Our day...
Time Event Location
8:30-9:20am Arrival and Registration Campus Center 301
Continental Breakfast provided
9:20-10:20 Welcome and Keynote Address Campus Center 301
10:20-10:30 Passing
10:30-11:20 Conference Workshops I
Preserving and Transforming Culture Campus Center 301
Dr. Ming Wei Koh
Watershed Management: Our water UCB 331
Dr. Rich MacKenzie
Sustainable and Innovative UCB 245
Brent Norris
Healing by the Lupa UCB 127
Gigi Miranda
Pamantasan System Update for Faculty and Staff Location TBA
11:20-11:30 Passing
11:30-12:20p Conference Workshops II
Preserving and Transforming Culture Campus Center 301
Dr. Ming Wei Koh
Healing by the Lupa UCB 127
Gigi Miranda
Sustainable and Innovative UCB 245
Brent Norris
12:30 - 1:45 Lunch Campus Center 301
Lunch Speaker: Dr. Amy Agbayani
Fashion Show: The Fashion of the Philippines by Iris Viacrusis and students.
1:45 - 2:15 Campus Time
Campus Tours
Pamantasan Gallery (Campus Center Room 306)
2:15 - 4:15 Sustainable Agricultural Practice
A visit with the UHH College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management, The UHH Agriculture Club, and students from UHH AG 230 Sustainable Agriculture Class
Group 1: Composing College of Ag Building
Group 2: Vermicomposting College of Ag Building
Group 3: Tree Planting TBD
Group 4: Herb Gardening Library Lanai
4:15 Closing Session Campus Center 301
4:45p Conference concludes
8:30-9:20am Arrival and Registration Campus Center 301
Continental Breakfast provided
9:20-10:20 Welcome and Keynote Address Campus Center 301
10:20-10:30 Passing
10:30-11:20 Conference Workshops I
Preserving and Transforming Culture Campus Center 301
Dr. Ming Wei Koh
Watershed Management: Our water UCB 331
Dr. Rich MacKenzie
Sustainable and Innovative UCB 245
Brent Norris
Healing by the Lupa UCB 127
Gigi Miranda
Pamantasan System Update for Faculty and Staff Location TBA
11:20-11:30 Passing
11:30-12:20p Conference Workshops II
Preserving and Transforming Culture Campus Center 301
Dr. Ming Wei Koh
Healing by the Lupa UCB 127
Gigi Miranda
Sustainable and Innovative UCB 245
Brent Norris
12:30 - 1:45 Lunch Campus Center 301
Lunch Speaker: Dr. Amy Agbayani
Fashion Show: The Fashion of the Philippines by Iris Viacrusis and students.
1:45 - 2:15 Campus Time
Campus Tours
Pamantasan Gallery (Campus Center Room 306)
2:15 - 4:15 Sustainable Agricultural Practice
A visit with the UHH College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management, The UHH Agriculture Club, and students from UHH AG 230 Sustainable Agriculture Class
Group 1: Composing College of Ag Building
Group 2: Vermicomposting College of Ag Building
Group 3: Tree Planting TBD
Group 4: Herb Gardening Library Lanai
4:15 Closing Session Campus Center 301
4:45p Conference concludes
Our Speakers and Workshop Presenters
Mr. David Fuertes
Our Keynote speaker for the day is Mr. David Fuertes, the Program Director for Ka Hana No'eau of the Kohala Intergenerational Center in Kapa'au. Born and raised in Kaumakani, Kaua'i, and a graduate of Waimea High, Shasta College, and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa campus in tropical agriculture. In his 30 years of service with the Department of Education, Mr. Fuertes served as an agriculture teacher, District Resource teacher for Career and Technical Education, and State FFA Executive Secretary. He is the former Deputy Managing Director for the County of Hawaii and Hamakua County liaison with the state Department of Business, Economics, and Tourism. He is a part-time rancher with his ohana and a renown Hawaiian Saddle maker. His passion is working with youth and families in developing entrepreneurial programs.
Dr. Amy Agbayani
Our lunch speaker will be Dr. Agbayani. She is the founding director of the Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity program of the University of Hawaii. As director of SEED, she oversees more than twenty programs addressing the needs of students from underrepresented groups based on age, academic ability, ethnicity, disability, economic class, culture, gender, sex, religious, and sexual orientation.
For decades, she has been a prominent advocate for social justice and civil rights, incuding the advancement of women. She is a co-founder and board member of the Hawaii Women's Political Caucus, and a board member of the Patsy T. Mink Political Action Committee. She was the first chair of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, and a former chair of the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission.
Dr. Agbayani is well known also for her leadership on behalf of immigrant populations, and helped organize the Inter-Agency Council for Immigrant Services and Na Loio Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center. When the 1965 immigration law was passed, bringing new immigrant Filipinos to Hawaii, she and other educators noticed that the Filipinos were being picked on in the puublic schools. She was a co-founder of Operation Manong, a program designed to send college students to tutor immigrant students in the public schools. From that movement, born through strategic volunteerism, a new generation of students and community leaders in Hawaii grew and flourished.
For decades, she has been a prominent advocate for social justice and civil rights, incuding the advancement of women. She is a co-founder and board member of the Hawaii Women's Political Caucus, and a board member of the Patsy T. Mink Political Action Committee. She was the first chair of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, and a former chair of the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission.
Dr. Agbayani is well known also for her leadership on behalf of immigrant populations, and helped organize the Inter-Agency Council for Immigrant Services and Na Loio Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center. When the 1965 immigration law was passed, bringing new immigrant Filipinos to Hawaii, she and other educators noticed that the Filipinos were being picked on in the puublic schools. She was a co-founder of Operation Manong, a program designed to send college students to tutor immigrant students in the public schools. From that movement, born through strategic volunteerism, a new generation of students and community leaders in Hawaii grew and flourished.
Dr. Richard MacKenzie
Water is the most precious resource we have on earth. Here in Hawaii, we are blessed with an abundance of clean water. Dr. Richard MacKenzie joins us today to speak about important practices needed to sustain and protect our water resources. Dr. MacKenzie received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, where he studied aquatic insects and biogeochemical cycles in coastal wetlands around Lake Michigan. After that, he worked as a post-doctoral fellowship at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells, Maine, where he studied fish assemblages in coastal salt marshes around the Gulf of Maine. In 2003, he was hired by the USDA Forest Service as an aquatic ecologist and is currently stationed at the Pacific Southwest Research Station’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. Over the last 10 years, his research has focused on the impacts of invasive species, land use, and climate change on the ecological function of streams, wetlands, and mangroves throughout the western Pacific. Dr. MacKenzie will discuss a project that he is currently leading that is using the Hamakua coast of the Big Island as a model system to examine how climate change and invasive species will impact Pacific Island streams. The streams are located across a rainfall gradient that ranges from 7500-2000 mm of rainfall/yr. As a result, streams at the wetter end of the gradient flow year round, while streams at the drier end of the gradient only flow after major rain events. Results from this research is being used to build a user-friendly, Decision Support Tool (DST), which is a map based tool that can be used for more effective watershed management throughout the western Pacific, including the Philippines.
Gigi Miranda
Gigi is a longtime community educator and nutritional guide whose mission is to teach whole plant-based cooking and living in the community to help heal the people of Hawai‘i. Being traditionally raised by her Ilokano and Visayan elders in her cultural practices, she brings her roots and the importance of understanding and deepening our “food relationships” in the healing and nourishing of our families, community, 'āina and moana.
On her journey she‘s healed herself by returning to her roots. She’s worked with cancer patients doing nutritional therapy so they can recover and feel whole again, conducted community wellness/cooking programs,served as a nutrition docent teaching elementary students how to make good food choices and taught the “Seed to Plate” plant-based healing cooking and nutrition class for the Indigenous Nursing program at Windward Community College. Gigi continues her mission in outreaching to the community through her classes, talks and is currently working towards her credentials in nutritional therapy and herbal medicine.
On her journey she‘s healed herself by returning to her roots. She’s worked with cancer patients doing nutritional therapy so they can recover and feel whole again, conducted community wellness/cooking programs,served as a nutrition docent teaching elementary students how to make good food choices and taught the “Seed to Plate” plant-based healing cooking and nutrition class for the Indigenous Nursing program at Windward Community College. Gigi continues her mission in outreaching to the community through her classes, talks and is currently working towards her credentials in nutritional therapy and herbal medicine.
Brent Norris
Brent Norris is the Founder and Director of Green Collar Technologies, a non-profit agency specializing in helping communities innovate and build greener economies. Brent grew up in Ormond Beach, Florida, mostly surfing with little awareness of the outside world. A designer at birth, Brent attended design school in the eighties before embarking on a digital design career in Boston, Massachusetts. Working for small design boutiques and large corporations in the Greater Boston area during the dot-com boom, Brent gained experience consulting and training Fortune 500 companies like, Macromedia, Adobe, Apple and Nike. Brent expanded his personal reach giving emerging technology presentations at National and International conferences for organizations like the World Organization of Webmasters and the World Wide Web Consortium.
Brent lives off-the-grid in a remote area of Hawaii Island in a self-built treehouse where he re-imagines sustainable living practices in a native Ohia lehua forest. Brent lives lightly on the land, embraces local culture and constantly learns to apply ancient and modern technologies in everyday life. Thirty years of surfing and five years of living and working from his treehouse studio has married Brent to his environment.
Brent lives off-the-grid in a remote area of Hawaii Island in a self-built treehouse where he re-imagines sustainable living practices in a native Ohia lehua forest. Brent lives lightly on the land, embraces local culture and constantly learns to apply ancient and modern technologies in everyday life. Thirty years of surfing and five years of living and working from his treehouse studio has married Brent to his environment.
Dr. Norman Arancon
Dr. Arancon and his students will lead the afternoon sustainable agriculture activities. Dr. Aroncon obtained M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Science from The Ohio State University as a Fulbright Scholar and a Graduate Research Associate from 1997-2001. He was awarded a Post-Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Studies from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, after an award from the Rotary
International Foundation in 1993. He holds a bachelor's degree in Agriculture with a major in Crop Science from Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, as a XavierScience Foundation scholar.
Dr. Arancon is currently a professor with the University of Hawai'i at Hilo's College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management and was instrumental in creating the Filipino Studies Certificate. He is the adviser to the Agriculture Club and devotes countless hours to students and campus ventures. He is an avid stage performer and a campus leader for events like Filipino American History Month.
International Foundation in 1993. He holds a bachelor's degree in Agriculture with a major in Crop Science from Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, as a XavierScience Foundation scholar.
Dr. Arancon is currently a professor with the University of Hawai'i at Hilo's College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management and was instrumental in creating the Filipino Studies Certificate. He is the adviser to the Agriculture Club and devotes countless hours to students and campus ventures. He is an avid stage performer and a campus leader for events like Filipino American History Month.
Dr. Ming Wei Koh
Dr. Ming Wei Koh works in Sustainability Education, and has been farming and homesteading since the 1990s. Ming Wei is an educational consultant, curriculum developer, grant writer, public speaker, and an organizer. She has been trained to integrate Education for Sustainability standards and Biomimicry principles into classroom curriculum, professional development courses, and community outreach programs. Ming Wei has created the Pedagogy of Food to frame the kind of education she believes in and shares. Her research includes how the school learning garden is a conducive context and experience to teach core subjects, STEM, and foundational life skills. Widely traveled, Ming Wei is interested in how different cultures and ethnic groups work with nature to resolve ecological and social challenges.
Iris Viacrusis
Born in Olongapo City, Philippines, Iris was a Science High School Student in the Philippines until 1986, when he moved to California. After High School, he attended Mission College, where he completed a degree in Business Administration and a minor in fine arts. After college, he worked in the banking business for 3 years then worked as a buyer (for 5 years) for a computer company in the Silicon Valley while studying Fashion Design in the evening. Iris moved to LA in 1997 and was hired as an Accounting Auditor, where he then accepted a position at UCLA as an Assistant Budget and Human Resources Director. After completing a degree in Fashion Design at LA Trade Tech College, Iris moved to Paris, France where he attended Ecole Chambre Syndical dela Coutre (premier fashion school), Paris and work for a Haute Couture House as a design assistant. He also did theatrical costuming for stage plays. After working for Malhia Kent Fabric Design House in Paris, (fabric designs sold to Dior, Chanel, Valentino, ect) Iris returned to the United States in 2004 and took a position as an Interior Designer in Dallas, Texas for 1 year. He finally moved to Hawaii in 2005 and opened Iris Gil Design Studio.
Iris has been designing dresses (from wedding dresses to formal evening gowns) for over 20 years, and has been an interior designer for more than 6 years. He specializes in using fabrics from different places like India, Japan and the Philippines. His love of his Filipino Culture, lead to an exhibit called "habi at baro." In order to create the exhibit, Iris traveled to a dozen islands in the Philippines to collect materials -- from Sagada and Banaue in Luzon; Coron, Palawan; Aklan and Ilo-ilo in Panay; Davao, Cotabato, as far as Zambuanga in Mindanao among others. This exhibit proudly promotes the Philippines and provides the Filipinos with a great sense of pride to be Pinoy. Furthermore, it provides a statement that we are very cultured, creative, resourceful and with great beauty and grace. For the Pamantasan Conference, we are very honored to have Iris present samples of his artistry in both our Pamantasan Gallery (CC 306) and during a fashion show to take place during lunch.
Iris has been designing dresses (from wedding dresses to formal evening gowns) for over 20 years, and has been an interior designer for more than 6 years. He specializes in using fabrics from different places like India, Japan and the Philippines. His love of his Filipino Culture, lead to an exhibit called "habi at baro." In order to create the exhibit, Iris traveled to a dozen islands in the Philippines to collect materials -- from Sagada and Banaue in Luzon; Coron, Palawan; Aklan and Ilo-ilo in Panay; Davao, Cotabato, as far as Zambuanga in Mindanao among others. This exhibit proudly promotes the Philippines and provides the Filipinos with a great sense of pride to be Pinoy. Furthermore, it provides a statement that we are very cultured, creative, resourceful and with great beauty and grace. For the Pamantasan Conference, we are very honored to have Iris present samples of his artistry in both our Pamantasan Gallery (CC 306) and during a fashion show to take place during lunch.
