I do not know what inspired my father’s interest in rocks. One of these days I’ll remember to ask my mother. All I remember is road trips to find rocks and minerals across the country in our station wagon when I was a child: native copper on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; agates at quarries along the Mississippi River; geodes and fossils in southern Illinois and a feldspar/schist combination known in non-politically-correct terms as “Chinese Writing Rock” in the California foothills. We would drive long distances down dusty roads to get to the perfect places to find the perfect specimens, and this was how we spent many of our family vacations. My father, who worked at a desk for his day job, enjoyed being out in the sun with a pick and shovel, awaiting discovery.
I had informal geology instruction early; I could recite Moh’s hardness scale when I was still in grade school. We also visited rock shops to buy specimens, and once we hiked to a “rock show” in the Diamond Head Crater, only to find that it was a rock show of a different sort. When I look at the dates, I think it probably was the first Diamond Head Crater Festival!
So on this Father’s Day, I find myself thinking about fathers and rocks. My father would be excited at the idea of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) building a regional office here on the UH Hilo campus. He had often told me that if he thought it had been an option, he would have studied geology instead of business, and I like to think that if he were still around, he would ask to audit courses here, and I imagine our weekly calls would be discussing the cool opportunities our students will have with that facility here on campus.
As the university on and of Hawai‘i Island, UH Hilo acts as an educational, cultural, and economic anchor for many activities, and partnerships such as those we have with the Hawai‘i Volcano Observatory and the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center extend far beyond the study of rocks as my father knew it. Volcanoes and our fragile island ecosystem are of interest to us all, from the Native Hawaiian spiritual, cultural, and intellectual connection to land and sea to the western scientific study of climate change, stewardship of natural resources, and how we must live to protect this place and our future in it. Thus, the partnership between UH Hilo and USGS can benefit many of our students and their eventual employers as they will be able to learn side-by-side with faculty and professionals working in the field, many of who are our own alumni.
This hands-on work is what sets UH Hilo apart from other universities. Our faculty design programs that embrace our natural surroundings, work in partnership with community, and strengthen our local students’ commitment to this place. For those who come from other places to learn, being here in the Hilo community and on Hawai‘i Island allows them to embrace these local island values and take them back home, extending our national and global reach. Students who were kids like me, learning citizen science with their parents or siblings, have opportunities to build upon that informal learning by working with scientists and other professionals and then by going back out into the field armed with more knowledge that complements what they have learned at home. This type of learning obviously takes place in our science classes, but also in the arts, the social and behavioral sciences, and in the professions.
When I became chancellor, a distant cousin remarked on social media that my father, who passed away in 2010, would have been proud of all I have accomplished in my career. While I am sure that is true, my father also raised me to be humble. He would be more proud of the work we do here at Hilo and my contribution to a university that does not just close itself off within an ivory tower, but that works with others, with humility and in true partnership, to improve our community and safeguard our island.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Your daughter still loves rocks.
Bonnie D. Irwin is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Her column appears monthly in the Tribune-Herald.
