UH Mānoa Professor Niklaus Schweizer recognized for community service

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Kymber-Lee Char, (808) 956-9437
Public Information Officer, External Affairs and University Relations
Diane Chang, (808) 956-0391
Director of Communications, Chancellor's Office
Posted: Jun 20, 2011

Niklaus Schweizer
Niklaus Schweizer
HONOLULU, HAWAIʻI – Niklaus Schweizer, a professor in the College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, has been named the recipient of the 2011 Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community Service. The Clopton award annually recognizes a UH Mānoa faculty member who has played a socially significant role by applying intellectual leadership and academic expertise to the improvement of the community.
 
Schweizer has exhibited excellence in teaching, research and service for over 40 years in the field of German language and literature. His deep and unwavering commitment to his scholarship and its multiple intersections with the communities of Hawai‘i give testament to his extraordinary record of service. Eight of his published books focus on the interaction of Europeans in the Pacific with the Hawaiian people, and a future publication will focus on individual Caucasians in support of the Hawaiian monarchy at the end of the 19th century. He has written in Swiss, German, English and Hawaiian languages and shares a vast knowledge and expertise as a historian of Hawaiian and European history.
 
Through sustained and broad-based contributions to the community, Schweizer has been exemplary in applying his historical and linguistic expertise and intellectual leadership toward improved relations among the Hawaiian, academic and diplomatic communities. He is regarded by the Friends of ‘Iolani Palace as a living cultural treasure of the islands and the Royal Order of Kamehameha honored Schweizer as an “Honorary Ali‘i” in the Most Noble Royal Order of Kamehameha I, an honor extended to few men not of Hawaiian ancestry and based on outstanding service to the Hawaiian community.
 
Schweizer will be recognized for his achievements along with other UH award recipients at the annual Convocation ceremony to be held Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 10 a.m. at Kennedy Theatre on the UH Mānoa campus. The ceremony is open to the public at no charge, and no reservations are needed.