Campus News
- Kapiʻolani students top nation in radiologic exam
- Life history project videotapes Japanese American WWII vets
- School opens arts careers to people with disabilities
- Students create online game to explain reef ecosystem
- Deadly dance is all part of sleuthing fun at Honolulu campus
- Travel school opens Waikīkī office
- Van expands Maui dental care
- Psychology, cancer programs honored by peers
- All wet? Not this Windward campus "umbrella" program
- Novel legal settlement to help UH serve senior citizens
- Partnership to develop open source financial system
- Indonesian folk performance benefits tsunami relief
- Library reopens remaining sections after flood
- Hilo and Mānoa programs, West Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi campuses accredited
Kapiʻolani students top nation in radiologic exam
Not only did all 21 students who graduated from Kapiʻolani Community College’s Radiologic Technology program in December 2004 pass their national registry exam, they did so with the highest scores in the nation.
The graduates, who assist clinic and hospital radiologists in using x-ray equipment for diagnosis, produced an average score of 91.3 percent.
No other state averaged above 90 percent.
topLife history project videotapes Japanese American WWII vets
A University of Hawaiʻi collaboration will both preserve and tell the life stories of Hawaiʻi-born World War II veterans who are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Targeted for completion in 2007, the project involves videotaped interviews with veterans, particularly about their early years, conducted by Mānoa’s Center for Oral History.
The Kapiʻolani Community College library will digitize and present the videos and transcripts on a website. UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library will house them, along with veterans’ letters, manuscripts, documents and artifacts as a historical resource for scholars and students.
The project will represent members of the Varsity Victory Volunteers and veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service and 1399th Engineering Construction Battalion. For information, contact center Director Warren Nishimoto, 808-956-6260.
topSchool opens arts careers to people with disabilities
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s College of Education and Pacific Business Center are partnering with VSA arts of Hawaiʻi-Pacific in a $.5 million federally funded project to help people with disabilities pursue art careers.
Using an apprentice model that emphasizes both artistic and practical training, the VSA arts Hawaiʻi Artspace school serves as a transitional vocational program for young artists leaving the K–12 school system.
Courses range from basic literacy to studios to business plans and marketing. For more information, contact Susan Miller at the College of Education’s Center on Disabilities Studies, 808-455-6002.
topStudents create online game to explain reef ecosystem
A new online game challenges keiki (children) to keep a virtual coral reef in balance, free of alien algae and safe from anchor damage.
The game was developed by Academy for Creative Media students Melissa Bolosan, James Steele and Solomon Enos with assistance from computer animation instructor Kaveh Kardan and University of Hawaiʻi marine experts Celia Smith and Cynthia Hunter.
The game is part of the Hawaiʻi’s Living Reef program.
In other ACM news, the Mountain Apple Company licensed 385 songs from its catalog for use in student films. Licensed artists range from the Brothers Cazimero to the Hawaiian Style Band.
ACM instructors say the agreement teaches students to respect the rights of artists they want to tap into when creating their own intellectual property. It could also expand the audience for both young filmmakers and Hawaiʻi musicians.
topDeadly dance is all part of sleuthing fun at Honolulu campus
Retired Honolulu police detective Gary Dias, right, directs auditions for Murder at the Honolulu Community College Ballet, an April Fools crime solving challenge sponsored by the college’s Administration of Justice Club with help from Le Jardin School dancers.
The third annual event drew 750 sleuths and correct solutions from 21 of the 140 teams. Besting the campus honor society and the team with Hawaiʻi Judge Marie Milks for top prize was the Honolulu Community College business office staff team.
topTravel school opens Waikīkī office
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Travel Industry Management is now onsite in Oʻahu’s major tourist center. The school opened an office in the Sheraton Waikīkī, thanks to the efforts of hotelier Ernest Nishizaki, a 1998 UH Distinguished Alumnus. TIM will use the office as an outlet for training, research and other outreach activities involving the industry and community.
topVan expands Maui dental care
The Maui Oral Health Initiative was approved by the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents in January 2005. It takes a three-pronged approach to meeting community career training and healthcare needs. The initiative incorporates Maui Community College’s dental assisting certificate program, which was accredited in 2004, with the two-year-old Maui Oral Health Center in Wailuku and a new 40-foot Mobile Care Dental Van.
The center and van create clinical training sites for students while providing dental care for low-income and uninsured families. Created in response to a 2001 survey documenting a shortage of dental assistants and hygienists on the island, the initiative is supported by government, community and professional groups.
topPsychology, cancer programs honored by peers
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Psychology was one of three in North America to receive the American Psychological Association’s 2005 Award for Innovative Practices in Graduate Education.
UH was recognized for having the only graduate program in the country that incorporates community and cultural psychology in a single program. Students live and work with students from other disciplines in a community capacity-building project, and they learn to use appropriate psychological methods and measurements in non-Western cultures.
The Hawaiʻi Tumor Registry was recognized by the National Cancer Institute for the outstanding quality of its surveillance, epidemiology and end results data. One of 15 registries in the nation, the Hawaiʻi program is a part of UH Mānoa’s Cancer Research Center of Hawaiʻi. It plays an important role in tracking long-term cancer trends in Hawaiʻi and contributing to national cancer statistics.
topAll wet? Not this Windward campus "umbrella" program
Students moving between classes at Windward Community College will arrive dry if a Phi Theta Kappa project is successful.
The student honorary group is collecting funds and umbrellas to implement an innovative free-use umbrella system.
Students can grab umbrellas as they exit one building and leave them in containers by the doorway of the next. Call 808 235-7387 for donations or details.
topNovel legal settlement to help UH serve senior citizens
The University of Hawaiʻi stands to receive $1.2 million for programs serving senior citizens under an innovative legal agreement that has received preliminary approval in Hawaiʻi state court.
The suggestion came from Tom Grande and Rick Eichor, UH Mānoa law alumni with Honolulu firms Davis Levin Livingston Grande and Price Okamoto Himeno and Lum, respectively. Interstate Pharmacy Corporation (IPC)-PharMercia will provide the funds as part of the settlement of a class action suit that the attorneys filed on behalf of nursing home residents. The suit alleged reissuance of prescription medications, which was illegal at the time.
Any of the $2 million set aside for class members that isn’t distributed will also go to UH.
topPartnership to develop open source financial system
The University of Hawaiʻi and partner institutions received a $2.5 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award to develop a comprehensive, open source financial management system tailored to the specific needs of higher education.
The Kuali (named for the utilitarian kitchen wok) Project was founded by UH, Indiana University, the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the r-smart group. Four other institutions have joined.
The first modules, based on Indiana’s proven system, are due out in 2006 and will be available without fee under educational community licensing.
topIndonesian folk performance benefits tsunami relief
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa performance of the Randai play Luck and Loss: Manandin’s Gamble did more than entertain and educate patrons about Indonesian folk theatre; it raised money for Asian tsunami relief. Faculty in the Department of Theatre and Dance matched donations from audience members to collect more than $12,000.
Mānoa is the only university in the country that produces West Sumatran theatre in English. Two dozen student actors spent six months training with experts in traditional music, acting and martial arts dances to prepare for their portrayal of a young man’s encounters with gambling, romance, mischief and combat.
topLibrary reopens remaining sections after flood
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, left, joined University Librarian Diane Perushek, Kahu Kordell Kekoa and Mānoa Chancellor Peter Englert to formally reopen remaining sections of Hamilton Library on March 29, five months after a devastating flood swept through the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus.
With more than 3 million volumes, Hamilton is the leading research library serving the Pacific region. Most collections are now accessible to the public, although the library is not yet fully restored.
UH received $31 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and anticipates another $25 million from its insurance settlement, but the total is still shy of the estimated $81 in damage to facilities. It’s not too late to join the 2,000 donors from around the world who have contributed nearly $300,000 to library or general flood relief. You can give online.
topHilo and Mānoa programs, West Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi campuses accredited
Undergraduate business programs at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo College of Business and Economics received accreditation from the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business-International. Hilo joins UH Mānoa as the only Hawaiʻi institutions accredited by AACSB, a 900-member organization that promotes excellence in management education and serves as the premier accrediting agency for business schools.
At UH Mānoa, community counseling is the third College of Education master’s degree specialization to be accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. Mānoa is one of only 18 institutions in the nation with three accredited specializations. In addition to community counseling, school counseling and rehabilitation counseling programs are also accredited.
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges reaffirmed UH West Oʻahu accreditation for a full seven years.
Hawaiʻi, Maui and Windward Community Colleges all received favorable marks in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. The national survey gauged colleges on five benchmarks—active and collaborative learning, student effort, academic challenge, student-faculty interaction and support for learners. top