came to Hawaiʻi via the efforts of the Leeward CC Faculty Senate (circa 1987-1988), Larry Fujinaka, Dennis Kaibara, Hiroshi Kato, Harold Kozuma, Cindy Martin, and Della Teraoka. Participants tout it as one of the most impactful and life-changing professional development experiences in their careers. We look forward to continuing to nurture the great teacher within all of us. 

If you believe in supporting teacher development in Hawaiʻi, please consider donating to the Hawaiʻi Great Teachers Seminar Foundation account (#130-8160-4), started by our inaugural donor, Larry Fujinaka.You can make a donation here or contact UH Foundation representative Darian Padilla at darian.padilla@uhfoundation.org for more information. Mahalo!

Larry Fujinaka	Cindy Martin	Della Teraoka