UH Alumni Profiles
- Helping moms get fit
- Lauded landscape architect
- APEC ambassador
- Volcano observer
- Musical ambassador to Cuba
- Teacher receives national recongition
- TV show offers lowdown on diving
- Trio honored by Japanese emperor
- Actors reunite in Mānoa play
Helping moms get fit
Erin deNeeve Baum
BS in athletic training ’97
Mānoa
Business:Baby Boot Camp® Oʻahu manager and instructor
Motivation: "If I had free time, I wanted to spend it with my son, not in the gym!"
Roots: Mililani, Oʻahu
Family: Husband Lenny (BS ’96 Mānoa), toddler Alexander
Workout tip: Find an activity you enjoy so exercise will become a regular habit.
Guilty pleasure: Chocolate!
Best thing about being a mom: "Loving another person more than I ever thought possible is amazing, and that little head resting on my shoulder is priceless."
Even a certified athletic trainer finds it challenging to get back into shape after giving birth. So after having her first child in March 2003, Erin deNeeve Baum, who has a background in healthcare as a physical therapist, brought Baby Boot Camp(r) to Hawaiʻi. The national company provides six-week programs of strength training and power walking—strollers and breaks to care for baby welcome—along with education on proper body mechanics in daily life activities and parenting tasks. The program quickly expanded to five locations on Oʻahu.
After earning an MS in physical therapy from Duke University, deNeeve Baum returned to Hawaiʻi. In addition to helping individuals while on the job at a clinic specializing in orthopedics, sports and women’s health, she has volunteered her time to the athletic program at a local high school.
She enjoys her work nearly as much as motherhood. "I find it extremely rewarding to help individuals achieve their own goals for fitness and health," she says.
Lauded landscape architect
Russell Y. J. Chung
BArch ’80
Mānoa
Career: Executive vice president and principal, PBR Hawaiʻi
Roots: Wahiawā, Oʻahu
Family: Wife Merrie, children Zachary and Alyx
First job: Picking pineapples
Hobbies: Golf, travel
Design approach: "Unrepressed vision—always take creativity past good enough"
Current challenge: Creating a distinct environment without taxing the pristine rural charm of existing surroundings at Kukui ʻUla, a large resort community in Koloa, Kauaʻi
Russell Y. J. Chung received landscape design awards for clients at Ko Olina Resort, the Orchid at Mauna Lani Hotel, Wailea Outrigger and Honolulu’s Fort Street Mall. In 2003, the American Society of Landscape Architects designated him a fellow for his design work and contributions to the profession.
A trustee of the ASLA Hawaiʻi chapter, Chung helped create a scholarship for landscape architecture students. He promoted continuing education requirements as chair of the Hawaiʻi State Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors and Landscape Architects.
Employers at Hawaiʻi Design Associates, where Chung worked during college, encouraged him to pursue landscape architecture. After earning a master’s from California State Polytechnic University, he continued to work on the mainland. Thanking friends who helped guide his career, Chung observes, "I am fortunate to be able to maintain a viable landscape architectural practice here in Hawaiʻi, because there is no place like home."
APEC ambassador
Lauren Moriarty
BA in economics ’76
Mānoa
Career: U.S. senior official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Hawaiian name: Kaheaokekai
Family: husband James, also a career diplomat; children Mana and Kanani
Recent award: State Department’s 1993 Arnold L. Raphel Award for leadership and mentoring of subordinates
Languages: Mandarin, French, some Hawaiian
Hobbies: sailing, hiking, religious studies
A member of Halau o ʻAulani in Washington, D.C., Lauren Moriarty enjoys studying about her Hawaiian heritage. On the jobs as the nation’s ambassador to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization, her focus is on the 21 nations that account for more than a third of the world’s population and nearly half its trade.
Fortunately, Moriarty draws on 26 years of international experience, including stints as head of the Economic Sections at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the American Institute in Taiwan and assignments in Pakistan and Thailand.
It should be no surprise that she knows her way around the U.S. capitol city—long before she was director of the State Department’s Office of East African Affairs or a deputy director in the Bureau of Economic, Agricultural and business Affairs, she was the daughter of David Peters, former executive assistant to Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Moriarty received her MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts.
Volcano observer
Jim Kauahikaua
MS ’76, PhD ’83
Mānoa
Jim Kauahikaua is the new scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, where he has conducted geophysical research since 1988.
A singing scientist, he performs with both the Volcano Festival and Kamehameha Alumni Choruses.
Kauahikaua spent the last year recovering from nasopharyngeal cancer, prompting his family to observe that he’s gone from sick to SIC—the insiders’ acronym for his new position.
Musical ambassador to Cuba
Ken Carper
PhD ’00
Mānoa
Naples, Fla., teacher and musician Ken Carper is also a musical ambassador. The trumpet player was part of a four-member south Florida American United Methodist delegation that delivered medicine, assistance and goodwill to sister churches in Cuba.
Carper performed with numerous groups as they traveled from Havana to the small harbor towns of Antilla and Mayarí at the eastern tip of the island. He closed the shows by donating his trumpet to a small, rural sister church in the Holguín district.
Teacher receives national recognition
Pascale Creek Pinner
BA ’87, PD ’91)
Hilo
Hilo Intermediate School science teacher Pascale Creek Pinner was one of 95 teachers in the nation to receive the 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Math and Science.
Recipients attended a banquet hosted by the secretary of education and a private tour of the White House, where President George W. Bush thanked them for making &#quot;major contributions to our country and to young people.&#quot;
Pinner was congratulated upon her return by state schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto and Gov. Linda Lingle.
TV show offers lowdown on diving
Kyle Nakamoto
BArch ’90
Mānoa
Kyle Nakamoto is president and executive producer of Red Sea Ocean Adventures and Honolulu cable network OC16’s new TV show, Hawaiʻi Skin Diver.
The half-hour show features free diving and spearfishing. The broadcast schedule is at the company’s website.
Nakamoto’s 2-year-old company promotes conservation and education in its diving, fishing and surfing adventures throughout the Pacific.
Dods, Karr, Tsunoda receive Japanese Medal
Walter Dods Jr.
Howard Karr
Joyce Tsunoda
Three UH Distinguished Alumni Award recipients were honored by the emperor of Japan in 2004 for contributions to Japan-U.S. relations.
Walter Dods Jr., Hawaiʻi chairman of the Japan-Hawaiʻi Economic Council and newly retired CEO of BancWest Corp. and First Hawaiian Bank, received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, for promoting friendship and economic exchange between Japan and the United States.
Howard Karr, chair of the UH Foundation Board of Trustees and a College of Business Alumni Hall of Fame honoree, was honored for strengthening the bonds of friendship between the two countries.
Joyce Tsunoda, retired UH senior vice president and chancellor for community colleges, received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon for promoting academic exchange and mutual understanding.
Trio reunites for reprise play
Darryl Tsutsui
Stan Egi
Kati Kuroda
Three of the actors who performed in the 1982 premiere of Mānoa Valley, Edward Sakamoto’s story of statehood-era Hawaiʻi, returned for the October 2004 performance—from left, Darryl Tsutsui, Stan Egi and Kati Kuroda.
Egi is pursuing UH graduate studies in directing after acting on Broadway and in film. Kuroda tours as a stage actress. Tsutsui remains active in community theatre on Oʻahu.