Keola's portrait superimposed over a snow-covered Mauna Kea, with the name 'Keola Donaghy' in gold lettering

greetings!

I am an Assistant Professor of Hawaiian Studies at Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Click on any of the links in the column to the left to read about my work. In addition to my teaching duties, I coordinate our college's media and technology initiatives. I'm responsible for many of the technical innovations that have strenthened the ability of Hawaiian speakers to use the language with new technologies, including working with Apple, Microsoft, Google and Netscape Communications on localization projects. You can find some of this work listed under "accomplishments", "presentations" and "papers" in the left hand column.

Outside of my work at the College, I am very active in the Hawaiian music community. I am the webmaster of NahenaheNet, a Hawaiian music news site, and have served as a DJ on Alana I Kai Hikina, a Hawaiian language radio program which is broadcast every Sunday evening on KWXX FM in Hilo.

I am a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences ("Grammy Awards") and serve on the Board of Governors of the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts ("Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards") and serve on the HARA Board of Governors. I am chair of the newsletter, digital media committees, and the haku mele committee that adjudicates the haku mele ("best new Hawaiian language composition") and Hawaiian language performance categories at our annua Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards each year. I've been nominated for four Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards (haku mele twice, engineering and liner notes once each).

I am a prolific haku mele (composer of Hawaiian language poetry). Some of my compositions have been recorded by such notable recording artists as Keali‘i Reichel, Kenneth Makuakāne, Mailani, Kainani Kahaunaele and O'Brien Eselu. My composition "Nā Hōkū Pio ‘Ole" was selected at the theme song for the 30th annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards.

I attended Kīhei Elementary and St. Anthony High School on Maui. Our family moved to Hilo in 1994 when I enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Hawaiian Studies in 1999, and Master of Arts in Hawaiian Language and Literature in 2003, both from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.In my MA thesis, I (written in Hawaiian) compared stress patterns in Hawaiian language as spoken and sung, by analyzing the compositions and musical performances of John Kameaaloha Almeida. I received a graduate certificate in Telecommunications and Information Resource Management (TERM) from UH Mānoa in 2000. I am finalizing my Ph.D. in Music (Ethnomusicology) at The University of Otago in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

In the summer of 2002, my wife and I travelled to Ireland to research the state of the Irish language and the programs working to perpetuate it. I documented this trip in a travel blog which is only available in Hawaiian. There are some nice pictures, however, for the ‘ōlelo-impared.