She educates and influences student learning in ways that require a strong degree of rigor and responsibility. One student described Keawe as one of the most motivating professors they have had throughout an entire college experience. She simultaneously demands that students perform at their optimal while she creates a positive learning environment with the highest level of respect. Keawe engages in high-impact teaching practices and experiential learning strategies to engage students and create opportunities for them to interrogate, integrate, apply and demonstrate their understandings of the course. Her diverse research provides a blend of Kanaka Maoli perspective, Hawaiian studies curriculum, political science theory, and aesthetics and identity. Steve Robinow