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.

A new partnership aims to enhance collaborative opportunities centered on human resource development through innovation for University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa students. The Shidler College of Business and Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (JAL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding during a ceremony at UH Mānoa on Tuesday, July 20.

Did you know that UH Mānoa will be getting a new live, learn, work studio in summer 2023?

Shidler College alumni, friends and donors joined a virtual discussion on June 18 about this new project, as well as current Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) initiatives. Guest speakers Monica Umeda, co-founder of Akabotics and Susan Yamada, BBA ’82, director of UH Ventures, provided exciting updates to attendees. 

We recently got to know Courtney Choy, BBA ’18, a little better after her busy weekend of being crowned Miss Hawaii 2021 and graduating with her J.D. degree from UH’s William S. Richardson School of Law. Here’s what she had to say about competing in pageants, her time as a Marketing, Management and International Business and Freshman Direct Admit Program student at the Shidler College of Business, her favorite sweet treat and her future plans.

The 19^th annual Celebrate a Legacy in Tourism event took place on April 29 and was held virtually for the first time in its history. The event raised more than $180,000 thanks to the tireless efforts of the sponsorship committee, led by Co-chairs Vicky Cayetano and Larry Rodriguez; and the generosity of sponsors and individual supporters. All proceeds raised will be exclusively used for School of Travel Industry Management (TIM School) student scholarships. A special recognition unique to this year’s event is a commemorative plaque acknowledging sponsors at the bronze level and above, which will be displayed at the TIM School. 

For Kelli Chinen, a finance and international business student studying at Shidler College, her college internship was not only thousands of miles from home but it was also during a pandemic that could have derailed her plans to learn about finance abroad.Chinen left for her internship in January 2020 and with the help of alumnus Wee Loke Tang, BBA ’73, Hall of Honor ’18, who is the independent non-executive director of UOB Kay Hian, a global investment bank headquartered in Singapore, Chinen was able to stay until the end of her internship in July. 

Back in January, Alaska Airlines was operating 30 daily flights between four Hawaiian islands and eight West Coast cities, as usual in a typical month, providing passenger service to thousands of kama‘āina and visitors to Hawai‘i. By early April, COVID-19 brought worldwide travel to a screeching halt, disrupting the lives of travelers and Alaska Airlines employees as the company suspended all its flights to the neighbor islands. These days, the airline has a significantly reduced schedule into O‘ahu and Maui to allow for essential travel and the movement of cargo.