The University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� will celebrate the exceptional achievements of its faculty, staff and students at the 2026 , set for May 5 at 3 p.m. in Kennedy Theatre.

������Ƶ President Wendy Hensel, ������Ƶ ����ԴDz� Interim Provost Vassilis Syrmos and Board of Regents Chair Gabe Lee will recognize this year’s honorees for their outstanding accomplishments.

A live video stream of the event will be available for those unable to attend in-person.

Congratulations to all our winners!

2026 ������Ƶ ����ԴDz� Awards winners

• Cheehyung Harrison Kim, associate professor, history
• Miyoko Teddy Pettit-Toledo, assistant professor, law
• Subhashni Raj, assistant professor, urban and regional planning
• Eirik J. Saethre, professor, anthropology
• Tamara Ticktin, professor, botany
• Kara Noelani Wong Ramsey, associate professor, pediatrics

• Nicolas Gaillard, associate researcher, Oʻahu Natural Energy Institute
• Joseph Keaweʻaimoku Kaholokula, professor, Native Hawaiian health
• Victor M. Lubecke, professor, electrical and computer engineering

• Lisa M. Vallin, instructor, women, gender, and sexuality studies
• Lolita Perez-Ayala, graduate assistant, communication and information sciences

• Yoshimi (Shimi) M. Rii, assistant specialist, Hawaiʻi Institute for Marine Biology

• Ethan Caldwell, associate professor, ethnic studies
• Jane Chung-Do, professor, public health
• Jeffrey Drazen, professor, oceanography
• J. Lorenzo Perillo, associate professor, theatre and dance
• Cathi Ho Schar, associate professor, architecture
• N. Haʻalilio Solomon, assistant professor, Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language

• Michelle Myrie, deputy chief, Department of Public Safety
• Earl Matsushita, work coordination center manager, Campus Operations and Facilities
• Evelyn Mangadlao, janitor, Campus Operations and Facilities
• Dina Shek, director, Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaiʻi

• Karen Harper, fiscal officer, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology
• Paula MacCutcheon, operations coordinator, Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office
• Roy Suda, IT specialist, Enrollment Management

• Merle R. Kataoka-Yahiro, professor, nursing

• Lauren Prepose-Forsen, director, ����ԴDz� Transfer Coordination Center

• John G. Souza, assistant professor, family and consumer sciences
• Tianlu Wang, assistant professor, mechanical engineering

• Dhvanil Desai, PhD candidate, astronomy
• Sophia Rahnke, PhD candidate, marine biology
• Jannatun Noor Sameera, PhD candidate, electrical and computer engineering

• Kate Sapigao, lead student mentor, GEAR UP ����ԴDz�

University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� football and basketball statistician Nelson Tokuhama has been named the recipient of the 2025 Charlie Ushijima Award for dedicated and unselfish service to ������Ƶ Athletics.

Tokuhama received the award during intermission of the March 28 men’s volleyball match at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Tokuhama is the 29th recipient of the award, which was established in 1992.

For nearly 50 years, Tokuhama has served in numerous positions within the statistics crew and has rarely missed a home game. A 1975 University of Hawaiʻi alumnus with a degree in architecture, Tokuhama joined the crew under longtime sports information director Ed Inouye. He began working with the men’s basketball crew during the 1976–77 season, and later joined the football stats crew in 1978.

Tokuhama served as chief statistician for many of those years. He has seen the evolution of the profession firsthand, transitioning from the manual era of jotting down numbers with a calculator to modern, computer-generated statistics programs.

“For almost half a century, Nelson has been a cornerstone of our statistics crew, rarely missing a home game,” said Director of Media Relations Derek Inouchi. “His commitment and loyalty to the university are unmatched. His professionalism has earned the ������Ƶ stats crew immense respect among our peers across the country.”

The award is presented annually by ʻAhahui Koa Ānuenue, the fundraising organization for ������Ƶ Athletics, to an outstanding volunteer. Originally titled the Rainbow Service Award, it was later renamed after its first recipient, the late Charlie Ushijima.

Read more at .

At the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, Marcy Martinez is helping haumāna (students) find their path long before graduation.

Martinez, director of , has been named the 2026 State Internship School-Based Coordinator of the Year by the Hawaiʻi State Workforce Development Council (WDC). She received the award at the inaugural Hawaiʻi Internship Summit on Oʻahu.

“Our mission is to help our students along their academic journey, connect that experience with their career goals and their career successes, but it has to be defined by them,” said Martinez. “We really want to take students through their journey, freshmen all the way to senior, and not just have it be a last-minute knee-jerk reaction in senior year.”

Martinez leads ������Ƶ �ᾱ����’s , where the focus is simple, meet haumāna where they are.

“Marcy is enthusiastic. She’s entirely student-based,” said Christine Beaule, director of ������Ƶ System Workforce Development, who nominated Martinez for the award. “She works incredibly hard, and every time I have asked her to partner with me on a variety of initiatives, she is the first one to say, ‘Yes!’”

Skills that last

Her team connects students with jobs, internships and hands-on learning. The goal is to build skills that last.

“Through practical experience and opportunities, students will gain knowledge and the ability to identify transferable skills,” Martinez said. “As career agility is becoming even more important in today’s world, it is required to have the ability to adapt quickly.”

That approach is making an impact statewide.

“What we’re really trying to achieve is to have our next generation live in Hawaiʻi that they can enjoy, they can learn, they can work, they can thrive, and they can belong to,” said Bennette Misalucha, executive director of WDC for Hawaiʻi Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Confidence, balance

Haumāna at ������Ƶ Hilo see it firsthand.

Pohaku Roby, a senior majoring in , works at the center and expressed the experience has helped build both confidence and balance.

“I didn’t know that I was able to do public speaking and do class presentations with Marcy, but she helped me find that passion, and I enjoyed it,” said Roby.

For Martinez, the work continues one student, one step at a time.

For more go to .

The University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� baseball team celebrated legendary head coach following a 4–2 win over Wichita State on February 20.

A sold-out Les Murakami Stadium saw the man who built the program from nothing into a national powerhouse take his place among college baseball’s all-time greats.

The winningest coach in school history and the namesake for the home of Rainbow Warrior baseball, Les Murakami Stadium, he built the program up from nothing into a national powerhouse over his 30-year coaching career that he finished with a record of 1,079-570-4. He took the program to 10 NCAA Regionals and won six Western Athletic Conference titles. He led the ‘Bows to their only College World Series appearance in 1980, in which they came one win shy of a national title.

More than 50 of Murakami’s former players, assistant coaches and staff members attended his induction into the College Baseball Hall Of Fame. Derek Tatsuno, a 2007 Hall Of Fame inductee, and Gene Stephenson, former Wichita State coach and long-time rival and friend of Murakami, welcomed the coach into the Hall Of Fame at the end of the pregame program.

������Ƶ the for a full video of the pregame ceremony honoring Murakami.

Read more at .

The (RC������Ƶ) recognized 18 employees in November for exemplary contributions to their research projects.

“RC������Ƶ is extremely proud of all of these outstanding employees who support cutting-edge and innovative research being done at the ������Ƶ and throughout our state,” said RC������Ƶ Executive Director Leonard Gouveia. “The success of academic research depends on dedicated and hardworking professionals like these RC������Ƶ employees who elevate and impact the projects they support.”

Researcher/Project Manager category

1st place: Ceci Rodriguez Cruz—ORE SMART Cable Project, ������Ƶ Mānoa (SOEST)

2nd place: Christian Tai Udovicic—Planetary Science, SOEST

Honorable mentions:

• Robert Kekaianiani Irwin—Laupaʻi Aʻe ka ʻIke Kuamoʻo,
• Johannes Achim Stoessl—General AntiParticle Spectrometer Project, ������Ƶ Mānoa

Project Support Staff category

1st place: Casey TeBeest, ������Ƶ , WRRC American Samoa Hydrology Network

2nd place: Dylan Boeman–Sabine Lab, SOEST

Team category

1st place: Hua Zhong and Shuai Liu, Cancer Epidemiology Program,

2nd place: Peter Oshiro, Ryan Chilson, Sally Lau and Derek Kubo—Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Honorable mentions:

• Helene Meehl, Andrew Kramer, Sydney Lewandowski and Nicolo Cohen—Hawaiʻi Coral Restoration Nursery,
• Yumi Nagayoshi, Marybeth Young and Jan Stoos—Maunakea Shared Services, ������Ƶ

The university service orders extramural contracts and grants to RC������Ƶ, which assists with hiring personnel and procuring goods/services to support research, development, and training throughout the state. These awards highlight the vital work RC������Ƶ employees perform daily to advance the university’s goal of diversifying Hawaiʻi’s economy through innovation and research.

Members from the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� (SOEST) and (JABSOM) were featured in the new documentary , which premiered at the 45th Hawaiʻi International Film Festival (HIFF) on October 23, 2025.

Contributing to the film were several leading oceanographers from SOEST including Jeff Drazen (professor), Jamison Gove (alumni and research affiliate), Nikolai Maximenko (senior researcher), Margaret McManus (chairwoman of the Department of Oceanography and director of the Uehiro Center for the Advancement of Oceanography), and Jonathan Whitney (alumni, former postdoctoral researcher, and research affiliate); and a scientist at JABSOM’s , Rodrigo Weingrill. The ������Ƶ ����ԴDz� experts joined filmmakers, professional athletes, and community partners at the festival for the premiere of KULEANA.

Weingrill was selected for the film for his research on microplastics, including studies showing an accumulation of microplastics in human placentas in Hawaiʻi. The film highlights that plastic pollution has become a human health concern.

A central scene follows professional surfer Kai Lenny as Weingrill’s team tests his blood, finding 33 microplastic particles in just 2 milliliters. With an average adult having about five liters of blood, Weingrill estimated that Lenny would have “around 80,000 particles in all his blood.”

Related ������Ƶ News story: Rise of microplastics discovered in placentas of Hawaiʻi mothers

“I think the message is to educate our communities to prevent this exposure,” Weingrill said. He suggested making small lifestyle changes such as using glass or stainless-steel containers instead of plastic, to reduce how much plastic we take in every day.

Reflecting on his experience being featured in the film, he added, “I never expected that, I never wished that, to tell you the truth. I always wanted to do good science to help people.” He credited collaborators Johann Urschitz, Men-Jean Lee, Steve Ward and the Department of OB-GYN & Women’s Health for supporting the research.

“We’re trying to do something good for everybody and that’s the everyday goal—to help our communities, to help our people, to have a healthier life, live longer and have a really happy everyday routine,” he said.

KULEANA was directed and produced by Georgia Scott and narrated by Woody Harrelson. HIFF will also screen the documentary on November 1, at and on November 9 and 15, on Maui.

“KULEANA powerfully captures how plastic pollution is infiltrating the lives of ocean animals, with Hawaiʻi standing at an epicenter of this global crisis,” said Whitney, marine ecologist at NOAA, who co-led a study with Gove and McManus showing that prey-sized plastics are invading larval fish nurseries. “Our research revealed an invisible threat at the foundation of ocean food webs, and it’s an honor to collaborate with talented filmmakers who can bring these scientific stories to life for the world to see.”

Read more at and .

A University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� academic advisor earned international recognition for outstanding contributions to student success. Jordan Abanto was one of three recipients of the , a professional organization that supports academic advisors and promotes effective advising in higher education.

Abanto, who is an undergraduate academic advisor in ������Ƶ ��ā�ԴDz�’s , was recognized for providing personalized guidance to students, supporting their academic planning and promoting their overall success through College of Natural Sciences advising programs. The honor places Abanto among a select group of advisors acknowledged for excellence in the profession.

“Receiving this award is both humbling and motivating,” Abanto said. “Academic advising is about more than helping students pick classes—it’s about listening, understanding their goals and guiding them to opportunities that help them thrive. I’m grateful to be part of a community that prioritizes student success and development.”

The award honors early-career advisors who demonstrate exceptional skill and impact in guiding students through their academic journeys. NACADA’s Global Awards Program, established in 1983, highlights individuals and institutions that make significant contributions to the field of academic advising.

“Jordan’s dedication, empathy and expertise make a real difference in the lives of our students,” said Stephanie Kraft-Terry, College of Natural Sciences interim director of advising. “This recognition is well-deserved and highlights the individual contributions that contribute to the strength of our Student Academic Success Center in the ������Ƶ Mānoa College of Natural Sciences.”

NACADA’s awards program also honored experienced advisors, faculty advisors and administrators, as well as exemplary advising programs.

University of Hawaiʻi President Wendy Hensel updated the ������Ƶ Board of Regents (BOR) about major changes in federal funding and increased student enrollment across the 10-campus system at the September 18 meeting at ������Ƶ ����ԴDz�.

Hensel also provided an update on an expanded partnership between Hawaiian Airlines and Honolulu Community College to train aviation maintenance technicians. She also congratulated ������Ƶ ����ԴDz�’s �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ���Գܾ����� School of Hawaiian Knowledge and its role in hosting a series of events for Hawaiian History Month throughout Kepakemapa (September).

• U.S. Department of Education announcement ()
• Fall 2025 enrollment update ()
• ������Ƶ News highlights ()
• ������Ƶ President’s Award for Excellence in Building and Grounds Maintenance awardee Ivan Hartison ()
• ������Ƶ nominees for governor’s awards ()

The University of Hawaiʻi named Ivan Hartison as the 2025 recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Building and Grounds Maintenance.

Hartison was honored for his vital work at the Isabella Aiona Abbott Life Sciences Building at ������Ƶ ����ԴDz�. He plays an important role in high-level research spaces, including BSL-2 labs and endangered species insectaries, where he helps ensure safety, sanitation and the protection of Hawaiʻi’s natural resources.

Beyond his daily duties, Hartison is known for going above and beyond, whether helping students recover endangered Hawaiian flies, lending a hand with heavy lifting or stepping in to support colleagues.

Through his commitment to his job at ������Ƶ ����ԴDz�, Hartison earned the respect from both peers and students, embodying the spirit of teamwork and service at the University of Hawaiʻi.

Established in 1986, the President’s Award for Excellence in Building and Grounds Maintenance recognizes a ������Ƶ system employee who exemplifies dedication and excellence in supporting campus facilities.

The University of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s Roy Suda, Carol Oshiro and Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program have been selected as the university’s nominees for the Governor’s Awards for Distinguished State Service. The award honors the state’s executive branch employees and managers who exemplify the highest caliber of public service and dedication to serving the people of Hawaiʻi.

Manager of the Year: Roy Suda

Roy Suda demonstrated exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment through 31 years as an IT manager in enrollment management. Those who nominated him noted that he fosters accountability and timely project completion through excellent management, while empowering his team to high engagement. He is dedicated to ensuring data security and fostering community involvement in cybersecurity.

From ensuring the seamless operation of critical enrollment systems to spearheading innovative projects that directly benefit students and the institution, Suda’s exceptional management, drive for innovation and unwavering commitment to data security underscore his profound impact. His leadership has not only elevated the IT infrastructure but has also significantly contributed to the university’s overall effectiveness and the success of its students.

Suda is a leader who cultivates a culture of excellence by leading by example, demonstrating an exceptional work ethic and fostering a supportive and innovative environment. He is a dedicated mentor who invests in his team’s professional growth and encourages self-advancement and career progression opportunities.

His ability to effectively balance critical priorities demonstrates management excellence. He ensures that vital systems supporting critical departments are up-to-date, and vulnerabilities are promptly addressed.

Employee of the Year: Carol Oshiro

Carol Oshiro is the strategic initiatives manager of the ������Ƶ ����ԴDz� (CTAHR) and is instrumental in ensuring the smooth operation of the dean’s office. Oshiro has dedicated more than 20 years to CTAHR, beginning as a student assistant during her undergraduate studies. Throughout her tenure, she has led numerous initiatives that significantly enriched the academic experience for students, fostering collaborative projects and mentorship programs.

Oshiro is the chief designer and implementer of CTAHR’s exemplary Shared Services unit, which has filled the gap created by the loss of more than 10 staff positions in various departments and county offices. The Shared Services unit addresses the urgent need for streamlined fiscal processes, ensuring no critical financial functions are neglected.

Oshiro implemented CTAHR’s new scholarship procedures to improve efficiency. She played a pivotal role in awarding more than $1.2 million in scholarships over the past five years; many of these scholarships were neglected prior to her arrival, enhancing accessibility to education for countless students.

She also redesigned recruitment materials to increase awareness of CTAHR’s academic programs and boost student enrollment—helping to increase undergraduate enrollment by 2.5% and graduate enrollment by 6%.

Team of the Year: CTAHR’s Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program

The (SOAP) at ������Ƶ ����ԴDz� has achieved remarkable success in advancing sustainable agriculture. They secured more $4.5 million in grants, enabling innovative projects that improve soil health and crop quality. The team is comprised of Theodore Radovich, Amjad Ahmad, Rosemary Gutierrez-Coarite, Emilie R. Kirk, Eric Collier, Jari Sugano, Jennifer Hawkins, Jensen Uyeda, Joshua Silva, Kylie Wong, Lara Kalilimoku and Sharon Motomura-Wages.

Through partnerships with local organizations, SOAP trains more than 200 farmers annually, enhancing local food systems. Their hands-on workshops and educational resources support both novice and experienced growers. The program’s efforts have led to economic growth, reduced agricultural input costs and improved environmental resilience. By integrating research and community engagement, SOAP exemplifies a commitment to sustainability in Hawaiʻi.

SOAP’s applied research includes pioneering work on replacing imported fertilizers, improving soil health and selecting varieties for dozens of high-value and culturally significant crops, such as sweet potato, taro and turmeric. Research-based, place-specific resources on cover cropping, organic pest control, composting and soil health management have also been developed.

The program supports Student Organic Farm Training (SOFT), GoFarm and Master Gardener programs, as well as the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau and the Hawaiʻi Farmers Union. SOFT also holds hands-on training programs and facilitates strategic partnership-building with local non-profits, schools and government agencies.