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September, 2005 Vol. 30 No. 3
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Published September 2005

Partnerships Make a Difference You Can See and Hear

In Hong Kong, from left, UHAA Vice President Ren Hirose, McClain, Iris and alumnus Eddie Lam, Wendie McClain, alumnus Ananda R. Arawwawela

At UH, we embrace enthusiastically our responsibility to benefit both our students and the communities we serve. We strive to provide each student with a transformational educational experience, and we seek to insure that our state has the skilled workforce essential for future economic success in a climate of social health and social justice. As part of this process, we reach beyond our own community to afford students an opportunity to participate in an increasingly global society.

In June 2005, a number of UH chancellors, deans and faculty members joined Wendie and me on the trade mission led by Hawaiʻi Gov. Linda Lingle to China, where we intensified our decades-old collaborations with various institutions.

In Guangdong province, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the sister-state relationship with Hawaiʻi. We accompanied the governor to Zhongshan, ancestral home of many Chinese immigrants to Hawaiʻi and Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China. On behalf of UH, I signed a systemwide agreement covering business, tourism and culinary studies and student exchanges with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. We attended the Asia-Pacific architectural symposium at Tongji University co-hosted by Mānoa’s School of Architecture and walked down the red carpet at the Shanghai International Film Festival, where one of the eight finalists was The Land Has Eyes, a film by Mānoa Professor Vilsoni Hereniko. In Beijing we discussed expanding our ongoing relationships with Peking University and forged a relationship with the Oʻahu-sized Zhongguancun tech park.

As fascinating and memorable as these experiences were, the highlight of our trip was reconnecting with alumni and friends at functions in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Our graduates make significant contributions to their communities and have a great deal of aloha for the university where they spent some of their formative years. We’re most fortunate to have them, and you, as supporters of the University of Hawaiʻi.

David McClain
Interim President

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