UH Manoa names three employees to receive the Chancellor's Awards for Outstanding Service for 2005

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Jim Manke, (808) 956-6099
UH Manoa Chancellor's Office
Posted: Jul 12, 2005

Three UH Manoa employees have been selected to receive this year‘s Chancellor‘s Awards for Outstanding Service. In addition to top-caliber job performance over a sustained period, each was cited for exceptional efforts in the emergency conditions following the devastating floods at Manoa in October of last year.

This year‘s honorees are:

Juliana Siu — Secretary II in the UH medical school‘s Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology and Reproductive Biology. Siu joined the medical school staff in 1994, and soon thereafter assumed administrative responsibility for the school‘s Willed Body Program that receives donated human cadavers for educational purposes.

In the immediate aftermath of the October 2004 flood that hit the Biomedical Science Building especially hard, Siu "stepped forward with clarity of thought, focus and determination" (the words of her nominators) to organize departmental response in the areas of instruction, research, communication and administration "to keep the place running."

Siu also was the prime mover in developing and nurturing a memorial service for surviving family members of those who donate their bodies to the medical school that has turned into a positive and uplifting experience for those who participate each year.

LeVonne Kukahiko — Janitor III, Biomedical Science Building. She "truly loves the Biomedical building, and cares for it like it is her own home," according to her nominators. Kukahiko‘s energy and dedication were especially evident following the devastation of the fall semester flooding. That disaster required not only cleanup and debris removal, but also a great deal of packing and moving to new quarters. Medical school administrators had high praise for her "primary leadership and extraordinary service." She has been a UH employee for sixteen years.

John Awakuni — Fiscal Officer/Institutional Support, Library Services. Nominators wrote that Awakuni would be deserving of recognition "under normal circumstances," but that his initiative and expertise were put even more to the test following the October floods. He has been at UH for 35 years — 19 years with Library Services — honing the highly specialized skills above and beyond those
normally used by fiscal officers elsewhere in the university system. "Never misses a deadline," wrote one nominator, and this year Awakuni had the "triple burden" of handling his normal job "while coordinating purchasing, documentation and follow-through" required by state and university insurance agencies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The Chancellor‘s service awards are presented each year to employees who demonstrate leadership, outstanding work performance, and service to the campus. This year‘s honorees will be recognized at the university‘s convocation ceremony in September; each will receive a $1,000 cash award. Each is considered as the university‘s nominee for the Governor‘s Award for Distinguished State Service to be announced in October.