The University of Hawaiʻi Alumni Association honored five distinguished graduates who have used their education to excel professionally and provide service for the benefit of UH and the community. More than 500 UH alumni and friends recognized this year’s honorees at the UH Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner on May 13 at the Sheraton Waikīkī Hotel.
2015 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees
Ren Hirose (BBA ʻ85 UH Mānoa)
Hirose is the general manager of the W Scottsdale Hotel and has held leadership roles within Starwood Hotels for almost 30 years.
Jillian Inouye (BS ʻ66, MA ʻ80, PhD ʻ87 UH Mānoa)
Inouye serves as the associate dean for research for the Schools of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences and the Tony and Renee Marlon Angel Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Tom Shigemoto (BFA ʻ71 UH Mānoa)
Shigemoto is vice president of planning at A&B Properties, Inc. on Kauaʻi. He is involved with project planning, real estate and infrastructural development and residential and agricultural subdivision projects.
Stanford Yuen (BS ʻ66 UH Mānoa)
Yuen is principal of SLC Consulting, specializing in strategic engagement, engineering management and intergovernmental affairs with the congressional delegation, state, city, legislature, private businesses, special interest organizations and schools.
2015 UH Founders Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award honoree
Associate Justice Simeon Acoba, Jr. (ret.) (BA ʻ66 UH Mānoa)
Acoba was appointed to the Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi in May 2000. He served until his mandatory retirement age in 2014. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was an associate judge on the Intermediate Court of Appeals from 1994 to 2000, a circuit court judge from 1980 to 1994 and a per diem district court judge from 1979 to 1980. Acoba is a currently a lecturer at the UH Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law and a member of the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents.
