Awards
Advertiser Staff
UH-Hilo alumni dinner honors three
The University of Hawai'i at Hilo will honor three people with its Distinguished Alumni Award at a Saturday ceremony at the Campus Center:
• John Coney, a 1989 UH-Hilo computer science graduate, is an educational specialist for the Marine Science Department, coordinator of the Marine Option Program and manager of the Scanning Electron Microscope Facility.
Coney's contributions go far beyond the classroom, according to a news release. He makes monthly donations to the UH Foundation, and last fall donated a month of vacation pay to a Manoa faculty member ill with cancer. Coney's efforts to garner outside donations to the university resulted in more than a half-dozen boats offered for use by marine science programs.
Off campus, he has been involved with the Pacific Tsunami Museum since its inception, and is a certified American Red Cross CPR and first-aid instructor.
Coney is a volunteer instructor for Super Science Saturday for the Center for Gifted and Talented Native Hawaiian Children, and has served as an instructor for the Summer Youth Employment Training Program.
• The second recipient, Kalani Kahalepau'ole, received his bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1997. He served two terms as president of the UH-Hilo Student Association and was the first Neighbor Island student to be elected chairman of the UH Student Caucus.
While participating in student government and campus issues, Kahalepau'ole carried a full course load and raised four children as a single parent. He also chaired the first UH-Hilo Ho'olaule'a in 1996.
He works for the Salvation Army's Intervention Services, and created the agency's Na Ho'ola Pono (Moving Toward a Life of Righteousness) program, which teaches children 12 to 19 years old in permanent foster care to live independently when they are no longer eligible to live with foster families.
Kahalepau'ole's community work includes coordination of the "Brudda to Brudda" program, a loose coalition of Native Hawaiian males working to develop mentorships with other Native Hawaiian males to encourage them to pursue education and positive lifestyles. He also volunteers the services of his band, Lava, to nonprofit groups unable to afford entertainment for special events.
• The third recipient, Dennis K.W. Lee, attended UH-Hilo from 1964 to 1967 when it was known as Hilo College, and later earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from UH-Manoa. He is chief of operations for the county Department of Water Supply, and is a former director of the Department of Public Works. He worked for the Army's Directorate of Public Works from 1986 to 1990, and received federal recognition for his 1986 Pohakuloa Training Area Plan and 1989 update, and has won numerous other honors.
Lee is a member of several community and professional organizations, was a board member of the UH-Hilo Vulcan Athletic Boosters and coached numerous youth sports teams over the years.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner will begin at 5 p.m. The cost is $25 per person. For more information, call the UH-Hilo Alumni Office at (808) 974-7501 or (808) 974-7643.
