The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business celebrated four distinguished business leaders and alumni at its 2021 Hall of Honor Awards held virtually on Thursday, October 7. 

Former bank president Rich Wacker and his wife, Eileen, have committed a $250,000 gift to the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation in support of the UH Mānoa’s Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) project, a world-class innovation and entrepreneurship facility coupled with student housing on the site of the former Atherton YMCA across from the flagship campus.

Led by a team of Hawai‘i business leaders serving as mentors in the Next Gen Leaders Program, ten students, including three from Shidler College, spent this summer tackling some of Hawai‘i’s most complex topics – homelessness, environmental sustainability and systemic racism in an eight-week mentorship program hosted by the Jordan & Cara Odo Scholarship Foundation.

A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business undergraduate student is the state’s lone recipient of a $10,000 national scholarship to benefit outstanding students who are likely to pursue a career as an auditor. Wrenna Delgado, a junior accounting major, was named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) scholar for the 2021–22 academic year.

The School of Travel Industry Management (TIM School) in University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business welcomes world-renowned restaurateur and entrepreneur Roy Yamaguchi as a lecturer this fall. Yamaguchi is an award-winning Japanese-American chef, author, entrepreneur and television personality who boasts more than 45 years in the industry.

Teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has inspired many faculty members to get even more creative. For one University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business instructor, overcoming challenges was paramount to provide marketing graduate students with a valuable global education and enhanced student learning experience.