Vince Okada-Coelho Ph.D., MPPM

College of Health and Society - School of Social Work

Assistant Professor of Social Work

Biography

Dr. Vince Okada-Coelho is deeply committed to community development with a focus on diversity, well-being, and social justice for Japan, Hawaiʻi, and the Asia-Pacific region. He shares these principle missions along with the goal of expanding youth leadership, international education, and the field of indigenous knowledge including identity formation and resurgence and sustainable community development.

Dr. Okada-Coelho completed his Ph.D. in social welfare at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Dr. Okada-Coelho also holds a master’s degree in international public policy and management from the University of Southern California and bachelor degree in education from Montclair State University of New Jersey. He has also participated in intensive leadership and social change programs, including the East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program, the Institute for Humane Society’s Social Change Workshop at Brown University. Dr. Okada-Coelho serves as a council leader of the U.S.–Japan Council and is an editorial advisor of the Journal of Indigenous Social Development (https://ucalgary.ca/journals/indigenous-social-development). His interdisciplinary research focuses on Japan’s indigenous people, the Ainu, their welfare, and related policy issues. His article, “The Plight of Ainu, Indigenous People of Japan” was published in the Journal of Indigenous Social Development. (https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/21976/v1i1_02okada.pdf).

Expertise/Interests

Education and Policy related to Indigenous Peoples and Diversity, Youth Empowerment, Social Work Education and Professional Development in Japan, Community Engagement and Development, Program Management & Evaluation, International Social Work, Inter-Cultural Training