Program Specialist

Salary: See Position Description
Location : UH Manoa, Honolulu, HI
Job Type: Full-Time Temporary
Job Number: 2026-02209
Department: University of Hawai'i at Manoa - CALL - Office of the Dean
Opening Date: 10/15/2026
Closing Date: 10/29/2026 11:59 PM Hawaii
Position Number:: 0097726T
Description
Title: Program Specialist

Position Number: 0097726T

Hiring Unit: Uehiro Program, College of Arts, Languages & Letters

Location: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Date Posted: October 15, 2026


Closing Date: October 29, 2026

Band: A

Salary :


Full Time/Part Time: Full-time

Month: 11-month

Temporary/Permanent: Temporary
Duties and Responsibilities:

• *Under the direction and guidance of the Director for Uehiro Program (Program), perform a wide variety of professional administrative duties to support the daily operation of the Program.
• *Serve as the primary operational point of contact for routine Program matters; answer or appropriately route Program inquiries from students, faculty, graduate assistants, University offices, and external partners.
• *Draft and manage professional correspondence in English and Japanese, including announcements, meeting materials, schedules, and follow-up.
• *Maintain an integrated calendar and tracking system for deadlines, events, award cycles, meetings, and reporting tasks; identify missing information or delays and initiate routine follow-up.
• *Carry out the Director's priorities, resolve routine scheduling, documentation, and coordination issues, and refer academic, policy, personnel, fiscal, or institutional matters to the Director.
• *Prepare agendas, briefing notes, meeting summaries, action lists, and concise status summaries for Director review.
• *Coordinate the Program's research, higher-education, outreach, and community-building initiatives, including p4c and other K-12 and school-based activities, involving Okinawa, Japan, East Asia, and the broader Asia-Pacific region, with particular attention to the Program's sustained Okinawa-related activities.
• *Support institutional exchanges, collaborative projects, visiting students and student groups, scholars and delegations, community relationships, and other partnerships by coordinating communications, meetings, itineraries, materials, logistics, and follow-up.
• *Maintain clear and culturally appropriate English-Japanese communication with collaborators including partner institutions and community groups.
• *Provide end-to-end coordination of approved conferences, lectures, workshops, symposia, cultural programs, public events and community initiatives from initial planning and setup through on-site execution and post-event evaluation.
• *Arrange event logistics, securing venues, travel arrangements, registration, guest hospitality, publicity, technical support, and vendor contracts to ensure seamless execution.
• *Serve as the primary operational contact for speakers, participants, students, volunteers, community participants, and partner organizations, ensuring task completion and delivering real-time support during events.
• *Administer the operational processes for the CALL Uehiro Dissertation Fellowship, student travel support, and graduate assistantships.
• *Process student applications, respond to applicant questions, collect evaluations, verify completeness, and organize records for selection.
• *Draft award communications, coordinate payment and appointment documents with University offices, monitor outstanding requirements, and collect recipient reports.
• *Maintain accurate and confidential student-support records.
• *Maintain organized Program files, contact lists, project histories, award records, reports, forms, correspondence, and digital archives.
• *Coordinate routine updates to the Program website and public communication materials in accordance with approved content priorities, permissions, and privacy requirements.
• *Maintain partner project histories, prepare summaries and route proposed commitments, agreements, or expenditures for approval by the director.
• *Gather data and narrative information to prepare bilingual summaries, annual-report content, and presentations.
• *Collect photos, attendance data, evaluations, and other documents for Program recording and reporting.
• Coordinate task assignments and work assignments for team members or student helpers as directed.
• Other duties as assigned.

* Denotes essential functions
Minimum Qualifications:

1. Possession of a baccalaureate degree in Education, Business Administration, Arts and Sciences, International Relations, or related field, and 1year of progressively responsible professional experience with responsibilities for academic program coordination, event planning or administrative support or any equivalent combination of education and/or professional work experience which provides the required education, knowledge, skills and abilities as indicated.
2. Functional knowledge of principles, practices and techniques in the area of academic program coordination, event planning and/or administrative support demonstrated by knowledge, understanding and ability to apply concepts, terminology.
3. Functional knowledge and understanding of principles, theories, federal and state laws, rules, regulations and systems associated with academic program coordination, event planning and/or administrative support.
4. Demonstrated ability to recognize problems, identify possible causes and resolve the full range problems that may commonly occur in the area of academic program coordination, event planning and/or administrative support.
5. Demonstrated ability to understand oral and written documentation, write reports and procedures, and communicate effectively in a variety of situations.
6. Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external organizations, groups, team members and individuals.
7. Demonstrated ability to operate a personal computer, apply word processing software, and use online collaboration, shared calendar, and presentation software.
8. Professional working proficiency in spoken and written English and Japanese to independently draft business materials, lead meetings, and communicate with external partners.
9. Understanding and applying Japanese cultural practices/norms in academic and other social contexts.
10. Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate with a variety of stakeholders and to coordinate multiple tasks while meeting required deadlines.
11. Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with faculty, students, community partners, and other stakeholders in support of program objectives.
12. Demonstrated ability to coordinate meetings, events, or program activities, including scheduling, logistics, and communications.
13. Ability and willingness to work occasional evenings or weekends and to travel when required for Program events and activities.
14. Ability to travel independently to various geographical locations in a timely manner. Requirement may be fulfilled by a valid Hawaii Driver's license (class 3), comparable driver's license, or other means of transportation, which meets position needs.

Desirable Qualifications:

1. Graduate degree in Education, Philosophy, Asian Studies, International Education, or a closely related field.
2. Experience supporting a university-based research, education, outreach, or international programs.
3. Experience with Okinawa and Japan within their East Asian and Asia-Pacific contexts, including cultural, historical, educational, institutional and collaborative contexts relevant to research, education, and community engagement.
4. Experience administering program operations, including coordinating application or selection processes, maintaining records, and communicating with participants.
5. Experience preparing, translating, or editing professional or academic materials in English and Japanese.
6. Experience with website content management, online forms, digital communications, reporting, or digital archiving.
7. Familiarity with University of Hawai'i administrative procedures or comparable higher-education systems.

To Apply:

Click on the "Apply" button on the top right corner of the screen to complete an application and attach the following required documents:

1. Cover letter indicating how you satisfy the minimum, supplemental minimum, and desirable qualifications.
2. Current resume.
3. Names and contact information (telephone number and email addresses) of three professional references.
4. Transcript(s) showing degrees and course work appropriate to the position (copies are acceptable; however, original official transcripts will be required prior to employment).

• Please redact references to Social Security numbers and birthdates on transcript copies.
• All requested documents/information will become the property of the University.
• All minimum qualifications must be met by the hire date.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• Failure to submit all required documents and reference information shall deem an application to be incomplete.

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Inquiries: Masato Ishida,

EEO, Clery Act, ADA
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