The largest school of indigenous studies in the nation will be created at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa with the UH Board of Regents' approval of the Hawai'inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.

A new dean will oversee the new school, which will consist of three existing units — the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, which is currently in the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies; Kawaihuelani Hawaiian Language Program, currently in the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature in the College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature; and Ka Papa Lo'i o Kanewai, which is currently located administratively within the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.

"As the sole public university in our state, the University of Hawai'i has a special responsibility to perpetuate the history and cultural heritage of Native Hawaiians," Kitty Lagareta, chairwoman of the Board of Regents, said in a statement. "... The school will play a critical role in strengthening opportunities for students and faculty engaged in these areas of study and research, and in fostering the dissemination of Hawaiian knowledge throughout the university, the state and beyond."

Denise Konan, interim chancellor at UH-Manoa, said the Hawaiian Studies 107 course has the largest enrollment on the Manoa campus.

The new school, Konan said, will "increase opportunities to acquire outside funding from state, federal and private sources."

The reorganization will take effect July 1, and faculty, staff and resources in the three units will be transferred to the new school.

The units will continue to offer their courses, degree programs and services.

Academic requirements for the existing degree programs — B.A. in Hawaiian, B.A. in Hawaiian Studies, M.A. in Hawaiian, and M.A. in Hawaiian Studies — will not change.

But the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies will be renamed the School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature will be renamed to the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature.

In other action, UH regents also approved a bachelor of arts degree in women's studies at Manoa beginning this fall.

Women's studies courses have been taught since the mid-1970s and the B.A. degree had been offered through the former Liberal Studies Program, which is now called Interdisciplinary Studies.

Since 2000, nearly two dozen students have graduated with a major in women's studies and 59 undergraduate certificates were awarded between 2000 and 2005.

The new degree is expected to attract 50 student majors within five years.