Category: Community Gatherings

Kaʻiu Kimura, director of Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, officially received her 2026 Athena Leadership Award from the Hawaiʻi Island Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. The local award originates from Athena International, a non-profit organization that empowers women, girls, and allies worldwide to develop inclusive leadership through programs and opportunities. The award was announced earlier this month but the official ceremonies took place January 20 at a luncheon hosted by the chamber.

Kimura was named director of the university’s Hawaiian language college in 2023. She is long-standing executive director at UH Hilo’s ʻImiloa Astronomy Center, a position she retains while serving as director of the college. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools, she received her bachelor of arts and master of arts in Hawaiian language and literature from UH Hilo and is currently a candidate in the university’s Indigenous language revitalization doctoral program.

• Read full story on Kaʻiu Kimura’s accomplishments.

Kimura was nominated for the award by UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin. The following is Chancellor Irwin’s introductory remarks at the event on Tuesday.

A number of remarkable people work at UH Hilo, and we are fortunate to have them among us on campus and here in the community. Many remarkable people are UH Hilo alumni. Our guest of honor today belongs to both groups.

When it came time for me to nominate someone for the Athena Award, Kaʻiu immediately came to mind as the best candidate. Past president of both the Japanese Chamber and our Hawaiʻi Island Chamber, executive director of the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center, interim director of Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani (College of Hawaiian Language).

Patrice Buckner Jackson defines four factors that combine to create each person’s individual brilliance: Training, Talent, Identity, and Passion. I will not recite all the impressive training that Kaʻiu as received or her many talents, but I do want to say a few things about her identity and passion.

Kaʻiu Kimura leads with kindness and a quiet modesty. She gets things done, but she does not seek the limelight. Indeed, she was a reluctant nominee for the Athena Award, but I convinced her that it would be good for the university if she let me nominate her.

She approaches the work with optimism, steadfastness, and kindness. When I first arrived at UH Hilo, she offered to show me the Hawaiian immersion pathway. We visited Pūnana Leo, Nāwahī, Ka Haka ʻUla and ʻImiloa. Thus, Ka Haka ʻUla and ʻImiloa were on my radar in greater detail than the other units on campus — good work! This invitation also identified Kaʻiu’s passion to me — the Hawaiian language revitalization movement, into which she pours her heart and soul, even making time to answer the occasional ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi question from her boss.

At a time when some families think their student will do better to seek education off island, Kaʻiu stands as a sterling example of a locally educated and invested professional in our community. She is indeed a great leader.

-First posted at UH Hilo Stories.

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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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