Jace Kaholokula Saplan

Dr. Jace Kaholokula Saplan is a Kanaka Maoli educator, thought leader, musician, and administrator whose work is rooted in Indigenous methodologies, cultural stewardship, culturally sustaining approaches to staff/faculty recruitment and retention, intersectional approaches to student mentorship, and transformative leadership in higher education.

Beginning in Fall 2024, Dr. Saplan began serving as the Senior Director of Identity and Belonging at Whitman College. In this role, he leads institutional initiatives that uplift and center students from systemically marginalized communities, and provides strategic oversight for the Identity and Belonging area and its staff, which includes the Glover Alston Intercultural Center, Religious and Spiritual Life, and the Queer Resource Center. He also directly oversees the Third Space Center, a hub dedicated to honoring the cultural wealth and lived experiences of students of color.

Prior to his time at Whitman, Dr. Saplan served as Associate Professor and as Assistant Professor and Coordinator for the School of the Arts at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, with dual appointments in music and teacher education. At these institutions, Dr. Saplan led initiatives focused on culturally responsive tenure and promotion pathways for faculty recruitment and retention, curriculum development in Hawaiian music education, Native teacher education, and Native language and cultural preservation and acquisition through STEM/STEAM K-12 classrooms.

Dr. Saplan holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Miami, an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Equity, Ethics, and Justice from Concordia University, an M.M. from the University of Oregon, and a B.A. in Hawaiian Music from the University of Hawaiʻi. He was also a recipient of the Obama Foundation’s Asia Pacific Leader Fellowship and the Edward Bouchet Society Fellowship.