Faculty & Staff Spotlight: Sunny Walker, UH Hilo’s Webmaster

Sunny Walker, Webmaster

Sunny Walker took three ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi classes at UH Hilo in 2009–2010, and used what he learned to build the Wehewehe Wikiwiki — the online Hawaiian dictionary now in steady use across the islands. That’s not even his day job. As UH Hilo’s webmaster since 1998, Sunny is the person quietly maintaining the digital infrastructure that lets the rest of campus do its work.

Sunny grew up in Waimea, graduated from Parker School, and received his BS in Computer Science at UH Hilo in 1993. As a student, he worked in the Library as a computer lab monitor, data entry auditor during in-person registrations, after-hours data archivist in the computing center, and as academic support for the Instructional Design Center at Hawai‘i CC. It was in that latter position where he taught himself web development and built and maintained Hawai‘i CC’s first website. After graduation, he worked as an Academic Specialist at Hawaiʻi CC doing institutional research from 1994-98 and taught a handful of “how to build a website” non-credit classes. In 1998, he got his current web developer position at UH Hilo, and says he “enjoys working with so many passionate and talented faculty and staff here.” Sunny builds, organizes, and maintains the systems powering the university’s digital presence, including the main website, the Wehewehe Wikiwiki online dictionary, and various bespoke web apps. He consults with faculty and staff to ensure their platforms are secure, data-driven, and fully compliant with federal, state, and university policies. Ultimately, Sunny helps provide the digital infrastructure that enables departments to foster student success. “Ua komo ʻia i ʻekolu mau papa ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi ma ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Hilo i nā MH 2009-2010 a ua haku ʻia i ka Wehewehe Wikiwiki no ka nānā pono ʻana i nā puke wehewehe ma ke kelepona paʻalima me ka ʻeleu loa ma mua o ka nā mea i maʻa i ia wā. Hoihoi iaʻu i ia mea a hoʻomau nō i nā kahuapaʻa ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi ke hiki, akā hilahila i ka emi i kaʻu mākaukau ʻōlelo,” Sunny notes. (I took three Hawaiian classes at UH Hilo in ‘09-ʻ10 where I built the Wehewehe Wikiwiki system to improve the dictionary experience on mobile. I really enjoyed it and continue to work on Hawaiian language-focused websites when able but am disappointed in my language proficiency decline.)

Sunny designed UH Hilo’s static Class Availability page that was used by students and advisors when STAR and Banner were unavailable over winter break due to the Banner Modernization Project. Within hours of the request, Sunny managed to design a beautifully functional webpage, but over the days to follow, he added enhancements, like helpful filters when doing a search and making course descriptions and class attributes viewable from the main page. His version of the class availability was actually better than the usual page! I am so incredibly grateful to Sunny that we had a resource we could use during that pretty stressful transition. Mahalo nui, e Kamakalōliʻi! Nominated by Kainoa Ariola-Sukisaki, Advising Center