Department of Education, Culture & Society

Kēhaulani Vaughn (Kanaka Maoli) received her doctorate from the University of California at Riverside. Her educational background also includes graduate degrees from UCLA in Higher Education and Asian American Studies and a concentration in American Indian Studies. Her current research explores Pacific Island Studies, Indigenous epistemologies, Indigenous education, and decolonial practices and pedagogies. She has taught numerous college courses including: Pacific Islander Education, Decolonial Education, Race and Ethnicity in the United States, Indigeneity in Hawai’i, Community Studies, Community Health, Native American Studies and Research Methodology.

Recently, Dr. Vaughn served as an Associate Dean at Pomona College and a visiting professor at the Claremont Colleges. All courses taught at the Claremonts have worked in collaboration with the Saturday Tongan Education Program (STEP). STEP is a tutoring and mentoring program for Tongan youth and families in the Inland Empire. Before returning for her doctorate, Dr. Vaughn worked professionally at UCLA as an Academic Advisor for undergraduate and graduate students and also coordinated a federally-funded Student Support Services program. She is a nationally recognized speaker and scholar on higher education and Pacific Islander education and consults for numerous organizations including the Gates Millennium Scholarship Fund, Asian Pacific American Scholarship Fund and Tribal TANF. Her passion around higher educational access especially amongst Pacific Islanders and other Indigenous communities led her to become a co-founder and current board member of Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC). Working with others in EPIC, she developed and facilitated the EPIC Scholars program, currently known as Pacific Islander Leaders of Tomorrow (PILOT) program, which is a culturally relevant leadership development program that addresses the retention and persistence of Pacific Islander college students.