For more than a century, the University of Hawaiʻi has worked hard to make higher education accessible to all. Whether through one of the seven community college campuses or one of the three four-year campuses, UH is expanding its efforts to attract the most promising students, regardless of their financial circumstances.
As college costs continue to rise, the amount of private support for students must as well. Gifts to scholarships and student aid help us to retain our best and brightest and to provide access to a life-changing higher education experience for our students.
"Scholarships have allowed me to conduct my dissertation research to understand influences of childhood diet and physical activity behaviors in my home islands of the Northern Marianas."
"I was on the phone with the counselor of the program every day, and he helped me transfer my transcripts from my four-year college. Two weeks later, I got an acceptance letter from the program, saying, “Congratulations, and welcome to the Fire Science Program at HCC.”'
"I’m thankful for donors’ support of law students at William S. Richardson School of Law. Seeking justice through social policy is one of my main goals, and I will continue pursuing this now that I’ve graduated."
Scholarships created by gifts from Ward Village and Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. were a welcome surprise for more than 150 apprentices in Honolulu Community College’s Apprenticeship and Journey Worker Training program.
Bernard and Pamela Lum were best friends and soul mates who shared a life full of love and laughter, traveling together abroad, enjoying good food and friends, and cheering for UH’s basketball teams. As a testament to the many blessings in their lives, they chose to add to their philanthropic legacy through a gift in their estate plan, not only adding to their existing cancer research and endowed scholarship funds, but also creating three additional endowed scholarships.
Brig. Gen. Edwin A. “Skip” Vincent, left, seen with Jon Osorio, dean of the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, founded the Hawaii Pacific Foundation after retiring from a long career in the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard as a way to give back to the Native Hawaiian community. “What we're doing is we're taking the helpers and the people who need help and we’re a bridge between them, finding ways to allow them to communicate better,” Vincent says. The Native Hawaiian organization has invested nearly $1 million in UH programs that benefit Native Hawaiian students and their communities by helping to empower them and those around them.
A gift from alumna Lori Admiral and her husband, Mark, creates the Admiral Residency in Contemporary Pacific Art at the UH Mānoa’s Department of Art and Art History, which will bring two visiting artists to campus to help art students see other cultures and perspectives. “Being a student in the art department was rewarding, and I felt it was important to give back,” says Lori Admiral, who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in art history at UH Mānoa. “When my husband, Mark, and I learned that funding for a teaching residency was a priority for the Department of Art and Art History, it was easy to offer support.
Dr. Kem Lowry was the kind of teacher, mentor and friend whose kindness, generosity and skill in teaching, and listening, inspired and enriched the lives of his students and colleagues at UH Mānoa — and allowed everyone he met to be their best selves. His legacy will live on with the Dr. Kem Lowry Scholarship Endowment.
For more than 25 years, the James & Abigail Campbell Scholarships in Teacher Education have helped more than 200 education students at the UH Mānoa and UH West Oʻahu committed to working as teachers or education leaders on the Waianae Coast.
The Margarita "Dayday" Hopkins Scholarship at UH Hilo’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management is dedicated to the memory of a remarkable woman who was Hawaiʻi County’s economic development specialist, responsible for its agriculture and natural resources programs. Dayday was also a lecturer in economics and ag business at UH Hilo, where her husband, retired professor Kevin Hopkins, also taught.
Ashley Fukuchi, a Moanalua High School and UH Hilo chemistry grad, had medical school in mind before a pre-pharmacy orientation course led to conversations with Hilo pharmacists and pursuit of her doctorate in pharmacy.
Ken and Donna Hayashida are making a substantial investment in their alma mater, with gifts totaling $250,000 to the College of Engineering and the Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing.
