Annie Thomas

Kapi‘olani Community College has a long, colorful history. Its solid reputation in culinary arts, hospitality, health services, liberal arts and business education, is sprinkled with delightful stories of campus moves, student and faculty successes, and classroom innovations. Established in 1946 while Hawai‘i was still a territory as Kapi‘olani Technical School, the school was administered by the Territorial Department of Instruction. Its first program was food service. By statehood in 1959, three additional programs were added: practical nursing, business education and dental assisting. The technical school realigned its programs and became part of the open door community college system of the University of Hawai‘i in 1965 and was renamed Kapi‘olani Community College (KCC). Originally located on the corner of Pensacola and Kapi‘olani Boulevard, KCC's enrollment grew rapidly during the 1970s. So rapidly, in fact, that the need to move to larger quarters became a priority. In 1974, the UH Board of Regents provided for a phased transition and transfer of the Pensacola programs to a new 52-acre campus located on the slopes of Diamond Head. Occupying five temporary renovated buildings once owned by Fort Ruger, KCC received the distinction of being the first two-campus college in the system. But KCC was turning heads for other reasons too. In 1976, Radiologic Technology instructors Roland Clements and Harry Nakayama developed a new hip x-ray technique which earned KCC national attention.