The Bachelor’s and Master’s combined degree pathway between the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Hawaiian offers a cross-disciplinary approach to deepening understanding and appreciation of Hawai‘i’s cultural, land-use, and water management and history. It is a comprehensive, high-quality education in urban and regional planning based on a foundation of Hawaiian knowledge for undergraduate students in Hawaiian Studies who are interested in an applied career in urban and regional planning. The BAM pathway shortens the student’s time to degree completion to five years (4+1), earning both an undergraduate and graduate degree.

This proposed pathway addresses the BOR-approved UH mission to be a foremost indigenous-serving institution and reinforces the university’s uniqueness as a Hawaiian place of learning. Further, the pathway addresses the High-Performance Mission Driven System of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Strategic Directions (Action Strategy #3) to utilize and understand Hawaiian language and culture throughout the UH System, including through articulated programs of study as well as through informal learning. Lastly, it implements Ka Hoʻokō Kuleana Native Hawaiian Student Success action plan to increase the number of students who apply to and graduate from graduate and professional schools.

The BAM pathway builds upon an existing MOA that aims to build relationships between the two units with a focus on curriculum pathways by identifying a set of Hawaiian Studies courses in which DURP students can enroll with waived prerequisites.