2 UH programs among top 20 nationally

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

For the second year in a row, two University of Hawai'i graduate programs were ranked among the top 20 in the country by US News and World Report magazine.

The environmental law program at the Richardson School of Law moved from 25th in the nation three years ago to 20th this year, while the international business programs at the College of Business Administration continue to be ranked 20th.

"We're competing with schools that have been out there for a long time with their programs," said law school dean Lawrence Foster. "But we have a long track record of getting out to national meetings, giving papers, giving presentations. Our moot court teams continue to do well in national competition and it's that sustained presence outside the state that gets the word out.

"People say, 'Gee, there's the UH again.'"

In the past 12 years the law school's moot court team in environmental law has made the quarter or semifinals eight times, and it was national champ in 1999, said assistant law professor and moot court team adviser Denise Antolini.

"This year in the oral competition in the quarter-final round we defeated Yale," said Antolini. "We were pleased with that. And we won one of the three 'Best Briefs' this year. The school that won that brief last year was Yale."

Meanwhile the School of Business Administration has developed an expanded focus in Asia-Pacific programs, said associate dean Jim Wills, including the establishment this year of a cooperative agreement with the Hanoi School of Business at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi. UH is the first and only American university to have such an agreement in the former communist capital, he said.

UH business professors spend from a week to 15 days teaching one course a month in Hanoi. Professor Dana Alden is one, and has just returned from two weeks in Hanoi. "We're working with top leaders in government and industry there and it's an opportunity to make a big impact," said Alden. The UH professors work with professors in Vietnam who co-teach with them, using the Internet extensively to supplement course work.

Reach Bev Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.