David K. Sing Joins the National Council on the Humanities

David Kekaulike Sing (Native Hawaiian), Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaiʻi Hilo and managing partner at Educational Prism, LLC, was sworn in last week as a new member of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ advisory board, the National Council on the Humanities.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Sing to NEH’s National Council on the Humanities,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “A trailblazer of Native Hawaiian education, Sing has shown us the transformative power of pedagogies and curricula that incorporate students’ cultural and linguistic experiences and values. We look forward to his contributions as an advisor on NEH’s grantmaking.”  

Sing was nominated to the National Council on the Humanities by President Joe Biden in July 2023 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2023.

The 26-member National Council on the Humanities meets three times a year to review grant applications and to advise the NEH chair. National Council members serve staggered six-year terms. Sing will join the next meeting of the National Council of the Humanities in March 2024.

David Kekaulike Sing, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaiʻi Hilo and a managing partner at the educational consulting company, Educational Prism, LLC.  Sing designed education models for K–12 and higher education aligned with the history, culture, language, and experiences of Native Hawaiian students. These models—which Sing implemented as director of K-12 programs at Nā Pua No’eau, and at the college level through the Ke Ola Mau Health Pathways, Hawaiian Leadership Development Program—have been recognized for raising student’s achievement and aspiration levels and have been adopted and replicated by Indigenous communities across the United States and Canada.

At the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, Sing formed a council of faculty and staff to create campus policy and practices for increasing the enrollment, retention and graduation of Hawaiian students.  The University of Hawaiʻi adopted and created a University System-wide Council replicating the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s model.

He was founder and first president of the Native Hawaiian Education Association, which creates venues for teachers and community members throughout Hawaiʻi to advocate and network for improving the education of native Hawaiians.

Sing was the first Native Hawaiian elected to the board and was vice president of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA). He was awarded the National Indian Education Association Educator of the Year Award in 2008 and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. In 1991 and 2009 he received the Native Hawaiian Education Award for his contributions to the achievement and educational enrichment of Native Hawaiian children. Sing received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Claremont University in California.

National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.