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UH College of Engineering to Celebrate 100 Years of Pride and Tradition

"This is an important milestone for the College of Engineering - celebrating 100 years of engineering tradition in Hawaiʻi and looking forward to an exciting future for engineering and technology in Hawaiʻi. We are very pleased with the important support and investment we are receiving from our alumni and the community. Through this event we hope to encourage an increasing pattern of support and investment as the College and Hawaiʻi’s technological industries grow together for a sustainable future."

(Honolulu, Hawaiʻi) — The University of Hawaiʻi College of Engineering will hold a special dinner to celebrate its Centennial on April 16, 2008 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.

"Learning from the past, energizing the present and engineering a sustainable technological future" is the theme for the banquet, which will feature a number of guest speakers and awards.

Former director of the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services Edward Hirata will speak. Hirata, who currently serves as a consultant, held several positions in city government dating back to the Frank Fasi administration in 1969. He was president of Honolulu Wood Treating Co., held various executive positions with Hawaiian Electric Co. and served as state transportation director. Hirata is a retired brigadier general, having served 33 years in the Army Reserve.

Other speakers include Chris Davis, senior project manager and engineering directorate of the Kennedy Space Center who received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UH in 1983. Davis has 28 years in aerospace engineering. He joined NASA in 1990 and led two high-priority Space Shuttle ground processing improvement projects that were instrumental in NASA’s Return to Flight efforts. He received the Space Shuttle Program's highest award, the Space Flight Awareness Award. Marian Nakama, vice president of Akinaka & Associates and past president of the College of Engineering Alumni Association, will also speak. She represents a more recent generation of up and coming engineers, who will be the future leaders of our industry.

Longtime College of Engineering supporter Ronald N.S. Ho, founder of the company that bears his name, will be honored with a special Distinguished Alumni Award. Ho earned his bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering in 1967 and his master’s in 1968. In addition to being a major donor to the College, he established the College’s Development Advisory Committee, which plans the annual fundraising banquet, and through his company, supported the design and construction of the Donald Chang Won Kim Multimedia Laboratory. In 1995, he and his wife Ann became members of the prestigious University of Hawaiʻi Foundation Founder’s Club for their consistent and generous contributions. He served as chair of the UH Foundation Board of Trustees in 1999-2000 and was honored as a recipient of the UH Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award that same year.

Reynold S. Kagiwada will be honored with the Outstanding Service Award. Kagiwada led an initiative to create a strategic relationship between the UH College of Engineering and TRW/Northrop Grumman Corporation to fund research and scholarships. He championed the International Microwave Symposium to come to Hawaiʻi in 2007 and has supported the careers of countless University of Hawaiʻi graduates.

The Dean’s Centennial Award will be presented to 1958 College of Engineering graduate Donald C.W. Kim. Kim, who has been a major contributor to UH for nearly 30 years, is chairman and CEO of Amkor A&E, Inc. headquartered in South Korea. After receiving his degree from UH, Kim worked for R.M. Towill, one of Hawaiʻi’s largest and oldest civil engineering firms. He became president in 1978, then chairman and CEO in 1981, retiring in 2000. In that same year, Kim and his wife established the Donald C.W. Kim Multimedia Laboratory, a state-of-the-art student computer lab, at the College. A past two-term UH Foundation trustee (1991-97), Kim served as a UH Regent from 1997-2001, and chaired the board from 1998-2000. Kim received the UH Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award in 1991.

Cocktails and a display of special exhibits begin at 5:30 p.m. with dinner and the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 808.956.2287.



From providing theoretical instruction in the classroom to crossing the practical frontiers of innovative energy technologies, the University of Hawaiʻi College of Engineering is pursuing a broad mission of academic excellence for the benefit of all Hawaiʻi’s citizens.

The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is an independent, university-related, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise private funds according to priorities determined by the academic leadership of the University of Hawaiʻi and approved by the Board of Regents. Founded in 1955, the Foundation provides a full range of fund raising and alumni relations services for all 10 UH campuses.