Ho‘oulu Terrace, UH Hilo

Aloha Chair Lagareta, members of the Board of Regents, President McClain and colleagues. Welcome to UH Hilo.

Today I will highlight UH Hilo’s commitment to excellence.

It is a commitment to being both an institution of access and a destination-point institution. We are committed to offering high-quality programs to the citizens of our island, state, nation and world.

It is a commitment to our students to deliver the best quality education possible.

And it is a commitment to our island and state to help build strong communities, a thriving economy and professional workforce for the 21^st century.

UH Hilo is in the ideal position to build the professional workforce needed for our state’s rural communities.

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The UH system invites the communities it serves to participate in meetings to revisit the UH System Strategic Plan, 2002-2010. Meetings will be held on all 10 campuses during the Fall 2007 semester.

The Hilo meeting will be held on campus at the University Classroom Building, room 127, on Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 2:30 p.m.

The National Science Foundation will hold the 20th National EPSCoR Conference Nov. 6-9 at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott hotel on the Big Island.

EPSCoR is the acronym for Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and the Hawai’i EPSCoR statewide initiative was founded and now is administered at UH Hilo.

The main portion of the conference consisting of several panel discussions will take place on Nov. 7 and 8. The session on the 6th is UH Hilo’s welcome reception with keynote speech from Edgy Lee, Founder and CEO of Filmworks Pacific. On the 9th will be business meetings of the jurisdictional project directors and administrators.

You can read all about the conference at www.epscor07.com .

“We’re hoping Hawai‘i has plenty of people in attendance,” says Terrilani Chong, NSF Hawai‘i EPSCoR project administrator. “There will be program officers from every directorate of the NSF there who will be available for questions, so it’s a great opportunity to interact with someone from NSF on a personal level.”

“Please try to attend,” she says, “and let’s show the nation what a great place Hawai‘i really is.”

For more info on Hawai‘i EPSCoR, click here .

Chancellor Tseng at center surrounded by volunteers at the 2006 alumni golf tourney. Photo courtesy of UH Hilo’s Office of Marketing and Alumni Affairs.

UH Hilo’s Alumni & Friends Association will host its 4^th Annual Golf Tournament on Oct. 13. The event, held at the Hapuna Golf Course at Kawaihae on the island of Hawai‘i, is open to anyone with an established handicap. The fee is $175.

The one-day tournament, chaired by Dale Tokuuke, begins at 8:00 in the morning, followed by what organizers call “a scrumptious lunch” at Arnie’s .

Participants will also receive a gift bag full of quality merchandise, in addition to green fees, cart and mulligans.

The annual tournament began in 2004 to raise scholarship funds for students attending UH Hilo. Recipients are selected based on academic merit and financial need. Scholarship applicants must be or have an immediate family member who is a UH Hilo alumnus, in addition to a required GPA. To date, nine scholarships have been awarded.

Special room rates starting from $155 at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel are secured for the weekend of the tournament. Those interested in being a golfer or sponsor can call 808-974-7643 or 808-974-7501 for more info, or visit the alumni golf website at http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/alumni/golf .

Tonight’s Focus on UH Hilo cable program will include a conversation with Lee Dombroski, new manager at UH Hilo’s Performing Arts Center (at left). She will preview the new theater season and give an update on the latest happenings at the center.

The show airs live tonight on Channel 55 starting at 8:00 p.m. For those who do not have cable television but would like to view this program, please contact the marketing and alumni office for a video copy.

Focus on UH Hilo, hosted by Chancellor Tseng and moderated by Ken Hupp, highlights UH Hilo programs, up and coming developments and the university’s partnerships with various community organizations. The show airs twice a month on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m.

For more information, contact Yu Yok Pearring, director of marketing and alumni affairs, at yuyok@hawaii.edu.

UH Hilo chancellor making strides in higher education

See full story at Greentree Gazette (external site determines when link expires).

Summary:

UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng has been making strides in higher education for the past 30 years, spending the last nine transforming UH Hilo from a small liberal arts institution into a comprehensive university.

UH Hilo officials announced today that the Fall 2007 enrollment increase over Fall 2006 is largely due to the inaugural class at the new College of Pharmacy and the increasing percentage of students from Hawai‘i.

Preliminary figures released by the UH system reveal UH Hilo’s enrollment of 3,608 grew by 2.6 percent compared to a year ago. The increase extends enrollment gains spanning 10 years and totaling 38.8 percent, an average of 3.4 percent per year.

But even with these gains, growth is limited in part due to a shortage of housing units, which causes a number of in-state students from other islands to abandon plans to attend the university.

“To maintain this steady rate of growth over an extended period, despite the need for more student housing, speaks volumes about UH Hilo’s overall quality,” says Chancellor Tseng. “This bodes well for the future, because it suggests our rate of growth will increase once we get additional housing.”

Full press release here .

 
Young students explore displays at the exhibit hall at ‘Imiloa. Photo by William Ing.

‘Imiloa Astronomy Center announces a new planetarium program, “Infinity Express,” which takes the audience on an exciting journey of discovery, from the search of the solar system to the mapping of the universe.

Journey to the planets, explore nebula and star clusters and witness galaxy collisions.

“Infinity Express,” narrated by actor Laurence Fishburne, is a remarkable blend of science, art and entertainment that dramatically communicates the latest breakthroughs in our quest to understand the universe.

The new show is featured at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. daily, Tuesday through Sunday, at ‘Imiloa.

Read full story at Hawaii Tribune-Herald (external news source determines link expiration).

Director of Athletics Kathleen McNally (at left) announced today that UH Hilo is ranked 7th among NCAA Division II universities in the 5th Annual National Collegiate Scouting Association Collegiate Power Rankings.

The rankings rate colleges and universities comprehensively based on student-athlete graduations rates, academic strength and athletic prowess of the university. The institutions posted in the 2007 Power Rankings are in an elite group of less than 6% of colleges and universities across the nation to make the 5th annual list.

More than 35,000 college coaches and more than 1,700 colleges and universities use NCSA to meet their recruiting needs. The NCSA annually tracks more than 100,000 of the top student athletes in 25 sports who will be making their way on to college rosters with the ultimate goal of earning a college degree.

Full press release here .

The UH system office reports today that UH Hilo’s opening fall enrollment increased to 3,608, a gain of 91 students, or 2.6 percent, compared to a year ago. The numbers extend a period of growth at UH Hilo dating back to 1997.

“We continue to be very excited with our enrollment growth, which has been consistently increasing over the last few years,” said Chancellor Tseng. “We offer many programs that are unique to UH Hilo, including our College of Pharmacy, which started its inaugural class this fall. Our infrastructure is also steadily increasing and undergoing improvements to handle this growth. All of this is a reflection of the quality of education our students receive at UH Hilo.”

Full press release here .