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Dr. Kū Kahakalau is a native Hawaiian educator, researcher, scholar, social entrepreneur, expert in Hawaiian language and culture, and the first person in the world with a Ph.D. in Indigenous Education. Over the past 40 years, Dr. Kahakalau has created multiple highly successful Hawaiian culture-based organizations, educational programs, schools, and institutions of higher learning empowering native Hawaiians to reach their highest potential. Her latest effort has centered on incubating EA Ecoversity, an incentivized culturally driven higher education and career training program for young native Hawaiians ages 15-30, which mandates that all learners practice aloha ʻāina — or love for the land. EA stands for Education with Aloha since Dr. Kahakalauʻs research validates aloha, or love and compassion as the most important factor in educating native Hawaiians of all ages.This webinar offers a way in to a deeper appreciation of the islands and their native inhabitants, by explicating the value of aloha (love, compassion, and kindness) and its importance not just in daily life in Hawai’i, but in education, research, and environmental stewardship. Specifically, this webinar will focus on the reciprocal relationship of respect and caring between native Hawaiians, our environment, and the spiritual world that has guided and shaped our worldview and our way of life since the beginning of time. Through Hawaiian cosmogonic genealogies, chants, traditional stories, and proverbs, Dr. Kahakalau will familiarize the audience with a part of Hawaiʻi, deeply rooted in native knowledge, traditions, and practices.