UH Announces Nominees for 2002 Governor's Awards for Distinguished State Service

University of Hawaiʻi

The University of Hawaiʻi recently announced its nominees for the 2002 Governor‘s Award for Distinguished State Service. Part of the state‘s employee recognition and incentive program administered by the Department of Human Resources Development, the awards honor the state‘s executive branch employees who exemplify the highest caliber of public service and dedication to serving the people of Hawaiʻi.

Each state agency makes a selection from among the agency‘s nominees to forward to the Governor. This year, the University of Hawaiʻi has nominated Donald Bourassa, Director of the Pacific Center for Advanced Technology Training (PCATT) at Honolulu Community College, for Employee of the Year. UH has also nominated IT Specialist Diana Chun and Human Resources Specialist Eric Tanigawa, both of the university‘s Office of Human Resources, for the Team Excellence Award of Merit.

Bourassa was nominated as Employee of the Year for creating, organizing and directing PCATT, which has become a major force in high technology acquisition and workforce development in the state of Hawaiʻi. Through his efforts, PCATT now offers a coordinated, streamlined, yet flexible and decentralized system for developing training programs for key technologies in Hawaiʻi, which will help Hawaiʻi become a leader in the industry.

Chun and Tanigawa were nominated for the Team Excellence Award of Merit for their creative collaboration in the design, development and successful implementation of the University‘s new electronic classification, compensation and performance evaluation systems for over 1,400 university Administrative, Professional, and Technical (APT) personnel. It is estimated that the systems they created saved the university $200,000-$350,000 in development costs.

The winners of the state awards will be announced at the Governor‘s Awards ceremony on October 4 at the State Capitol.