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UH Hilo Chancellor's Blog Posts

Chancellor’s Monthly Column, Nov. 2025: Preparing workforce, enriching lives

Published November 4, 2025 by admin

Portrait of Bonnie Irwin.
Bonnie D. Irwin

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo specializes in hands-on, place-based, community-engaged learning. We live in such a special place — rich in environmental, geographic, and cultural diversity — that our programs can be easily embedded in the island around us. And through those programs we also do our best to give back, through providing service and new knowledge. As we are serving more adult learners, however, we are moving into online delivery more and more, particularly in some of our workforce preparation programs.

Coming in spring semester 2026, our Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy starts a new online track for students to earn a pharmacy doctorate (PharmD). The Doctor of Pharmacy Extended Online Track, or PharmD-XO, is for working adults and others who can’t attend classes and labs full-time on our Hilo campus. With a requirement to be on campus in Hilo for a short time only once a year, aspiring pharmacists throughout the state can continue living and working in their island communities while pursuing their doctor of pharmacy degree.

All courses in the administration of justice bachelor’s department include online distance education offerings, giving students considerable flexibility while pursuing a degree. This fall we’ve launched a new AJ Cohort online pathway for law enforcement officers across the state to earn this degree. The program is collaborative through a partnership with the Hawaiʻi Police Department for police officers to continue serving their communities full-time while pursuing their bachelor’s degree. Ten students from the Hawaiʻi County Police Department, Honolulu Police Department, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement are enrolled this semester.

These law enforcement professionals now have access to online classes focusing on how societies implement justice in both theory and in practice. Topics include policing and punishment, global crime, Indigenous justice, advocacy and criminal justice, and justice and the environment, among others. This educational enrichment will reverberate not only throughout law enforcement, but throughout our island communities, beneficial to everyone.

Our graduate program in counseling psychology has been accessible to off-island students via distance learning since 2019. It’s a hybrid system where students who live on Hawaiʻi Island receive their classroom learning in a more traditional way, while outer island students attend the same classes through synchronous online access. Outer-island students must travel to Hilo on at least four occasions during their time in the program, and all students must reside in the state of Hawaiʻi for the duration of their studies.

The counseling psychology program offers a specialization in clinical mental health counseling — a field with a shortage of qualified professionals — with an option to pursue tracks in substance abuse counseling or research. The curriculum meets educational requirements for licensure (as licensed mental health counselor) in the state of Hawaiʻi, meeting a crucial workforce need throughout our state.

Like the new online PharmD-XO and administration of justice cohort programs, the counseling psychology hybrid system also allows students throughout the state to remain anchored in their family and working lives while advancing their degrees.

All three of these programs enrich the lives of the students as they gain knowledge and skills, increase their value in employment, and raise their quality of life. This in turn raises the quality of life for their ʻohana, the people they serve in their professions, and our island communities as a whole.

With aloha,

Bonnie D. Irwin
Chancellor, UH Hilo

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Chancellor hosts event honoring faculty recently tenured and/or promoted

Published November 4, 2025 by admin

Group on lawn with Hilo Bay in background.
At the Tenure and Promotion event held at the Hilo Yacht Club on Oct 30, front row from left, Francis Dumanig, Frank Kuo, Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa (Vice Chancellor), Patsy Iwasaki, Leanne Day, Colby Miyose, Bonnie Irwin; back row, Joe Genz, Nick Krueger, Jeanette Ayers-Kawakami, and Chester Dabalos. Photo: University Relations/UH Hilo)

Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin hosted an event at the Hilo Yacht Club on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, to honor University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo of faculty who recently received tenure and/or promotion. Three previous honorees who were unable to attend the annual event the last two years also attended.

Here are links to the full list of recipients for 2025, and over the past few years: 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Here are this year’s event attendees along with Chancellor’s remarks:

Tenure and Promotion

2024: Leanne Day is an associate professor of English. Leanne’s areas of expertise are in settler colonialism, Asian American studies, Pacific Islander studies, and ethnic studies. She says earning tenure affirms that her scholarship and teaching grounded in decolonial futurity are recognized and valued. She describes this promotion as an opportunity to continue to pursue intellectual creativity and freedom to further explore her research and teaching.

2023: Francisco Dumanig is an associate professor of English. He serves as program coordinator for the certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages. From classroom to island community to global connections, Francis shows his students the world of English language and literature most often through an international lens.

Promotion

2025: Jeanette Ayers-Kawakami is a professor of nursing. She’s an alumna of UH Hilo’s nursing program, both her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees. Her areas of expertise are in transcultural care and health promotion, and is one of only four certified transcultural nurses in the state of Hawaiʻi. Her passion lies in advocating for culturally competent care and ensuring that future nurses are prepared to meet the diverse needs of Hawaiʻi’s communities with compassion and respect.

2025: Chester Dabalos is an assistant professor of chemistry. With multi-national academic credentials, Chester specializes in general and organic chemistry, and focuses on bringing a deep curiosity and global perspective to the classroom. His research interests focus on expanding student opportunities in chemistry. He believes the best part of UH Hilo is its spirit of teamwork, where faculty, staff, and students readily help one another.

2024: Joe Genz is a professor of anthropology. Joe’s areas of expertise are in cultural anthropology, particularly Pacific anthropology and oral history research into voyaging and navigation. He often focuses on huakaʻi and ʻāina-based service projects for his students, and hones to these themes in his mentoring. He says this promotion brings a comforting sense of solidarity with peers and permanence within the UH Hilo ʻohana.

2025: Patsy Iwasaki is an associate professor of English. She is a UH Hilo alumna and now teaches writing in many forms—composition, business, media—and believes strongly in the power of writing, media and storytelling. Her most notable research (a labor of community love) is an in-depth exploration—through a published graphic novel and in-production film—of a Hawaiʻi Island plantation labor advocate of the late 1800s who made an indelible mark in the island’s history.

2025: Nick Krueger is an assistant professor of integrated crop and livestock systems. Nick is a UH Hilo alumnus, grounded in local agricultural practices, specializing in animal science and production, agronomy and soils. He describes this promotion as an immense honor, inspired by the mentors who shaped his path and humbled by the opportunity to stand among the community of professors he has long admired.

2025: Frank Kuo is director of Counseling Services. He specializes in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, emphasizing present solutions and hope for the future to help clients achieve quicker resolution to challenges. His expertise extends to group psychotherapy, spirituality and diversity issues, and student success initiatives, where he has developed innovative models that connect mental health with academic achievement and student retention.

2025: Colby Miyose is an associate professor of communication. He’s a Waiākea High graduate, returning home after earning his bachelor’s and master’s, teaching here at UH Hilo while he pursued his doctorate. His areas of expertise and scholarship are in family and personal communication, where he invites students to explore how communication shapes relationships, identity, and culture in both everyday and extraordinary contexts.

Congratulations to all!

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UH Hilo FY2025 Annual Report released

Published October 29, 2025 by admin

Woman in full regalia dances hula at commencement ceremonies.
Candidate dances hula during opening kīpaepae at UH Hilo’s 2024 Fall Commencement. (Photo: Tracey Niimi/TN Photography)

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin is pleased to announce the release of the campus’s 2024-2025 Annual Report.

“The 2024-25 academic year was transformational for the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo,” says Chancellor Irwin in her opening message in the report. “We launched a new integrated strategic plan and an enrollment management plan, we enrolled students in three new programs, and we had another successful grant year. The energy on campus reflected these important milestones, and I am grateful to our campus ʻohana for their many contributions to the success of our university.”

The report highlights student successes in and out of the classroom, new academic programs, the outstanding achievements of faculty and staff, research benefiting island communities and the environment, fundraising to support scholarships and programs, community outreach in myriad ways, alumni doing incredible work locally and beyond, and a campus infrastructure modernizing to support both a vibrant campus life and crucial workforce development.

The report also highlights the work being done to strengthen UH Hilo as a Hawaiian place of learning, reflecting Hawaiʻi, its people, history, cultures, and natural environment, embodying the concept of a Hawaiian university. More Native Hawaiians are in leadership roles, more programs and activities are increasing local and global community engagement to deveop “a Hawaiian sense of place” on campus, and the use of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) and culture is ever increasing though programs of study and informal learning.

Read the full report.

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Chancellor Bonnie Irwin welcomes President of Marshall Islands Hilda Heine to UH Hilo; President keynotes PacYES 2025

Published October 22, 2025 by admin

President Heine gives Chancellor Irwin a hand woven hand bag with shells. Both women wear lei. Glass window overlooks campus gardens in the background.
UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin, at left, and President of the Marshall Islands Hilda Heine exchange gifts, Oct. 18, 2025, UH Hilo. (Courtesy photo/UH Hilo)

This past weekend, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin welcomed President of the Marshall Islands Hilda Heine to campus.

President Heine at podium delivering remarks. She wears lei and holds a mic.
President of the Marshall Islands Hilda Heine addresses PacYES attendees Oct. 18, 2025, UH Hilo. (Photo: Bonnie Irwin/UH Hilo)

President Heine was the keynote speaker at this year’s annual Pacific Youth Empowerment for Success (PacYES) conference held on Saturday Oct. 18 at UH Hilo.

More than 200 high school students of Pacific Islander heritage attended the conference, which is geared to motivate, inspire, and prepare high school students of Pacific Islander heritage for college and career opportunities as well as to foster cultural connections within their own communities.

In her opening remarks at the PacYES event, Chancellor Irwin emphasized UH Hilo’s commitment to diversity and encouraged students to think deeply about their futures and their journeys yet to begin.

“We pride ourselves on being one of the most diverse campuses in the country and, even more importantly, that this diversity of people feel welcome on our campus and in our community,” said Chancellor Irwin.

President Heine delivered an inspiring keynote challenging students to recognize that leadership and impact often begin with small, intentional steps rooted in purpose, culture, and connection. Her message deeply resonated with participants, reminding them that every action, no matter how modest, contributes to lasting change.

Chancellor Irwin selfie with audience in background, open air plaza.
UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin takes a selfie with audience prior to her remarks at the 2025 PacYES event on Oct. 18, Campus Center Plaza.
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The Spirit of Aloha: Dr. and Mrs. Uohara host Vulcan Women’s Volleyball team for Hawaiʻi experience

Published October 13, 2025 by admin

Volleyball team, Chancellor Irwin and hosts on the steps of the host's home.
The Vulcan Women’s Volleyball team, Chancellor Irwin, Athletic Director Patrick Guillen, Coach Reed Sunahara, host Dr. John Uohara (all at top), and Pele Harman (front center) at the Uohara’s home on Saturday. (Courtesy photo)

This weekend, Dr. John Uohara, who established an endowed women’s volleyball scholarship with UH Hilo in 2011, hosted the team at their home for a wonderful Hawaiʻi experience.

On Saturday, at Dr. and Mrs. Uohara’s home, the volleyball team helped prepare an imu, and on Sunday, the group feasted on the results.

Chancellor Bonnie Irwin was there.

“It was a lovely gathering,” says Chancellor Irwin. “We all appreciated Dr. and Mrs. Uoharaʻs generosity in opening their home for this event. Our Vulcan athletes are fortunate to be able to live, learn, and compete in such a supportive community.”

UH Hilo’s Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement Pele Harman also attended the gathering and taught the team a simple hula and Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī.

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