FOCUS: Meet Alberta Pukahi, the Campus Security Captain

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Editor’s Note: FOCUS is a multimedia series that highlights the diversity and depth of our community through interviews and photographs.

When Alberta Pukahi first joined University of Hawaii campus security in 1987, she was one of only two women on the force.

Mindsets were different back then, she said. Female campus security officers were rare, and for a woman to rise to the rank of captain was unheard-of.

Despite the glass ceiling, Pukahi persevered. Today she is the first female campus security captain at UH. Pukahi, 52, of Kahuku, oversees a staff of about 40. About 25 percent are women.

Listen to her story:

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