{"id":234912,"date":"2026-05-26T11:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=234912"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:21:17","slug":"ctahr-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/26\/ctahr-banquet\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> banquet honors leaders building a more resilient Hawai&#699;i"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_234940\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-234940\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-3.jpg\" alt=\"people by poster\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-234940\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-3.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-3-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-234940\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Student winners of the Showcase &#038; Research Symposium presented their research to attendees, adding a touch of science education to the celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The University of <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> at <span lang=\"haw\">M&#257;noa\u2019s<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/\">College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (<abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr>) celebrated the faculty, staff and community leaders who advance the college\u2019s vision of a more resilient <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> at its 2026 <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> Banquet in May. The high-energy night showcased collective work to strengthen the state\u2019s food security, ecosystems and local communities.<\/p>\n<h2>Top honors for community, alumni leadership<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_234938\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-234938\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"people smiling\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-234938\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-234938\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dela Cruz, winner of the Ka Lei Hano Award for leadership, and Srinivasan, who was awarded the Outstanding Alumnus Award at the 2026 <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> Banquet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The college presented its highest honor, the Ka Lei Hano Award, to State Senator Donovan Dela Cruz. A longtime champion for local agriculture, Dela Cruz was recognized for securing support for the reopening of the Agricultural Diagnostic Service Center and his leadership in developing the Wahiawa Value-Added Product Development Center, among many accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Ganesan Srinivasan was named the 2026 <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> Outstanding Alumnus. Currently serving as the dean of communication and services programs at Honolulu Community College, Srinivasan was honored for his acclaimed career in maize breeding and marrying high-level scientific research with the practical needs of local farmers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Related <em><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ<\/abbr> News<\/em> stories: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/22\/ctahr-outstanding-alumnus-award-srinivasan\/\"><abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> honors Honolulu <abbr title=\"Community College\">CC<\/abbr> dean with Outstanding Alumnus Award<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ the <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> website for the complete list of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/banquet\/\">2026 Dean\u2019s Award winners<\/a>, including faculty, staff and student honorees.<\/p>\n<p>A highlight of the evening were presentations by the student winners of the Showcase &amp; Research Symposium. Attendees talked with the students about their award-winning posters, illustrating the cutting-edge research from the next generation of scientists within the college.<\/p>\n<h2>Honoring an icon<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_234939\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-234939\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"people sitting at tables\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-234939\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-234939\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students, faculty, staff and community members filled the ballroom at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii to celebrate the winners.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The evening also featured a special recognition of Surajit &ldquo;S.K.&rdquo; De Datta and his wife, Vijji, for establishing an endowed scholarship for <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> students. De Datta, a world-renowned scientist known for his pioneering work during the Green Revolution, was also honored as the college renamed its primary conference room in Gilmore Hall in honor of the couple&#8217;s legacy.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our students are the heart of this college,&rdquo; <abbr>CTAHR<\/abbr> Dean Parwinder Grewal said at the banquet. &ldquo;Tonight is as much about celebrating their future as it is our current achievements. Their energy and their passion for a more resilient <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> are what drive us forward every day.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The high-energy night showcased the collective work to strengthen the state\u2019s food security, ecosystems and local communities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":234940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[212,62,9],"class_list":["post-234912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/manoa-ctahr-banquet-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234912"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234968,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234912\/revisions\/234968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}