Blog Post

In this heartfelt reflection on the SCUP 2025 Annual Conference, keynote speaker Alapaki Nahale-a shares seven guiding values that can transform higher education planning—calling on the SCUP community to lead with purpose, connection, and collective responsibility. These principles offer a powerful foundation for shaping a more inclusive, resilient, and values-driven future in higher education.

Dear President Moss, Conference Chair Umashanker, members of the Council, and the entire SCUP community,

Please accept my deepest appreciation for the invitation to serve as the keynote speaker at your 2025 Annual Conference last week in Hawaiʻi. I was honored by the opportunity and humbled to be part of your gathering in such a meaningful way.

Beyond the professionalism of the event, I was deeply moved by the sincerity and warmth of everyone I encountered. The thoughtful, caring environment you created and upheld reflects a truly unique and special community. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the privilege of delivering keynote addresses on several occasions, but I have never felt as welcomed or appreciated as I did by your members.

In preparing my keynote, I felt compelled to understand the heart of SCUP—a diverse and dynamic network—and to consider what message might resonate most deeply. Through my conversations with your team and my reading about your organization, one idea kept rising to the surface: the future of higher education is in your hands.

Given the current state of higher education and society’s growing reliance on it to help meet the challenges we face, this is no small assertion. The more I reflected on it, the more convinced I became. Integrated planning is not just the best path forward for higher education; it may well be the only one. And SCUP is uniquely positioned to lead this effort.

To offer such a bold proposition, especially to a community I did not yet know well, was a risk. But I was heartened to discover that you were more than ready, not only to consider this idea, but to embrace it. I was genuinely touched by the personal reflections so many of you shared with me throughout the conference: in hallway conversations, meeting rooms, and at meal tables. More than fifty of you took time to express how the keynote resonated with you and, more importantly, what you planned to take forward from it.

I’ve never before witnessed a community so focused on what’s possible and so committed to action. One of my greatest takeaways from the conference is that SCUP is composed of remarkable individuals and organizations who care deeply about higher education and the greater good. You recognize the value in one another and in your shared practice. What sets SCUP apart is not ego or self-congratulation, but a grounded confidence in the power of your work, shaped by experience and results. Your community is dedicated, compassionate, and powerful. It is truly a beautiful thing.

During my time with you, I saw and felt these values in action. Regardless of the terms we use, embedding these principles—strategically, systemically, and relationally—can transform higher education. I can think of no better organization or community to carry this vision forward than SCUP.

At the conference, I asked you to reflect on three core questions:
What is higher education?
Who is it for?
Why does it matter?

Higher education needs a shared, unified response to these essential questions. The values you choose to elevate will guide us toward those answers, together.

The future of higher education is in excellent hands with you.

I hope everyone returned home safely, carrying a bit of aloha with you. The aloha you extended to me has filled my heart and renewed my hope for the future. Mahalo a nui loa.

O wau no me ka ha’aha’a,
Alapaki Nahale-a