Campus News
- Kapiʻolani: Natural science degree
- Leeward: First international grad
- Maui: Student housing opens | Essay nets bronze
- West Oʻahu: First freshmen | Elementary BEd | Campus development
- Hilo: Model UN honors
- Mānoa: Charter Day Signing | Climate Commission | Law news | Asian Partnerships | Astronomy wish | Winning 4-H project | Planning program accredited
- System: Updated seal | Regents’ Medal | Accreditation reaffirmed | Technology center
Groundbreaking gradute honored for pioneer treatment
Alice Augusta Ball (MS ’15), the first woman and first African American to earn a master’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi, was posthumously awarded the Regents’ Medal of Distinction.
The chemist extracted active agents in chaulmoogra oil that were used to treat Hansen’s disease around the world until sulfone drugs provided a cure in the 1940s.
Ball passed away at the age of 24 in 1916. A plaque in her honor marks a chaulmoogra tree near Bachman Hall.
topNatural science associate prepares students for STEM majors
Kapiʻolani Community College’s new associate in science degree in natural science prepares community college students to transfer to four-year institutions majoring in the STEM disciplines—science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In March 2007, Kapiʻolani dedicated its newly renovated STEM Center to encourage hands-on learning in a state-of-the-art facility. The center offers tutoring, peer mentoring, tablet PC and desktop computer support and educational resources. The STEM program was initiated in 2005 with a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
See the STEM website for more information.
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Leeward celebrates first international alum
After earning an associate’s degree in liberal arts from Leeward Community College in December 2006, Japan-native Yuriko Watanabe admits there were times she was so frustrated that she wanted to run away. "I am very fortunate to have many friends here, and I would not have been able to accomplish what I have without a lot of help," says Watanabe, one of the first five international students to enroll in the campus’s English Language Institute and the first to graduate.
The institute, which provides English instruction and orientation in American and Hawaiian culture, now enrolls more than 70 students from 20 countries in credit and noncredit courses. Watanabe plans to major in psychology at Mānoa.
To learn more see the English Language Institute website.
topNew housing opens at Maui
Maui Community College’s new student housing facility, Kūlanaaʻo, opens in fall 2007. The four-story building will accommodate 400 students in fully furnished two-bedroom, two-bath apartment units.
For information, call 808 270-9130 or see the Kūlanaaʻo website..
topStudent essayist earns bronze in national competition
Lanaʻi High School junior and Maui Community College Upward Bound participant Constantine Bolo won a bronze medal in the 2006 TRIO Quest national competition for his photo essay Sweetheart Rock.
To view a list of winners and see the photo essay at the TRIO Quest awards website.
topWest Oʻahu admits its first freshmen
After three decades as an upper division campus, the University of Hawaiʻ–West Oʻahu admits its first freshmen in fall 2007. The four-year baccalaureate program will offer 16 classes for freshmen the first semester and 30 classes in fall 2008.
More information at the prospective student website.
topElementary education is focus of new bachelor’s degree
The University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu has launched a new bachelor of education in elementary education.
The program is enrolling both freshman and transfer students. For information, see the program website.
topWest Oʻahu campus development project advances
Hunt Building Corporation signed a letter of intent to purchase 298 acres of the university’s Kapolei site, providing $100 million toward construction of the first phase of the new University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu campus on the remaining 202 acres.
For plans and updates, see the project website.
topHilo student delegation wins United Nations Honors
The University of Hawaiʻ at Hilo student team won the Distinguished Delegation designation at the National Model United Nations Conference in late March.
Read the news release.
topCharter Day celebrates centennial of historic signing
Women’s Campus Club hosted high tea in March to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of Act 24, which created the University of Hawaiʻi as the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawaiʻi.
Retired Windward Community College Professor and three-time Women’s Campus Club President Jacqueline Maly, with microphone, played the role of industrial art Instructor Minnie Chipman, a founding member of the initial women’s club.
Others portraying early faculty and supporters included (from left) Mānoa Chancellor Denise Eby Konan as domestic economics Instructor Agnes Hunt, Wendie and UH President David McClain as Mr. and Mrs. John Gilmore and Windward Theatre Manager Tom Holowach as newspaper editor Wallace Rider Farrington.
topClimate Change Commission established
Mānoa launched a Climate Change Commission to foster multidisciplinary research and public outreach on the environmental, economic, legal, engineering and social implications of climate change locally and internationally. It will also monitor and recommend strategies to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions.
Commission members include faculty experts in environmental law, civil and environmental engineering, zoology, oceanography, architecture, economics, philosophy and natural energy. More at the UH Mānoa website.
topLaw Updates: Innocence project launched; certificate adds Native Hawaiian focus
Faculty and students inthe University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law are working to exonerate wrongfully convicted inmates as part of the Hawaiʻi Innocence Project. The school received $3,500 from the Hawaiʻi Justice Foundation to work with members of the California Innocence Project. The 25 cases being examined involve inmates convicted of serious crimes, including rape and murder, and facing long sentences.
Law students pursuing the Pacific-Asian legal studies certificate at the William S. Richardson School of Law can now specialize in Native Hawaiian law. The Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law offers courses in Native Hawaiian rights, repatriation and identity, as well as Federal Indian Law.
topUniversity expands Asia partnerships
The University of Hawaʻi at Mānoa has expanded Asia partnerhips in educating professionals three ways.
- The campus launched the Inter-University Center in Hanoi in conjunction with Hanoi University. The center serves as a venue for workshops, conferences and seminars and advises Vietnamese students and scholars wishing to study at UH campuses.
- To prepare employees for the rapidly growing tourism industry in Singapore and Southeast Asia, Mānoa’s School of Travel Industry Management will offer an undergraduate degree through Temasec Polytechnic community college in Singapore starting in 2009.
- Students in Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business and China’s Sun Yat-Sen University will be able to attend either university while pursuing a two-year MBA starting in fall 2007.
Girl’s astronomy wish comes true
A Texas girl’s Mauna Kea wish came true in October 2006 when she got to meet her idol, Gemini Observatory astronomer and University of Hawaiʻi alumnus Chad Trujillo.
Nine-year-old Paige Gonzalez and her family received a personal presentation from Trujillo and gifts from the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center, Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, including the Women’s Adventures in Science book series featuring UH alumna astronomer Heidi Hammel.
The visit was made possible by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Institute for Astronomy’s Science Education and Public Outreach Office.
topUH honors: Kauaʻi 4-H student, law team, band, journal
Determined to bring cheer to a drab Salvation Army dining hall, Kauaʻi High School junior Kendra Kawamura secured a grant from the University of Hawaiʻi’s 4-H program in Kealakekua and went to work.
She developed a blueprint, supply list, recruitment brochure, PowerPoint presentation and training manual, and then enlisted school and church youth groups to help create monthly themed decorations. She was named Hawaiʻi’s top youth volunteer for 2007 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.
Other recent UH-related honors include:
- Top honors in the 2007 National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition for UH Mānoa’s Scott Hovey Jr. and Anosh Yaqoob.
- National honors from the College Band Directors National Association for UH Mānoa’s Marching Band. Only five bands in the country were so recognized.
- Design excellence recognition from the American Association of University Presses’ 2007 Book, Jacket and Journal Show for Mānoa: A Pacific Journal, published by University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Urban and regional planning master’s program reaccredited
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s master of urban and regional planning degree program was reaccredited through 2013, the longest term possible, by the Planning Accreditation Board.
topUH seal gets centennial update
The University of Hawaiʻi System has updated its seal to provide a modernized look that is more readable in today’s print, electronic and product applications. Accompanying the updated seal is a long-needed graphics standards manual.
The intricate official seal, adopted in 1921 and amended in 1946, will continue to appear on the most formal documents, such as diplomas. Developed for everyday use by Windward Community College designer Bonnie Beatson in conjunction with External Affairs and University Relations, the updated seal can be used in campus-specific colors—gold for UH System, green for Mānoa, red for Hilo, purple for Kauaʻi Community College and so on.
More information at the graphics guide website.
topUH Community colleges accreditation reaffirmed
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges has reaffirmed accreditation for all seven University of Hawaiʻi community colleges.
topInformation technology center planned
The University of Hawwaiʻi Information Technology Center received $1 million in planning funds. The Mānoa-based center will provide 24-hour support systemwide and house a new emergency operations center.
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