{"id":214249,"date":"2025-04-22T12:45:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T22:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=214249"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:01:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:01:31","slug":"2025-manoa-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/22\/2025-manoa-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 M\u0101noa Awards spotlight campus excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_214707\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-214707\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/manoa-awards-2025-group.jpg\" alt=\"2025 Â鶹´«Ã½Manoa awardees group photo\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-214707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/manoa-awards-2025-group.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/manoa-awards-2025-group-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/manoa-awards-2025-group-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-214707\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2025 <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Award winners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa celebrated the exceptional achievements of its faculty, staff and students at the 2025 <a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\"><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Awards Ceremony<\/a>, on April 28 at Kennedy Theatre.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> President Wendy Hensel, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Vice Provost for Academic Excellence Laura Lyons and Board of Regents Vice Chair Laurie Tochiki recognized this year\u2019s honorees for their outstanding accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p>A video recording of the event will be available on the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Manoa Awards page at a later date.<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations to all our winners!<\/p>\n<h2>2025 <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Awards winners<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#regents-teaching\">Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mapuana C.K. Antonio, associate professor, public health<\/li>\n<li>Matthew F. Cain, associate professor, chemistry<\/li>\n<li>Elisabeth Mehana <span aria-label=\"Makainai\">Maka&#699;ina&#699;i<\/span>, instructor, Hawaiian studies<\/li>\n<li>Hannah Manshel, assistant professor, English<\/li>\n<li>Masaru Mito, instructor, Japanese language<\/li>\n<li>Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, associate professor, political science<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#regents-research\">Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Research<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sloan Coats, assistant professor, Earth sciences<\/li>\n<li>Matthieu Dubarry, associate researcher, <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Natural Energy Institute<\/li>\n<li>Rick Kazman, professor, information technology management<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#davis-undergrad\">Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Margaret Colleen Rost-Banik, instructor, sociology<\/li>\n<li>Sara Maaria Saastamoinen, <abbr title=\"doctor of philosophy\">PhD<\/abbr> student, political science<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#clopton-service\">Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community Service<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maya Soetoro-Ng, associate specialist, Matsunaga Institute for Peace<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#meritorious-teaching\">Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dean Domingo, instructor, Ilokano language<\/li>\n<li>Chad Edward Miller, specialist, teacher education<\/li>\n<li>You-il (Chris) Park, associate professor, accounting<\/li>\n<li>Melissa Renae Price, associate professor, wildlife management<\/li>\n<li>Jennifer D.S. Griswold, professor, atmospheric sciences<\/li>\n<li>Kaori Tamura, associate professor, kinesiology and rehabilitation science<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#outstanding-service\">Presidential Award for Outstanding Service<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Seung Yang, assistant director, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program<\/li>\n<li>John Gestrich, carpentry shops manager, Campus Operations and Facilities<\/li>\n<li>Marla Fergerstrom, farm manager, College of Tropical Agriculture &#38; Human Resilience<\/li>\n<li>Jennifer Frank, physician, University Health Services M\u0101noa<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#staff-excellence\">Jean Takamura Staff Excellence Award<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Michele Inouchi, administrative officer, Office of the Vice Provost for Student Success<\/li>\n<li>Roy Tom, machinist, Department of Physics and Astronomy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#garrod-mentoring\">Peter V. Garrod Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Michael Liu, astronomer, Institute for Astronomy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#academic-advisor\">Pakela Award for Outstanding Academic Advisor<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kenny <span aria-label=\"Kaaiakamanu\">Ka&#699;aiakamanu<\/span>-Quibilan, assistant faculty specialist, Department of Information &#38; Computer Sciences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#academic-advisor\"><span aria-label=\"Oikela\">&#699;Oikela<\/span> Award for Outstanding Advising Unit<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Academic &#38; Student Affairs Office, College of Tropical Agriculture &#38; Human Resilience <br \/>(Kayden Iwasaki, Irene Morrow, Maile Sing and Jessica Strenstrom)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#faculty-excellence-mentoring\"><abbr>OVPRS<\/abbr> Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research and Creative Work<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sladjana Pri&#353;i&#263;, associate professor, microbiology<\/li>\n<li>Pei-Ling Kao, associate professor, dance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#student-research\">Student Excellence in Research Award<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Al&#225;ine Fiona Lee, undergraduate student, astrophysics<\/li>\n<li>Kazuumi Fujioka, <abbr>PhD<\/abbr> candidate, chemistry<\/li>\n<li>Nick Saunders, <abbr>PhD<\/abbr> candidate, astronomy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/president\/awards\/#student-employee\">Student Employee of the Year<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shayla Spotkaeff, undergraduate research assistant, Center for Oral History<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Awardees were selected following careful review by the various awards committees, based on nominations and supporting materials across teaching, research, mentoring and service. Mahalo to all who participated in the selection process.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/chancellor\/awards\/\">See the awards page for a complete list of winner biographies.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Awards Ceremony was held on April 28, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":214707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[142,1092,1091,1093,598,1480,1467,1363,698,660,1486,9],"class_list":["post-214249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-award","tag-bor-medal-research","tag-bor-medal-teaching","tag-davis-award","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-manoa-academic-innovation-engaged-learning","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-staff-recognition","tag-student-recognition","tag-teaching","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/manoa-awards-2025-group.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214249"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221968,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214249\/revisions\/221968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}