KTA Super Stores and K. Taniguchi, Ltd. have made a $50,000 endowed gift in memory of Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi, company founders and grandparents of current president, Barry Taniguchi, a UH-Hilo news release said.

This gift establishes an Endowed Faculty Fund for each of UH-Hilo's five degree-granting colleges: College of Arts and Sciences; College of Business and Economics; College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management; College of Hawaiian Language; and College of Pharmacy. The purpose of the endowments is to provide the dean or director of each college with a permanent source of funds to enhance the college's recruitment and retention of faculty.