The Kapio Newspress

Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Profile

Media Credit: Sean Nakamura Pagotto, interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, holds office in a room filled with moose collectibles. She appreciates that her job allows her to "give support to see dreams come true."

Louise Pagotto is a can-do woman. "There are a lot of terrific ideas on campus. I like to help make them happen," she said. As the interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, she has worked to create faculty workshops in professional development and establish learning communities that encourage student engagement.

She credits her peers for these successes, saying, "I've enjoyed being able to play a role. I'm not the one person who makes it happen. Administration is about removing barriers."

A Canadian native, Pagotto's journey to Hawai'i began in Papua New Guinea, where she worked as a volunteer shortly after graduating from a Canadian university with a B.A. in English. It was there that she fell in love with the Pacific.

After five years, she returned to Montreal, where she earned her Master's degree in linguistics and proceeded to earn her doctorate in the same subject at the University of Hawai'i at M?noa, where she wrote her dissertation on the Marshallese language.

Pagotto returns home to Montreal every year-a trip that she times to coincide with the International Jazz Festival held in the city-but has been living in Hawai'i continuously since 1980. In 1989, she found a position at KCC teaching introductory English, linguistics and tutor training courses.

For Pagotto, working with students is the most satisfying part of being an educator. "It's the primary pleasure, opening windows on the world for students to look at, to look at the world in a different way," she admitted.

Though she no longer teaches regularly, Pagotto returns to the classroom three to four times a semester as a guest lecturer. She especially loves linguistics classes.

"Language is something everybody uses. We don't stop to think how it happens or how it changes," said Pagotto, "But language is fascinating. It's a class about something everyone can contribute to."

Continued...

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