Program Overview

Public service professionals spend their careers finding solutions to the everyday problems that affect their communities. As a part of the College of Social Sciences at UH Mānoa, PUBA offers a comprehensive foundation in public administration while emphasizing interdisciplinary learning, collaborative teaching, and a learning community experience to provide students with the skills and values necessary to build public service leadership.

Mission and Values

Our mission is to equip those with public and community responsibilities in Hawaiʻi, the U.S. Mainland, and the Asia-Pacific region with the knowledge and skills needed to adapt to changing public service environments and to work collaboratively to solve problems.

We achieve this in a manner informed by the traditions, cultural sensitivity, and inclusiveness special to Hawaiʻi, enabling our graduates to provide leadership and improve communities wherever they serve. Through teaching, research, and service, we aim to give current and future public service professionals the knowledge and skills they need to be effective leaders in a diverse and globalizing world.

We emphasize the following public values, closely linked to our mission.

  1. Effective: Knowledge and skills necessary for public service.
  2. Adaptive: Willingness and ability to adapt to changing public service environments.
  3. Collaborative: Listening to and working with others is critical to success.
  4. Sensitive and Inclusive: Awareness of and sensitivity toward the traditions and the inclusive culture and environment.
  5. Responsible: Social/global/personal responsibility and to navigate, and lead, in diverse, multi-cultural environments.