Last weekend, Lynn Babington was installed as Chaminade University’s 10th president, although she started working at the Kaimuki campus during the summer.
Among the intended takeaway messages in her inaugural address: “We aspire to be an innovative university. And we aspire to be a university that contributes to the betterment of society as a Native Hawaiian-serving institution based on Marianist and Catholic values,” she said of the private school with an overall enrollment about 1,780 students, most of them homegrown. (The Society of Mary, known as Marianists, is a religious congregation of brothers and priests.)
Babington, who previously headed Fairfield University in Connecticut, added, “I want to stress here that we welcome all with a commitment to growth through higher education, regardless of faith, ethnicity or economic wherewithal.”
The Detroit native began her own higher ed path in nursing, with degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Washington. Before taking her first post in academia, at Northeastern University in Boston, Babington held nursing leadership jobs at mainland hospitals in San Francisco and Seattle.
“I chose nursing as my first career because I had a passion to care for others, and nursing was a path to succeed that appealed to me,” she said. “Now, I can care for others through whole-person education.”
Since moving here several months ago, Babington said, she’s finding Hawaii is a good fit for her off-campus pursuits, too.
“I love hiking and I love the water. So I paddleboard and I’ve even tried to do a little surfing, somewhat successfully. I like to bike ride and swim and snorkel. And I’m a long-term runner. I’ve run for most of my life,” she said. “You will find me every morning and all weekends outside — with my sunscreen on.”
Question: Among efforts underway since your start at Chaminade in August is the opening of an office for innovation?
Answer: I believe that focusing on innovation is our future in Hawaii. We need to diversify our workforce, and Chaminade is actively working to answer that need. We already have many partnerships in the community, so are leveraging them and gathering advisory boards from different sectors to develop programs that meet the state’s workforce needs.
For example, we’re continuing to grow our expertise in the areas of data science, data analytics and data visualization. “Big Data” is very important in all work sectors, and there’s a limited number of people who know how to manage it. So this is an industry where Hawaii can excel, and we intend to lead the state in doing so.
Chaminade has received a National Science Foundation grant, in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin and the Georgia Institute of Technology, to launch a “Big Data” program this summer. Our students will work with our partners here to help them analyze their data, providing an excellent real-time, practical learning experience. We’re very excited!
Q: You have described Chaminade, which was founded in 1955, as a sort of “well-kept secret.” Why do you think that’s the case?
A: When I came here to interview, everyone I met and talked to had only positive things to say about Chaminade. But the general community doesn’t yet know the specifics about what we offer. They don’t know we have a four-year guarantee whereby parents can be assured that their children will graduate in four years or they won’t pay tuition for that final time. They don’t know that we have a cutting-edge nursing program. They don’t know that we work extensively with DOE (state Department of Education) and other educational institutions throughout Hawaii to provide both undergraduate and graduate programs in education and special education.
People do know about our criminal justice and forensic science programs. … We also have excellent and well-established online degree completion programs that allow neighbor island students to stay at home and obtain their baccalaureate degrees. And when our military partners get deployed, they can continue their education with online courses and graduate from Chaminade. … We want the community to be justifiably proud of this gem on the hill.
Q: Nursing draws the most declared majors. Why the high interest?
A: There’s a continued need throughout the country for nurses and for primary health care providers. And here in Hawaii, they say that by 2025 we’ll experience a “gray tsunami,” which basically means 25 percent of the population will be over 65.
We began our nursing program to meet health care needs in Hawaii and far beyond our shores. Our program is unique in that it focuses on blending Hawaiian cultural values and traditions into the education. … We’ll continue expanding our nursing program to meet specific needs within our community, including primary care and caring for older adults.
Q: There are now about 1,180 undergraduates at Chaminade. Does enrollment remain steady?
A: We actually have three groups of students. We have traditional undergraduate 18- to 22-year-old students, many of whom live on campus, or live at home and commute. We have online students from all over the state as well as military who complete baccalaureate degrees online. And we have graduate students who come back to Chaminade — either through evening and weekend classes, online or a hybrid of the two — to hone their skills or learn new skills to be successful in their careers.
We would like to grow our undergraduate traditional student body considerably. Our goal is about 2,000 students. Graduate programs will continue to expand, as will our online programs. … We have just under 600 graduate students right now.
Q: In the works is an MBA program focusing on the health care sector?
A: In working with our health care partners — both providers of health care and the insurance industry — we recognized the need to produce leaders with a business background in health care. So we’re launching an MBA track in health care administration specifically to address that need.
Our graduate programs allow people in Hawaii to stay on-island, achieve their graduate degrees and either pivot in their careers or move into new fields.
Q: What does it mean to be a Marianist university?
A: Ensuring a student succeeds in meeting educational and career goals, while also nurturing her or his own personal growth and formation of faith so that each graduate is truly career-ready and poised to be a contributing member of the community.
Our faculty and staff work very hard with students to teach specific coursework. But what we’re actually doing is teaching students how to learn. … We don’t know what kind of jobs our graduates will have to choose from five years from now. Many of those jobs don’t even exist at this time.
What we do know is that graduates need to be good communicators. They need to be critical thinkers. They need to be able to work on teams. This is part of the broad-based liberal arts background that is central to a Marianist, Catholic institution.
Q: Chaminade attracts a lot of first-generation students?
A: The fact that about half our students are first-generation college students is a reflection of the community we live in here in Hawaii. We think it’s very important to offer opportunities for these students to achieve college degrees at home.
In addition to educational programming, we provide in-depth advising and mentoring from our faculty and staff .
… Local high school graduates from throughout Hawaii make up the majority of our undergraduates. However, we believe it’s important to provide local students the opportunity to live, learn and work with students from other places. So we do attract students from the mainland, primarily from the West Coast, and they add a rich diversity.
Q: What advice do you have for the next batch of incoming Chaminade students?
A: … I encourage people to step out of their comfort zone — be in a play, join an intramural team, join a club, get to know the other cultures on campus. This is a time, particularly for 18- to 22-year-olds, for growth and development. It’s a time to find yourself, find your calling. … To do that, students have to take risks. And the rewards for doing so will last a lifetime.
