Talk Story: David Lassner
It was not your idea to vie for this job; the UH Board of Regents asked you to apply. Given the troubles facing the UH, what made you accept the challenge? This is the only grownup job I’ve ever had.…
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21 Century Internships
Mericris Neyra knew she wanted to be a nurse back when she was at Farrington High School, so she enrolled in nursing at UH Manoa. But as she neared graduation in December 2014, the 22-year-old faced a saturated nursing-job market…
Did You Know: Ahead of Its Time
It’s true,” says David Striph, senior VP for the Howard Hughes Corp. and the man occupying a corner office with two walls of windows framed by the iconic concrete arches of Honolulu’s IBM Building. “I sit here every day and…
A Bridge for Welfare Recipients
Teresa Bill goes to work every day at UH’s Bridge to Hope program knowing that she makes a difference in people’s lives. Bridge to Hope began 15 years ago to help welfare recipients, victims of domestic violence and struggling single…
Path to a Future
YouthBuild offers a second chance to young people who dropped out of school or face other serious challenges. The Honolulu city-run program provides hands-on training in painting, carpentry, plumbing, electrical and other real-world skills, while students work toward a high…
Kokua for the Disabled Students
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 required that colleges provide services and help students with disabilities. Eighteen years later, partly because of a series of lawsuits, Congress radically enlarged the definition. In the past, disabilities primarily included blindness, deafness…
A Second Home for Youths
The Boys and Girls Club has changed the lives of young people in Hawaii for 40 years. This year alone, it has 2,000 members between the ages of 7 and 17 at its 14 club sites, says Tim Motts, president…
Drilling a Tunnel From Kailua to Kaneohe
This tunnel-boring machine, with a 13-foot diameter, will cut its way through basalt rock to create a 3.1-mile tunnel that will bring sewage from the Kaneohe pre-treatment plant to the Kailua treatment plant. The estimated cost of the project is…
SmallBiz Editor's Choice Awards 2015
Profiles of five great local companies that you should know about.
What's the Big Idea?
For many years, Vassilis Syrmos didn’t spend much time thinking about business. An electrical engineer with a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech and a new career in academia, he was happy to focus on pure research. “When you’re a young assistant…
Sustainable Schools Earn An A
Private and public schools discover many benefits to their sustainability programs, including financial, educational, motivational and recruiting returns. For companies, the path to sustainability often starts with a volunteer task force (a “green team”) and some small initiatives with quick financial…
Kakaako's Affordable Housing Rarely Is
After all the hullabaloo, the hearings, legislation, planning, permits and protests, the concept of an urban, gentrified Kakaako is now an urban reality in progress. Cranes fill the skyline from one end of Kakaako to the other, with at least…