Fall 2022 tutors (with Dr. Gilliland and Dr. Grüter; not pictured: Gisella Kahapea and
Khyla Rabang)

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University of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Second Language Studies alumna Lena Petko, found her path to a master’s degree, a new career, and an unexpected ʻohana through an accelerated Combined Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree Pathway (BAMA Pathway) program.

BAMA Pathway programs encourage high-performing UHM undergraduate students to commit to a master’s program early and take graduate-level classes in their senior year. The program helped Lena go from testing the waters for a return to college to employment as an instructor with the UHM �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� English Language Program (HELP).

For more details on Lena’s story, please visit �鶹��ýNews at /news/2022/10/11/bam-accelerated-path-to-graduate-degree/.

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SLS PhD student Alice Zhu has been awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award for her dissertation project titled “Facilitation Effects of Structural Priming on Second Language Learning and Prediction of the Dative Alternation.” To learn more about her dissertation project and award, please visit the project summary page at . Congratulations, Alice!

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PhD alumna Dr. Mari Miyao is now an Associate Professor in the College of Social Sciences at Ritsumeikan University in Japan. Congratulations to Mari and best of luck to her in her new position!

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PhD alumna Dr. Haerim Hwang will be joining the Department of English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in August as an Assistant Professor. Congratulations to Haerim and best of luck to her in her new position!

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PhD student Mayuko Yusa has been awarded a graduate fellowship from the Center for Japanese Studies for Fall 2022 to Spring 2023. Congratulations, Mayuko!

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A startup company helping people learn different languages is the winner of the 2022 . Great Online Activities for Language Learning (GOALL), led by four of our PhD students, won a prize package of more than $34,000.

GOALL provides a web and mobile app to help adult language learners achieve their goals through customizable and research-grounded task-based activities. Its prize package includes $10,000 from title sponsors Hawaiian Electric Industries and Hawaiian Electric, and more than $24,000 in in-kind prizes. Team members are Diane Ann Choe, Kristen Urada, Sunnie (Yang) Liu and Susanne DeVore, who are all PhD students in our department.

To learn more and read the full news article, please visit /news/2022/04/30/uh-venture-competition-goall/.

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Presidential Award for Outstanding Service

Kenny helps international students with academic English support needs and serves as lead advisor and chief administrator for the department’s BA program, which he helped to develop and expand to more than 60 majors. With graciousness, humor and positivity, he has been described as a leader, teacher, researcher, counselor and mentor, juggling multiple areas with remarkable human heartedness, efficiency, attention to detail and professionalism. Kenny is a supportive advisor, guiding students through their academic journey, and in some cases, turmoil – especially during the pandemic years. He has been able to defuse problems while encouraging students to find their own paths socially and academically. He epitomizes the concept of outstanding academic service and is described as a “gem” as he has positively impacted hundreds of students, advisors, teachers and colleagues.

Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for Graduate Teaching Assistants

During the past two years, Hoa has taught undergraduate classes in the Vietnamese language program where she developed new, innovative syllabi and course material that served the diverse and real-world needs of her students. She believes education, and language teaching in particular, should aim to contribute to modern society, which is rooted in rounded, open and well-developed educational concepts. Importantly, it should place the learners at the center of education, educating the whole person, and promote mutual aid and cooperation in the classroom. When teaching online, Le put extra effort to take advantage of technology making her lessons engaging and motivating. Her students have expressed that they really enjoyed and were delighted learning this tonal language and connecting to its culture, while putting what they learned into real-world practice.

Last year, Dr. Betsy Gilliland received the Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching and SLS minor student Kaylie Hayashida received the campus’s Student Employee of the Year award.

For the full list of awardees, please visit

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