UH Hilo announces year-end award recipients

A student, staff, and faculty members were honored at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo 2013 Awards and Recognition Celebration held recently on campus.

Xietan Kawai Anuhea Dutro, a student fiscal/administrative assistant at Ka Haka `Ula O Ke`elikōlani (KHUOK) College of Hawaiian Language, was honored as Student Employee of the Year. Dutro has worked at the College since 2008 and is an integral part of its preparation and planning for events and activities as well as being the College’s representative on the Merrie Monarch Parade committee.

The Outstanding University Support Employee Award was presented to Shana Kaneshiro whose work as an office assistant in the Financial Aid Office positively affects the 8,200 students applying for financial aid each year. Kaneshiro redesigned all the FAO forms that can now be done online, and each year volunteers for the College Goal Sunday events in Hilo and Kona that help up to 400 students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). She has served as president of the UH clerical support group Nā Laulima, and has been the campus clerical representative on the UH Hilo Chancellor’s Professional Development Committee since 2011.

College of Continuing Education and Community Service (CCECS) Program Coordinator Corinne Tamashiro, who began working for the College as a student in 1971, received the Professional Staff Award. A former Interim and Acting Dean, Tamashiro played a significant role in planning and establishing the North Hawai’i Education and Research Center (NHERC) in Honoka`a, and single handedly built UH Hilo’s summer session program into what it is today.

This year’s Taniguchi Excellence & Innovation Award went to Dr. Philippe Binder, professor of astronomy, and Dr. Ramon Figueroa-Centeno, associate professor of mathematics. Binder and Figueroa-Centeno were recognized for their work on three-dimensional visualization of complex mathematical objects in `Imiloa’s 16-meter state-of-the-art stereoscopic planetarium. Their work offers significant advances in the presentation of complex mathematical data sets, which allow data to be manipulated so that it can be better understood and become a powerful tool in physics and mathematics courses. The first of its kind to be presented in a planetarium environment, the data has been presented at a national level visualization conference and used in university classes.

The event also recognized retirees and employees receiving various years of service awards.