The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s School of Travel Industry Management (TIM) in the Shidler College of Business received a $500,000 gift from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support students who enrolled from Hawaiʻi high schools. The gift establishes a new scholarship that will assist juniors and seniors who demonstrate financial need and leadership abilities, with a preference for students of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

When Courtney Ro, BBA ‘12, was a student at Shidler studying management and accounting, she was busy preparing herself for her post-college path, which would include her first job out of college at Ernst and Young and then running her own bookkeeping business in 2017. She couldn’t have imagined it at the time, but the flexibility of setting her own schedule would allow her to help her husband, Zachary Villanueva, also a UH Mānoa alumnus (BA ‘15), sell handcrafted (?) ice cream while he was still working a full-time job. Now the pair operate Sage Creamery, scooping out flavors like strawberry fields, kiawe honey lavender and haulolo.

When Maura Mizuguchi, BBA ‘83, made the decision to earn her accounting degree after thumbing through the help wanted ads in the newspaper, she never looked back. She worked diligently at earning high grades and being involved in extracurricular activities to earn a position at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She successfully landed at the firm and eventually moved to the mainland. Since then, she’s worked at several Fortune 100 companies and is now the chief accounting officer of Cetera Financial Group.

Eva Kam, BBA ‘99, spent her childhood watching her father, Kwock Yum “Johnson” Kam open and grow the first L&L Hawaiian Drive-Inn on Liliha Street in 1976 with “Aunty Margaret,” the mother of his future business partner, Eddie Flores, Jr., BBA ‘70. She recalls that her father recruited friends, family, employees and customers to help grow the business and expand to seven locations over 10 years. On a 1991 family trip with Flores, the idea of franchising the company came up and the partners began. In the 1990s, Johnson Kam started to recruit employees to work in locations on the neighbor islands and in 1999, the first mainland location was opened as L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in Cerritos, California. 

The newly modernized Roland and Evelyn Casamina House of Finance Undergraduate Student Leadership Center was unveiled during a blessing ceremony held on January 6 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business. The $250,000 renovation was made possible due to the generosity of alumnus Roland Casamina, BBA ’76, founder and CEO of House of Finance, Inc. and founding president of the Filipino Community Center, and his wife, Evelyn, who is co-founder of House of Finance, Inc.

School of Travel Industry Management (TIM School) alumnus Ren Hirose, BBA ‘85, is no stranger to supporting his alma mater. His latest gift of an endowed $50,000 scholarship, called the Ren Hirose Family Endowed Scholarship, adds to his contributions over the years to the college and its students. As a Maui native and Baldwin High School graduate, Hirose’s scholarship will preference students from Maui high schools to give them opportunities to attend the TIM School to prepare them for promising careers in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Shidler College of Business Assistant Professor Caroline Fry published a new study in the March 2022 issue of Organizational Science. Her paper, titled “Bridging the Gap: Evidence from the Return Migration of African Scientists,” outlines her recent research. The study examined the impact of researchers who returned home to Africa following masters and doctoral training at Top 20 institutions in the United States as part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded program. The research follows HIV-related researchers based in African institutions and measures the influence of a scientist returning to their institution following training in the United States.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business’ annual scholarship luncheon event made its in-person return at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on November 7. The event brought together student recipients and scholarship donors. It gave students the opportunity to meet and thank the donors, and share how their gifts impacted the students’ education.

Two major efforts begin today tied to the University of Hawaiʻi Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) project. Applications open for leasing at RISE, which is slated to open in fall 2023, and scholarships for 50 UH students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship through the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) PACE Leaders program.

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business hosted its 2022 Hall of Honor Awards on Thursday, October 13, at the Sheraton Waikīkī to celebrate four distinguished business leaders and alumni. The event also raised $340,500 in support of the Shidler college.

A cookbook, picture books and podcasts are some of the ways University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa business students are raising awareness about the global fight against climate change. The projects were part of Instructor Constancio Paranal III’s summer 2022 marketing course called “Imagination, Entrepreneurship” in the Shidler College of Business.

The U.S. News & World Report released its “America’s Best Colleges” for 2022-2023 on Sept. 11, ranking the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 13th on its list of top international business programs, up one spot from 14^th on the previous ranking. Additional colleges making the list included New York University, Georgetown University, UC Berkeley, University of South Carolina, University of Michigan and Washington State University.

Ben Godsey knows how important entrepreneurs are to Hawaiʻi’s economy. As the president and CEOof ProService Hawaii, one of Hawaiʻi’s largest outsourced human resource providers, he counts more than 2,000 local small businesses as clients—most of them entrepreneurs.

A blessing was held at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business on August 11 to celebrate the completed renovation of the Tom W.S. Hee Undergraduate Computer Room into a state-of-the-art facility. The $600,000 lab renovation was funded from the estate of Clifford and Blanche Hee and named in honor of their son Tom Hee, who was an admired alumnus of the college and an accomplished banking professional, computer expert and community-minded volunteer.

Students across the University of Hawaiʻi System who are interested in entrepreneurship are invited to apply to live at Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE), the mixed-use student housing/innovation center under construction across from the UH Mānoa campus.

The state’s lone recipient of a $10,000 national accounting scholarship is a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business undergraduate student. Haiying Li, a junior accounting major, was named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) scholar for the 2022–23 academic year. These scholarships are awarded to outstanding students who will likely pursue a career as an auditor.

A new scholarship for full-time undergraduate business students has been created at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business. The UH Foundation announced that Shidler alumna Linh Pham, BBA ‘00, and her husband Dao Pham have contributed $100,000 to establish the Cindy Doan and Hy So Duong Endowed Scholarship.

Shidler College Accounting lecturer Michael Dell’s accounting class recently assisted nearly 100 local taxpayers in completing their taxes as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Each student helped with approximately 20 returns each and met the requirement to pass three VITA examinations before completing the 50 hours of volunteer work.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business announced on May 13 that Omnitrak, a marketing and research consultancy firm, has gifted $50,000 to establish a new student award called the “Omnitrak Innovative Leaders Award” at the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE), which is housed within the Shidler college. Omnitrak established the gift in honor of the company’s 40th anniversary to support UH students pursuing their education and their business ideas.

Hospitality industry leaders recently visited the classroom as panelists and reviewers offering their industry knowledge and feedback to TIM School professor Jerry Agrusa’s Food Service Management (TIM 313) students’ final course project presentations. Leaders from multiple segments of the hospitality and tourism industry including hotels, restaurants, private clubs, marketing firms and the transportation industry were represented and offered valuable, practical knowledge and feedback.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business marked the in-person return of Business Night, its signature student event, on May 5, at the Sheraton Waikīkī after hosting it virtually for the past two years. The annual event, now in its 61st year, has connected Shidler students with Hawaiʻi’s leading business professionals over the past six decades, while honoring the college’s top students for their accomplishments.

The National War College (NWC) from Washington, D.C., recently visited Hawai‘i and requested that School of Travel Industry Management (TIM School) professor Jerry Agrusa, Ph.D., provide a presentation to the group on “Understanding the role of tourism in Pacific Island Countries (PIC) economies and how climate change and pandemics affect tourism.”

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s School of Travel Industry Management (TIM School) at the Shidler College of Business held its 20th Celebrate a Legacy in Tourism gala on Thursday, April 7, at the Sheraton Waikiki. This year’s event honored Chef Roy Yamaguchi and TIM alumnus Dave P. Evans, who have each made significant and long-term contributions to Hawaiʻi’s tourism industry. The event also raised more than $260,000 for student scholarships at the TIM School. This year marked the first in-person Celebrate a Legacy in Tourism event since 2019.