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Each year, HPU hosts the Golden Apple Awards, a prestigious occasion honoring faculty and staff members for their exceptional contributions to teaching, scholarship, and service. These awards, presented by the HPU Scholarship and Learning Resources Committee of the Faculty Assembly, highlight the dedication and impact of faculty members on the university community.

Nominees for the Golden Apple Awards are put forward by faculty, staff, or students, reflecting the broad recognition of outstanding faculty achievements across the university.

The recipients of the 2023-2024 Golden Apple Awards are:

 

For Exceptional Service to students, staff, or faculty by a Staff Member

Darlene Ramos,
Coordinator and Advisor, Dual-Credit Programs

In his nomination, HPU Dean of the College of Professional Studies Mani Sehgal noted that in her 30-year tenure Å·ÃÀAƬ, Ramos has served the Å·ÃÀAƬ in a multitude of ways. Dean Sehgal highlighted Ramos’ work with HPU’s Dual-Credit students at Kamehameha Schools, where every dual credit student (over 1,000 registrations per semester) has encountered Ramos’ generous and giving support as she takes them under her wing and is fittingly referred to as “Auntie Darlene.”

 

Patricia Allen
HPU Director of Instructional Science Labs, Adjunct Faculty Member

Allen was nominated for this award by the Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences Lei Wang, Ph.D., the Dean of the College of Natural and Computational Sciences Brenda Jensen, Ph.D., and the Associate Dean of the College of Natural Sciences Carrie Jones, Ph.D. They noted that, “as the Director of Instructional Science Labs, Ms. Allen has overseen forty-fifty science lab sessions each semester, assisting twenty faculty members and seven-hundred students each semester providing exceptional service for nearly thirty-five years. Despite Allen’s impending transition into retirement, she has generously offered to assist with the monumental task of relocating the science labs from the Hawaii Loa campus to the downtown campus during the summer of 2024, and according to Dean Jensen, has been “instrumental in every iteration of the science lab design since the move was imagined in 2016, down to the smallest detail, including the number of electrical outlets and drawer depths.”

 

For Exceptional Service to students, staff, or faculty by a Faculty Member

Serge Marek, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Geography

In his nomination of Marek, the current and now continuing chair of the Faculty Senate and Assembly praised Marek’s impact on shared governance Å·ÃÀAƬ. “Having served as the Senate and Assembly Chair for two terms, and even after his tenure as Senate and Assembly Chair ended, Serge continued to exemplify his commitment to shared governance by supporting myself and Dr. Bryan Gibson as we assumed leadership roles within the Senate and Assembly, providing us with the knowledge and support needed to navigate our positions effectively. His selflessness, dedication, and unwavering support have left an indelible mark on our shared governance practices.”

 

For Excellence in Mentoring
For Excellence in Service Learning

Joy Bliss, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Nursing

Bliss received three nominations in the mentoring category alone and five altogether in three categories.  Hazel Downing, Ph.D., Course Coordinator, Comprehensive Health Care Lecture and Clinical, stated that Bliss has “seen Dr. Joy Bliss meet with students not only for academic success but also for helping them with many other aspects of education and personal growth. Two of Dr. Bliss’s students, Lacy Razor and Jennifer Bandy also nominated Dr. Bliss, both of whom, praised her for support in submitting a proposal to HPU’s Undergraduate Infrastructure Student Research Center (HUI SRC).”

Bandy wrote that “Bliss inspired and then guided me through the creation of a medical mission model for use in remote locations throughout the Pacific Islands. We spent the summer working on the project and she even flew to Molokai to help launch the medical mission. She paid out of pocket for the tickets and her stay, too. Meanwhile, she managed to organize student and faculty volunteers with ‘Be the Match’ events, attended conferences, training sessions,” which ultimately led to the two students presenting their research findings to the Nursing World Conference in the fall of 2023.

 

For Excellence in Scholarship

Jessica Nishikawa, DNP
Associate Professor of Nursing

Not only has Nishikawa recently published three scholarly articles, including "Fostering effective collaboration among nurse authors," but according to HPU Assistant Professor Jennifer Baumstark, DNP, she has completed collaborative work with a nursing student and a faculty member who had not previously published with colleagues from Public Health, Straub Medical Center physicians, and novice scholars in the School of Nursing. Nishikawa successfully secured funding totaling $97,000 from the HRSA Nurse Faculty Loan Program for her grant titled "Expanding Nurse Faculty Workforce through Financial Support of Education. As president of HPU’s Sigma Nursing Honor Society chapter, Nishikawa has demonstrated exceptional leadership in promoting scholarship and supporting nursing research,  including co-hosting a Sigma Conference Å·ÃÀAƬ in June 2024.

 

For Distinguished Teaching by an Adjunct Faculty Member

Shante Gleaton, DNP
Assistant Professor of Nursing

In her nomination, HPU Assistant Professor Tandrea Jackson, DPN, praised Gleaton for her “exceptional service to students, staff, faculty, and clinical preceptors. She has truly been an asset to the School of Nursing, graciously taking on the role and responsibility as the point of contact for our clinical preceptors. Gleaton’s attention to detail and dedication for excellence helps to foster a positive relationship with clinical preceptors in supporting our nursing students at the bachelor’s and graduate level. Gleaton also has provided exceptional mentorship to her students and faculty.”

 

For Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching by a Full-Time Faculty Member

Jessica Jacob, Ph.D.
Lecturer of Biology

One of Jacob’s two nominations was from a student Aniya Williams, who praised Jacob for knowing “how students learn in general; she sets her curriculum up in a way that tailors to students’ style of learning and [incorporates] her own research in the curriculum, giving students a hands-on experience with scientific processes. Dr. Jacobs leads by example, seeing students as not only as students, but as the future of science.”

Jacob was also nominated by HPU General Biology Lab Lecturer Gina Errico, sharing that Jacob has been coordinating “for the past several years and has shaped the course into a functional and well-developed learning experience. This is a rigorous, two-semester course, and she has dedicated herself to improving both lectures and labs by refining the curriculum, incorporating real-life examples, and providing opportunities for students to receive help, and learn from their mistakes.”

 

For Distinguished Graduate Teaching by a Full-Time Faculty Member

Lisa Chuang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
Program Director, Master of Arts in Strategic Communication

Chuang was nominated for the Graduate Teaching Award by Communication Professor John Hart, Ph.D., who gathered testimonials from a variety of HPU stakeholders. HPU Assistant Professor Charles Boyer, Ph.D., noted that “Dr. Chuang has been a very popular professor. Her teaching evaluations rank among the highest in the Å·ÃÀAƬ.”

Natalie Ediger, spring 2023 graduate valedictory speaker and HPU Capstone Symposium Graduate Research award winner notes, as many students do, Chuang’s knowledge as a “passionate professor, always intending to see her students succeed. In my experience, her classes were not only interactive and well-organized but also uniquely insightful, creating a rich and inclusive learning environment that fosters deep understanding and genuine curiosity.” One of Chuang’s graduating students, Grace Laudick, wrote, “your love for what you do and your care for your students is so evident in how much you invest in us. I'll never forget how you put so much effort into your online lectures during the pandemic and how you made sure our quality of learning remained the same.”

 

All photos by Michael Matsushita.