Senior Manager, Kumuwaiwai Center for Sustainability and Learning

The Senior Manager, Kumuwaiwai Center for Sustainability and Learning provides vision, leadership, and stewardship to ensure the Kumuwaiwai Center for Sustainability and Learning fulfills its purpose as a distinctive university asset advancing the mission of BYU–Hawaii.

Operating as a living laboratory, the Center uses experiential learning to teach agriculture, stewardship, entrepreneurship, business, innovation, and leadership. Utilizing principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the Hawaiian ahupuaʻa model of integrated resource management, the Center develops students into lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ and leaders prepared to strengthen their families, professions, communities, and the Church.

Reporting to the Academic Vice President, the Senior Manager establishes strategic direction and oversees educational programs, operations, personnel, and resources. The Senior Manager partners with faculty to align student experiences and internships with academic curricula, coordinates hands-on laboratory sections, and collaborates with the Polynesian Cultural Center and regional organizations to foster career-building partnerships throughout Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, and Asia.

What you’ll do in this position:

Project Management

• Strategic Leadership: Partner with the Academic Vice President to establish long-term strategies that advance the university's prophetic mission.
• Academic Integration: Collaborate with faculty to align hands-on student experiences, laboratory sections, and applied projects with academic curricula.
• Program Implementation: Design, coordinate, and execute the educational programs that undergird the Center’s operations.
• Resource Management: Manage programs, agricultural assets, and sustainability initiatives.
• Operational Compliance: Implement and ensure compliance with Center policies, procedures, and sustainability practices.
• Cultural Inclusion: Foster an inclusive learning and working environment that honors diverse cultures, promotes cultural awareness, and encourages deep engagement.
• Instruction: Teach university-level courses assigned by academic leadership.

Liaison and Community Engagement

• PCC Collaboration: Partner with the Polynesian Cultural Center to develop experiential learning opportunities that support the accomplishment of both the Center’s and the PCC’s strategy and purpose.

• Strategic Networking: Build and maintain collaborative relationships with local and Area leaders, organizations, and agricultural and voyaging communities that share a similar mission and purpose
• Career Pathways: Coordinate targeted student internships and mentorship opportunities that translate into meaningful careers throughout Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, and Asia.

Administrative and Operational Oversight

• Personnel Management: Recruit, hire, train, supervise, and mentor student employees
• and interns.
• Facilities Coordination: Schedule and coordinate the use of Center facilities, equipment, and resources.
• Financial Oversight: Manage invoicing processes for Center operations and prepare the annual budget for review by the Academic Vice President.
• Communications: Promote Center programs and sustainability initiatives across a variety of communication platforms and media.
• Training & Development: Create educational resources and training materials that support the center’s mission, strategy, and outcomes.
• Performance Monitoring: Establish sustainability metrics and monitor program performance to evaluate overall effectiveness. Provide regular updates to the Academic Vice President.
• General Duties: Perform other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualification & Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required in Sustainability, Environmental Science/Studies, Natural Resource Management, Agriculture, Marine Science, Education, Hawaiian Studies, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of experience developing, maintaining, or initiatives and educational programs related to the Center.

Preferred Experience

• Familiarity working with sustainability programs within a higher education setting.
• Expertise in ʻāina- based educational programming and community outreach.
• Proven experience with grant-funded programs, formal program assessment, and strategic
• planning.

Core Skills & Competencies

• Communication & Collaboration: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to work independently and cohesively in team settings.
• Relationship Building: Proven ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with students, faculty, staff, community partners, and Church stakeholders.