One woman used UH’s new program to help change careers. But a word of caution: The program is still a work in progress. For working people struggling to find the time to get a college degree, the University of Hawaii system is now offering credits for work experiences and on-the-job training. You can’t get a degree based solely on your…
Reports of the death of books have been greatly exaggerated, as the local publishing industry keeps evolving to meet demand Despite the closing of bookstores around the Islands, local publishers say they are thriving. Books about Hawaii still sell – and no one tells those stories better than local authors, photographers, artists and publishing houses. Twenty publishers belong to the…
You may have had this daydream, too: A letter arrives saying there is unclaimed property in my name worth $20 million (it’s a fantasy, so I didn’t scrimp). In my daydream, I collect the money and live happily ever after. After that fantasy, I worried my real letter was lost in the mail, so I went to the state’s unclaimed…
The world’s worst traffic is not in Los Angeles, Bangkok or Beijing. It’s hundreds of miles above the Earth, where an ever-increasing mishmash of satellites, debris and junk are circling the planet at thousands of miles per hour, and a team on Maui plays a crucial role in tracking it all while trying to prevent collisions. It turns out the…
Name: Malia Alo Job: Program coordinator at Hale Kipa Experience: 2½ years Education: BA in sociology and criminal justice from UH West Oahu. Her start: Alo was a student at Campbell High School when she realized she wanted to help people through counseling. After working for years as a counselor to adults, she began to help children and teens as…
Mainlanders who miss cold winters and locals who dream of a white Christmas are lucky to have a place on Oahu where mittens, scarves and snow jackets are appropriate. The Ice Palace, the only ice rink in Hawaii since 1982, offers year-round public skating, plus figure-skating and hockey classes, hockey leagues, private rink rentals for parties and a themed show…
Ever wonder where the flour to make your morning toast or lunchtime sandwich came from? Until a few weeks ago, it most likely came from Oahu’s only wheat-flour mill, the Hawaiian Flour Mill on North Nimitz Highway. But, due to a disagreement with the state over new lease terms, the mill’s parent company, Grain Craft of Chatanooga, Tennessee, says it…
The Hawaii Rotary Youth Foundation has awarded 1,562 scholarships worth more than $5.6 million to Hawaii high school seniors since 1976. The program started when Maurice J. “Sully” Sullivan, co-founder of Foodland Super Market Ltd., decided it was important to invest in Hawaii’s future by supporting high school seniors so they could attend college. The money comes from the foundation’s…
The Queen’s Health Systems was facing a difficult and expensive decision: whether to rescue the North Hawaii Community Hospital in Hawaii Island’s paniolo country. The hospital was considering bankruptcy, a path taken by other Hawaii hospitals in the past four years, and Queen’s had to be sure that rescuing one hospital would not endanger the many other health-care services it…
Even more than most scientists studying climate change, Camilo Mora has an apocalyptic vision of the future. In a controversial paper published this year in the journal Nature, Mora, a biogeography researcher at UH, tries to calculate the date of what he calls “climate departure” – a term for the point at which our climate changes irrevocably from something we’ve…
Like many others, Susan Szabo feared public speaking. But unlike most people stricken with that fear, she took a job where standing in front of an audience is common. She needed help, so she took a group class with presentation coach Pam Chambers to gain the confidence to speak in front of a large crowd. The key was changing her…
Since April, Barnes has led Kaiser in Hawaii, which has 231,000 member clients, a hospital in Moanalua, 22 clinics and 4,400 employees, including 500 doctors. Barnes started her health-care career 40 years ago as an intensive- care-unit nurse. “It’s easy for me to make decisions as a health-care leader, because my mission is doing what’s best for the patient. I…
Question: Each year, we organize and host a conference. How can we keep reinventing our event so people continue to attend? Answer: Keeping an annual conference fresh and relevant can be challenging, but it is worth the effort. Here are tips to help. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Ask yourself critical questions about your attendees: Why are they attending? What are their business objectives?…
Mentors and coaches can help your career, but sponsors play a different role. Executive coach and business consultant R. Scott Simon explains that role and how to get the right sponsor to help fast track your career. 1. UNDERSTAND A SPONSOR’S ROLE Sponsors are senior people who use their influence to advocate for a protégé when promotions or other…
Managing fields to produce high- yield seed corn for U.S. and foreign farmers is no small task. Yet Alika Napier, field operations manager at DuPont Pioneer, still finds time to volunteer at Lanakila Meals on Wheels. He is part of a team of about 30 Pioneer employees who deliver meals in the Waialua, Haleiwa and Kunia areas. “Many of our…