{"id":149152,"date":"2021-10-05T11:05:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=149152"},"modified":"2021-10-05T11:05:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:05:20","slug":"in-memoriam-nancy-carolyn-alpert-mower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/05\/in-memoriam-nancy-carolyn-alpert-mower\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: English instructor Nancy Carolyn Alpert Mower, celebrated keiki author"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Howard
Nancy Mower and husband, late 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Biochemistry Professor Howard Frederick Mower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like water to a fern, the knowledge and guidance kumu (teachers) instill within their haum\u0101na (students) can provide life-changing inspiration. Former colleagues and students of University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa<\/a> English instructor Nancy Carolyn Alpert Mower<\/strong> say it\u2019s the kind of connection she shared with so many around her.<\/p>\n

“Nancy was a committed and careful teacher, an active participant in department life, and a respected colleague,” said Georganne Nordstrom<\/strong>, 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa English Department associate chair.<\/p>\n

Glenn Man<\/strong>, an English professor at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa recalls her positive spirit. “I don’t think I ever saw her in a bad mood; she was always upbeat and smiling, just a good person to be around.”<\/p>\n

Mower, 88, died in July, but even as loved ones lament, they also relish her contributions to literacy in Hawaiʻi<\/span>. Mower\u2019s teaching career at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa began after she earned a master\u2019s degree in English from the university in 1985. Her love of teaching was shared with her late husband, Professor Howard Frederick Mower<\/strong>, a respected bio-chemist who taught at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> for nearly 50 years and helped mold hundreds of Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s doctors.<\/p>\n

“Nancy regularly taught in the English department\u2019s First Year Writing and Introductory Literature programs, and was one of the founders of the Biennial Conferences on Literature and Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s Children<\/a>, securing and administering National Endowment for the Humanities grants to support the conference,” said Nordstrom. “Nancy went on to direct the conference three times and helped to establish Children’s Literature Hawaiʻi<\/span> as a non-profit organization.”<\/p>\n

Mower, a Colorado-native, was intrigued by Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s host culture. She became determined to write stories for keiki after discovering her own children weren\u2019t learning about Hawaiian ancestral knowledge and traditions.<\/p>\n

“She was appalled by the absence of exposure to Hawaiian culture in those schools,” said Carol Ioane<\/strong>, the eldest of Mower\u2019s four children and a 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa elementary education alumna. “She felt the need to contribute to a body of literature that could be utilized as a vehicle for sharing the beauty and vitality of the Hawaiian culture, at the elementary school level. Her hope was that through these stories, students would be motivated to further research the richness of the Hawaiian culture on their own.”<\/p>\n

\"hokulea\"
Hōkūleʻa<\/span> (Photo credit: ʻŌiwi<\/span> TV<\/abbr>, photographer Jason Patterson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her children recall Mower being an avid researcher, immersing herself in readings that detailed the vibrance of Hawaiian culture and the richness of Hawaiian intelligence. She would go on to publish seven children\u2019s books such as Sugar Cane Magic<\/em>, I 糖心Vlog官方 T\u016bt\u016b<\/em> and Grandma and T\u016bt\u016b\u2019s Stories<\/em>. Mower also authored works for keiki based on voyaging canoe H\u014dk\u016bleʻa<\/span>, which detailed traditional Hawaiian aspects of its navigation methods. She used those works to help develop, Polynesian Seafaring Heritage<\/em>, a series of four books and curriculum formed for elementary schools based on the H\u014dk\u016bleʻa<\/span>. Her desire to write about Hawaiian knowledge wasn\u2019t only limited to keiki. Mower also published an assortment of culturally based short stories and academic articles.<\/p>\n

糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa English Professor Kristin McAndrews<\/strong> attended graduate school with Mower in the 1980\u2019s and later as colleagues co-wrote a literacy development course for the Hawaiʻi<\/span> State Department of Education. “Nancy was delightful, kind, focused and determined,” McAndrews recalls. “Her stories of childhood, her family and her husband were poignant and beautifully written.”<\/p>\n

Commitment to uplifting haum\u0101na<\/h2>\n

Aside from teaching, Mower helped support aspiring students monetarily. She started a women\u2019s studies scholarship<\/a> at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Hilo in memory of her late sister, Barbara.<\/p>\n

In 2001, Mower retired from 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa but continued teaching as a volunteer at the university. “She witnessed firsthand the struggles that many 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa freshmen experienced in English 100,” Ioane explained. “She knew that without a strong foundation in English, further collegiate studies would be extremely difficult for them. As she aged, she began working more at the night school for continuing education.”<\/p>\n

N\u0101 liko (buds) spring forward<\/h2>\n
\"Mower
The Mowers with their kids and grandchildren. Daughter, Carol (far right), Granddaughter, Keahialaka (blue and pink dress).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her commitment to shaping students inspired former pupils and loved ones to become kumu. Ioane followed Mower and has taught for the past 35 years, a majority as a Hawaiian immersion school teacher. Several grandchildren also took up careers in education. Others, like granddaughter Keahialaka Ioane<\/strong>, who is pursuing a master\u2019s degree in Hawaiian Studies at 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, emulate Mower\u2019s passion for writing.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old is preparing to produce a documentary on respected Hawaiian activists on Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island during the Hawaiian renaissance of the 1970s. “I became aware of a kuleana I may have in this specific field because these stories are sensitive and their characters are equally fading fast and highly protective of their stories,” Ioane said.<\/p>\n

Mower\u2019s ʻohana has set up a remembrance page online<\/a> for haum\u0101na and colleagues to share stories and recollections.<\/p>\n

This work is an example of 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goals of Enhancing Student Success<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>) and Becoming a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), two of four goals identified in the 2015\u201325 Strategic Plan<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mower is remembered for instilling inspiration within her students and colleagues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[342,756,1466,1465,9],"class_list":["post-149152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-english","tag-in-memoriam","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-manoa-native-hawaiian-place-of-learning","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149152"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149173,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149152\/revisions\/149173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}