Campus News
- Common book spurs community read-along
- Honorary degrees awarded to three in 2004
- Maui center gives 101 degrees. . . from three campuses
- Astronomy Education Center construction blessed
- Tuition is lower than many parents think
- Second chance to view Okinawa treasures
- Maui trio performs in Scotland Fringe Festival
- Alumni designers promote edgy dressing with Acid Dolls
- Doctoral candidate scientist is Cherry Blossom queen
- New certificates offered in peace, disability studies
- Accreditation news
- Farm partnership helps Leeward families
- Donors make gift of knowledge in Honor with Books
- Gift completes Glen Grant memorial scholarship
- Update: logo consideration moves forward
- Regents’ medals for teaching and research excellence
Common book spurs community read-along
Imagine the potential discussions if an entire community reads the same book at the same time. Windward Community College Librarian Brian Richardson has, and he invites campus and community to read Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal this fall.
The book details how food industry trends have reshaped the nation’s diet, landscape, economy and workforce. Anyone can attend public events expanding on themes in the book; students can earn one humanities credit.
The common book concept is Otterbein College’s way of building community among incoming students, and it has been used at an American Library Association conference and by the entire city of Chicago.
For information on Windward’s program, email richards@hawaii.edu or visit the Common Book program page.
topHonorary degrees awarded to three in 2004
The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents conferred honorary doctors of humane letters on three community leaders during May commencements. Maui Land and Pineapple CEO and former AOL executive David Cole was recognized at UH Mānoa. Pacemaker developer and UH Hilo benefactor Earl Bakken was recognized in Hilo. Successful small businessman Charles Nishioka was recognized at Leeward Community College. More at the Board of Regents’ page.
topMaui center gives 101 degrees. . . from three campuses
Where can you get diplomas from three universities in one ceremony? The UH Center on Maui presented 87 bachelor’s and 14 graduate credentials in May.
Students studied at Maui Community College’s Kahului campus and education centers at Hāna and on Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. Among the most popular degrees—bachelor’s in education and master’s in accounting from Mānoa, bachelor’s in business from West Oʻahu and bachelors’ in marine science and computer science from Hilo. UH also has University Centers on Kauaʻi and in West Hawaiʻi.
topAstronomy Education Center construction blessed
Exhibits, hands-on activities and observatory open houses marked the construction site blessing for the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center on June 30, 2004 in Hilo’s University Park of Science and Technology. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaiʻi Mayor Harry Kim and NASA representatives joined UH officials to celebrate the $28 million, 40,000-square-foot center, which is expected to open in 2005.
Hilo also blessed the renovated North Hawaiʻi Education and Research Center—classrooms, computer labs and offices in the old Honokaʻa Hospital—in August.
topTuition is lower than many parents think
Many Hawaiʻi parents greatly overestimate the cost of UH tuition. In a survey by UH’s GEAR UP, 202 high school parents from low-income communities pegged Mānoa undergraduate tuition at about $23,000 a year, nearly seven times the actual cost of $3,312 for residents. The estimate for UH community college tuition was $19,000, 17 times the actual $1,080 bill.
Hawaiʻi isn’t alone; nationally, parents and students overestimate tuition at public four-year universities at twice the actual cost.
GEAR UP, which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, is a federally funded local collaboration working to prepare students for college. Project Director Susan Kanagawa calls on everyone—students, parents, teachers, community members, local businesses and government—to provide high school students and their families with positive, accurate information about college, including tuition costs, admissions, financial aid and the benefits of a college degree.
For information, visit the GEAR UP website or call 808-956-3879 or toll-free at 1-866-808-GEAR (4327).
topSecond chance to view Okinawa treasures
Missed Hamilton Library’s Treasures of Okinawa exhibit? A bilingual look at the Frank Hawley Collection is now available online thanks to the efforts of library and information sciences graduate student Yoko Kudo, Mānoa library staff and a Center for Japanese Studies National Resource Center grant. See it at the library’s Asia Reference site.
topMaui trio performs in Scotland Fringe Festival
Maui Community College faculty members Vinnie Linares, Ginny Morgan and Alf Wolf shared different takes on history at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest arts festival, in August.
Linares, an English professor, played Damien, Aldyth Morris’s one-man play about the Belgian priest who served the Molokaʻi leper colony during the 19th century.
Husband and wife duo Morgan and Wolf played Johann Sebastian Bach’s "Coffee Cantata," a musical satire about the days when coffee was illegal, on cello and viola da gamba, "Bach is one of the most 'mathematical' composers," says Morgan. The couple demonstrates the relationship between math and music at the campus each semester.
Visit the Scotland Fringe Festival festival website.
topDoctoral candidate scientist is Cherry Blossom queen
Honolulu’s 2004 Cherry Blossom queen, Meredith Tsutayo Kuba, is also an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists scholar.
The 26-year-old Punahou School graduate is pursuing a PhD in chemistry, working on advanced hydrogen storage materials with a UH Mānoa research team headed by Professor Craig Jensen that is seeking efficient energy alternatives to oil.
topNew certificates offered in peace, disability studies
UH Mānoa now offers an undergraduate certificate in peace studies through the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in disability and diversity studies through the College of Education.
topAccreditation news
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges extended UH Hilo’s accreditation through 2014, commending the campus for its bold vision in serving the Hawaiian community and progress toward becoming a comprehensive university. At Mānoa, the Department of Psychology’s Clinical Studies Program was reaccredited for the maximum seven years by the American Psychological Association and the John A. Burns School of Medicine, for eight years by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
topFarm partnership helps Leeward families
"No panic, go organic," isn’t just about fresh produce. MAʻO Farms’ motto describes the values and vision of a partnership between Leeward Community College and Waiʻanae Organic Agriculture Center that is improving nutrition and providing sustainable and culturally appropriate economic opportunities for low-income families.
The Māla ʻAi ʻŌpio (MAʻO) Food Security Initiative grew out of community discussions on Oʻahu’s Leeward Coast over issues concerning agriculture, youth, Hawaiian culture, land and the ice epidemic. It provides life skills to youths at high risk for unemployment, illiteracy and dropping out of school. "We knew organic agriculture would be ideal because it truly matched our community’s values and vision," says Gary Maunakea-Forth, MAʻO farm manager.
Each year 12 youths from Waiʻanae and Nānākuli earn $450 a month in stipends for participating in a 10-month training program at the farm. Immersed in every aspect of organic farming, they learn skills from crop management to budgeting. They co-manage the farm, plant and harvest crops and sell through farmers’ markets. They also speak at conferences and to visiting groups, says Maunakea-Forth. Several students have gone on to full-time jobs in agriculture and farming.
topDonors make gift of knowledge in Honor with Books
Looking for a gift that makes a lasting impression? A $100 donation to UH Mānoa Libraries Honor with Books program allows you to designate a personalized bookplate in a tome in the subject area of your choice. Or do like Aspect Technologies and endow a collection fund and get a custom-designed plate placed in all books purchased from the fund’s interest.
For information, contact Dana Myers, library director of development, at 808 956-8688 or dana.myers@uhf.hawaii.edu.
topGift completes Glen Grant memorial scholarship
Talk about chicken skin. One year after the 2003 death of popular folk historian and storyteller Glen Grant, a gift completed the endowed scholarship fund that bears his name. Scholarships can now be issued to graduate students in UH Mānoa’s American studies department, where Grant fascinated classes with tales of local figures and supernatural occurrences. Grant also taught at Kapiʻolani Community College and entertained the public through his writings, radio programs and walking tours.
topThe Board of Regents won’t consider a new logo for the UH System at its September 2004 meeting. Six designs were received from three firms graphics firms in July. All were rejected by an evaluation committee composed of individuals knowledgeable in the arts; UH students, faculty and staff, and representatives of the business community with experience in identity marketing and merchandising. See the latest logo news.
topRegents’ medals awarded
Recipients of the 2004 Regents’ Medals for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Research have been announced.
See the list at the Awards page.