Master Class 2 Facilitator
Dr. M. Noe Noe Wong-Wilson is a Kanaka Maoli educator, cultural practitioner and native rights activist born and raised in Kailua, Koʻolaupoko on Oʻahu. She is married with three children and two grandchildren. Her families are from Maui and Hawaiʻi Island.
She is a graduate of Kamehameha School for Girls ʻ68 and left the University of Hawaiʻi after one year to work. After successful careers in the insurance field, hospitality industry and in government service, Noe Noe and her family spent 18 months sailing through the Pacific and immersing themselves in the culture and communities of small island nations. She returned to Hawaiʻi to coordinate the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education in Hilo, Hawaiʻi in 1999. This path led her back to the field of education and her accomplishments as a community organizer, educator and native rights activist. She recently retired as an Assistant Professor in Hawaiian Studies and Coordinator of the Hālaulani Transfer Success Center at Hawaiʻi Community College and serves as Executive Director of Lālākea Foundation, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to perpetuate Hawaiian Arts and Spirituality. Noe Noe also serves on several other community organizations and boards. She has organized numerous educational and cultural conferences and workshops in Hawaiʻi.
Her educational accomplishments include:
- Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Anthropology, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (2001)
- Master of Arts in Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Thesis title:
- “Paths Toward Creation of an Independent Hawaiian Nation, Ethnographies of Four Hawaiian Independence Leaders” with Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell, Mililani Trask, Keanu Sai and Bumpy Kanahele. (2006) Doctor of Philosophy, School of Maori and Pacific Development, University of Waikato, Aotearoa. Thesis title: “Native Hawaiian Well-Being at Hawaiʻi Community College: An Initiative for Academic Success”. (2016)