Chaminade sees ambitious expansion within reach

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

At Chaminade University of Honolulu, a summertime landscaping overhaul and some work on the water system doesn't even begin to convey the plans in store for this campus.

Chaminade President Sue Wesselkamper said the school wants to keep its small-college identity. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The number of first-year students has doubled in the last five years, from fewer than 600 students to an expected 1,000 this fall. Classroom space is taxed and the dorms are overflowing — so much that the campus had to rent an apartment complex across the street to house its full-time students. Donations are on the rise and the number of faculty members is expected to go from 90 to 100 in a few years as academic programs expand.

"We're a small college and that's what we want to be," said President Sue Wesselkamper. But even small colleges have to grow, she said.

Chaminade's plans for expansion are on the way to the Honolulu City Council for approval. A new dorm, library and technology center, student services building, administrative offices, a sports and fitness center and a pool — repeatedly requested by students — are on the long-term wish list that has manifested itself in an architectural model that sits inside the administration building.

Wesselkamper stands behind the model and leans down to its level. When she peers across the top of the tiny buildings and looks out the open doors of Freitas Hall toward the Pacific, she can see what the new Chaminade would look like from the tip-top of campus.

"In the last two years, fund-raising has been an increasing amount of our time," she said. "We've been soliciting individuals and foundations to help us with our facilities."

In the last three years, the school has added a conference center, physics lab and a distance-learning classroom. It renovated the Hale Hoaloha residence hall and the Silversword dining room, in addition to adding technology to older classrooms.

"If we hadn't had the increase in support in the last few years, none of this would have happened," said Timothy Dolan, director of development and institutional advancement. "It's a credit to the community. They're stepped up in ways that are very touching."

Alan Ohta lectures during his Biology 110 "Nature and People" class at Chaminade University. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

With a modest $4 million endowment, Chaminade officials cannot depend on their current assets or annual operating budget for new building projects. The new library and information center will cost an estimated $30 million. The dorm will cost $9 million. While dorm construction will start next May, the other buildings will have to come when the money arrives.

The turning point in fund-raising came two years ago when an anonymous $3 million gift came to the university.

"It's really been transformative," Wesselkamper said. "When people give money to a university our size it makes a very big difference."

The donation has allowed the university to start on its residence hall, and to do work on several classrooms and buildings on campus.

The only Catholic university in Hawai'i, Chaminade was founded in 1955 by the Society of Mary, an order dedicated to the education of leaders. The school is named after the founder of the Marianists, William Joseph Chaminade, a priest who worked to restore the Catholic faith in post-Revolution France.

Between the main Kaimuki campus and eight satellite locations on military bases, the school has as many as 2,700 students each semester.

"We really think our niche is as a small university giving lots of attention to students," Wesselkamper said. "They thrive in this environment. A lot of students discover themselves and how talented they really are."

With tuition at $12,600 a year, 85 percent of students at Chaminade receive some kind of discount or scholarship. Everyone who graduates from a Hawai'i high school receives an automatic $3,000 discount. Those who come from high school or a community college with high grade-point averages receive a $5,000 discount.

Maybelline Andon, 21, received her degree in business management at Chaminade and is working on a master's in human resource management there. She transferred from the College of Micronesia and chose Chaminade because of its size.

"I heard it was a small school," Andon said. "The teachers are very friendly and you get to know everybody in your class."

Gee Bing, 22, transferred from the College of the Marshall Islands after one semester.

"The professors are concerned. They do lots of tutoring. They have office hours," he said. "I came for the small campus."

The campus should become slightly more crowded in the next few years, though.

The school hopes for 1,500 full-time students by 2005.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at 525-8084 or e-mail her at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com