Todd Shumway, director of Global Exchange at UH-Hilo, hands a pen to Noriko Mizuta, chancellor of Josai University Corporation and president of Josai International University in Japan, to sign an agreement that will open the door for shared research projects and student and faculty exchange programs, as UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng looks on. - Photos By Terrie Henderson/Tribune-Herald

UH-Hilo enters into agreement with international universities, highlights the accomplishments of the world’s female educators

by Terrie Henderson
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:00 AM HST

It isn’t every day a group of international women leaders from top universities across the globe gather in Hilo to discuss the accomplishments, and challenges, they’ve shared.

But on Monday, eight of these women met at the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Performing Arts Center and spoke informally about their paths to success in an “Oprah”-like talk show setting during the presentation, “A Global Dialogue … Women in Higher Education.”

“You have to have passion. The passion of serving. The passion of community,” said UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng, who is the only Asian American woman in the United States to head a university.

Tseng said the university, which has witnessed increased enrollment over the past five years, is striving to be globally competitive. She said it only seemed fitting that a discussion amongst women leaders who have been firsts in many roles of leadership meet and discuss global issues in a place as culturally and ethnically diverse as the Big Island.

Prior to their “talk story” session, five of the women leaders signed agreements with UH-Hilo. Tseng called the agreements the beginnings of what could blossom into student exchange, faculty exchange and research initiatives with the schools these women represented.

“We are very proud of our university and very honored today to sign agreements … to extend our global reach,” Tseng said.

The female leaders who signed agreements Monday were: Chen Weijia, chairwoman of University Council, Communication University of China; Josefina Castillo Baltodano, president of Marian University in Wisconsin; Mary Jossy Nakandha Okwakol, vice -chancellor of Busitema University, Uganda; Noriko Mizuta, chancellor of Josai University Corporation, president and professor of Josai International University in Japan; and Sandra Harding, vice chancellor and president of James Cook University in Australia.

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UH-Hilo student research assistant Mary Chapman, left, undergoes a full-body scan on the Hologic QDR-4500W bone densitometer, while exercise physiologist Linc Gotshalk looks on. The machine was donated to UHH by Dr. Doug Hiller, a Waimea orthopedic surgeon and sports doctor. - William Ing/Hawaii Tribune-Herald

by John Burnett

Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

A Waimea orthopedic surgeon has donated a piece of equipment to the University of Hawaii at Hilo that could make the school’s exercise laboratory a leader among the nation’s small colleges.

Dr. Doug Hiller also specializes in sports medicine and has served as the chief medical officer for the Olympics triathlon since the 2004 Athens games. The North Hawaii Community Hospital practitioner gave UH-Hilo a used Hologic QDR-4500W bone densitometer. The machine is nine years old, but runs about $100,000 new, and should have many more years of productive use, Hiller said.

“There are very few of these machines available to exercise physiologists. It’s a really expensive piece of equipment,” Hiller said. “We used this originally to look at a group of Olympic-bound athletes who came to the Big Island in 1999 and 2000. It was designed for NASA to look at bone density in astronauts. … This machine has an upgrade that allows us to look also at (percentages of) body fat and lean muscle mass. So it’s a perfect machine for looking at the effects of diet on people, the effects of aging on people, the effects of exercise on people.”

Hiller is working with exercise physiologist Lincoln “Linc” Gotshalk on a study of men and women student-athletes at UHH to note changes in bone density, muscle mass and body fat during pre-season, regular season and post-season.

“We’re looking at stress and how stress changes body composition or bone density,” said Gotshalk, a veteran powerlifter who coached nine NCAA powerlifting championship teams at Temple University in Philadelphia before coming to UHH. “We’re looking at factors such as eating patterns, grades, how they feel on the road.

“What we’re hoping to see is the difference, or no difference, between the pre-season training, when they’re settled on campus and eat and train on campus on a regular basis, and then — especially at the University of Hawaii at Hilo — travel, and have to take courses and do tests on the road and meet their academic needs while on a demanding athletic schedule.

“Hopefully we can help prevent some of the muscle loss, bone density loss and body fat gains. That’s difficult to do because of all the stresses that the season affords.”

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The number of students from Hawaii is on the rise

by Bret Yager

Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Published: Sunday, September 14, 2008 8:01 AM HST

The University of Hawaii at Hilo added 178 students to its enrollment this year — a 4.9 percent increase that Chancellor Rose Tseng sees as growth “at a steady, sustainable pace.”

Enrollment at the university of 3,786 students has been rising since 1998, bolstered this year by a record freshman class, a 22 percent increase in Native Hawaiians and 90 new students at the College of Pharmacy.

Students are also taking more credits than elsewhere in the 10-campus system, with course loads averaging 12.7 credits, compared to 11.4 credits at the Manoa campus.

The number of students from Hawaii is also on the rise at UHH, due in part to resident-focused recruiting efforts. Students coming to the university from outside Hawaii fell from 35 percent last year to 31.6 percent this year, all part of the plan to focus on local students.

“We still recruit in the Pacific Northwest and California, but we used to recruit on the East Coast and in Colorado. Not anymore,” said Jim Cromwell, UHH director of admissions. “We took that money and put it into local recruiting.”

The university recently hired a Native Hawaiian recruiter on Oahu to go into schools there and on Molokai and Lanai, bolstering ongoing recruitment efforts on the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. Recruiters who visited schools once a year are now making multiple visits to discuss orientation, early registration and system accounts that students must set up to apply to the school.

Freshman applications accepted by the university this fall rose to 1,139, 13 percent more than last year. A total of 548 freshmen actually enrolled, up 8 percent from last year.

“I think we’re starting to see that increase,” Cromwell said. “We’ve had our largest freshman class ever. Our freshman class is almost 30 percent Native Hawaiian. That’s amazing.”

Luoluo Hong, vice chancellor for student affairs, said enrollment and capacity must be balanced, noting that moderate climbs in enrollment are preferable to unbridled growth.

“Every campus has a critical mass at which it can operate most efficiently,” Hong said in a prepared statement. “The one thing we don’t want is for the rate of growth to outstrip our capacity to meet the needs of our students.”

Hong said the campus has limited staff, facilities and money. UHH has an enrollment goal of 5,000 students by 2014.

The university’s ability to get prospective students to campus is hampered by a lack of student housing, with hundreds of applicants on lists each fall for the 620 spaces at the university’s residence halls.

“I’d have had more (freshmen), but I didn’t have the dorms,” Cromwell said. “If you’re a parent and your kid is 17, you’re not going to send them to Hilo if there are no dorms.”

There are 826 Native Hawaiians attending UHH, up 100 from last year.

Link

The RSVP deadline for UH Hilo’s “A Global Dialogue: Women in Higher Education” is extended to Wednesday, Sept. 17.

The international gathering of women leaders in higher education is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 22 from 4-6 p.m. in the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center.

“A Global Dialogue: Women in Higher Education” will bring together university presidents and chancellors from around the world, who will share their perspectives on women’s leadership in higher education.

Joining UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng will be Chen Naifang, former president, Beijing Foreign Studies University; Chen Wejia, chair of University Council, Communication University of China; Josefina Castillo Baltodano, president, Marion University; Mary Jossy Nakandha Okwakol, vice chancellor, Busitema University, Uganda; Noriko Mizuta, chancellor, Josai University Corporation and president, Josai International University of Japan; Sandra Harding, vice chancellor, James Cook University, Australia; and Virginia Hinshaw, chancellor of University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Participants will share their personal stories of achievement and discuss how women are playing an increasingly prominent role in shaping higher education. The event will be moderated by Luoluo Hong, vice chancellor for student affairs.

An international dessert reception in honor of the guests will be held on the Performing Arts Center’s lanai following the event.

To RSVP or for more information, please contact the UH Hilo ConferenceCenter at (808) 974-7555 or email uhhconferencecenter@gmail.com .