{"id":221046,"date":"2025-08-28T11:27:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T21:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=221046"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T22:49:10","slug":"guy-kawasaki-joins-uh-to-advise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/28\/guy-kawasaki-joins-uh-to-advise\/","title":{"rendered":"Guy Kawasaki\u2014Apple veteran, tech evangelist, author joins UH<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"Guy<\/p>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is gaining a major tech powerhouse in its efforts to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI<\/abbr>), entrepreneurship and more. Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple, author and current evangelist for online graphic, image and video tool company Canva, has joined UH<\/abbr> Foundation Board of Trustees and as an informal advisor to President Wendy Hensel. Kawasaki, in his capacity as a Â鶹´«Ã½Foundation Trustee, is offering a resource to faculty members on strategic uses of AI as well as entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

Kawasaki brings a rare blend of Silicon Valley savvy and deep Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> roots. Born and raised on Oʻahu<\/span>, he is a graduate of ʻIolani School and Stanford University, with an MBA<\/abbr> from UCLA<\/abbr>. He rose to fame in the 1980s at Apple, where he played a key role in marketing the original Macintosh. He has since become a prolific author, investor, speaker, podcaster and advocate for democratizing technology through accessible tools such as Canva.<\/p>\n

Now, Kawasaki is returning home—both literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n

“I think you can divide life into three pieces,” he said in a recent interview. “First, you learn\u2026 and then you earn\u2026 and then you return. So I\u2019m in the return phase. My son is at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, I\u2019m from Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>—it all lines up. Now I can return something to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and help my son\u2019s school. It\u2019s perfect.”<\/p>\n

Hensel was excited to be able to accept Kawasaki\u2019s offer of his expertise to UH<\/abbr> in multiple ways. His depth of knowledge in technology and entrepreneurship is vast and touches on some of the popular companies in America. He has also agreed to take a seat as a trustee on the UH<\/abbr> Foundation Board. <\/p>\n

“Having someone of Guy\u2019s stature—whose understanding of technology\u2019s evolution is both vast and visionary—is truly a gift, and a reflection of the remarkable talent that comes from Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,” Hensel said. “His deep roots in the islands, coupled with his eagerness to give back at such a pivotal moment in AI<\/abbr> and beyond, make this an extraordinary opportunity for all of us.”<\/p>\n

Kawasaki offered to meet with faculty groups and speak at classes throughout the 10 campuses as part of his role. <\/p>\n

Understanding AI<\/abbr>\u2019s future<\/h2>\n

Kawasaki believes AI<\/abbr> represents one of the most transformative forces of our time—and one that can benefit Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> immensely if embraced with intention and urgency.<\/p>\n

“AI<\/abbr> is a humongous, humongous new factor. And in a sense, it\u2019s leveling the playing field,” he said. “AI<\/abbr> in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> should stand not for artificial intelligence—but for \u2018Aloha Intelligence.\u2019 Our kind of AI<\/abbr> combines aloha with technology. It\u2019s a different kind of intelligence, and I see no reason why the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> cannot rise to the top in the practical use of AI<\/abbr>.”<\/p>\n

In Silicon Valley, Kawasaki witnessed firsthand how early adoption of emerging technologies can fuel economic growth and opportunity. But he challenges the notion that innovation is limited to the continental U.S.<\/p>\n

“Just because students are in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> doesn\u2019t mean their careers are limited to agriculture, retail, or tourism,” he said. “They can do anything. And it\u2019s not like Silicon Valley has a monopoly on smart people. What they do have is ambition—and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has the heart.” <\/p>\n

His message to students and educators is simple: don\u2019t overthink it—just start using AI<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

“Stick your email in and ask it to improve it. Use it to edit papers, check facts, tighten writing. Just play with it. Don\u2019t make it a big deal.”<\/p>\n

Kawasaki\u2019s partnership with UH<\/abbr> signals a commitment to innovation infused with local values—bridging high tech with aloha.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kawasaki brings a rare blend of Silicon Valley savvy and deep Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> roots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":221067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193],"tags":[1602,61,62,63,64,65,71,14,9,60,947,59,66],"class_list":["post-221046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-ai","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/system-ai-kawasaki-g.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221046","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=221046"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221399,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221046\/revisions\/221399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}