3 assistant professors on Big Island among University of Hawaiʻi faculty honored for excellence

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo assistant professors Kekoa Harman and Elisabeth “Lis” Gallant, and Hawaiʻi Community College assistant professor Pele Kaio are among the 25 members of the UH faculty to receive top awards this year for their excellence in teaching, engagement and groundbreaking research.

Harman and Kaio both received the Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching, which recognizes faculty who exhibit an extraordinary level of subject mastery and scholarship, teaching effectiveness and creativity, and personal values beneficial to students.

Gallant was among the honorees of the Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which recognizes dedication and demonstrated excellence as teachers of undergraduate students. It was established as a memorial to the late Frances Davis, who taught mathematics at Leeward Community College and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for 19 years.

Harman is an associate professor at UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language. For Harman, teaching ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is far more than language instruction, it is the continuation of a living culture, according to a UH press release.

A co-founding kumu hula (hula teacher) of Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo and a scholar of the hula traditions of Joseph ʻĪlālāʻole, Harman brings mele (songs), oli (chants) and hula into his classrooms as primary texts, teaching students that ʻōlelo and hula are inseparable threads of Hawaiian identity.

His students describe daily routines that steady them, prompt and thoughtful feedback, and weekly study groups where Harman shows up with sweet treats in hand. He takes learning beyond Haleʻōlelo through community ceremonies, cultural protocol training and hōʻike (showcase) hula productions. He also serves the broader community as president of the youth nonprofit No Nā ʻŌpio.

“He is a teacher that cares deeply about his students and has a passion for teaching rooted in the continuation of culture,” nominator Sophie French wrote.

Kaio is an assistant professor of Hawaiian lifestyles at Hawaiʻi Community College. He is an educator, cultural practitioner and community leader dedicated to advancing Indigenous knowledge systems and leadership.

Kaio serves as kumu hula (hula teacher) of Unulau, a hālau based in Hilo and Waimea, where he guides haumāna (students) in ʻaihaʻa (volcanic style) traditions that foster ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian knowledge), environmental stewardship and leadership. He is also president and founder of the Pālama Foundation, supporting Native Hawaiian communities through education and cultural initiatives.

“He focuses on moving the spirit, and in doing so, he transformed ours,” an unidentified student said.

Kaio also serves as a resource teacher at Kanu O Ka ʻĀina Public Charter School and teaches at the Kō Education Center in Honokaʻa, advancing community-based, place-centered learning.

Gallant is an assistant professor of geology at the University of Hawaiʻi Hilo. She teaches volcanology the way Hawaiʻi demands it be taught — with one foot in science and the other firmly planted in the communities that live alongside active volcanoes.

Since joining UH Hilo in 2023, she has revamped UH Hilo’s volcanology course offerings, using everything from M&Ms to knit fabrics to bring magma chambers and rock textures to life. Her students practice translating vog forecasts for civil defense officials, Volcano Village kupuna, and first-time tourists — learning that good science means nothing if people can’t use it.

Drawing on her work co-leading the national GeoSPACE accessible field camp, Gallant has made UH Hilo’s field courses more inclusive, ensuring students of every ability can do real fieldwork. She mentors undergraduates into published research with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and leads community talks during Volcano Awareness Month.

Student Steven Hammes said Gallant is “easily in the highest tier” of the dozens of instructors he has had across multiple colleges and universities, with a special ability to bring students of diverse learning styles, backgrounds and challenges to the same high standards of content mastery.

Fifteen UH faculty members from across the state have been awarded the Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching, three received the Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research, six were selected for the Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and one won the Masaki and Momoe Kunimoto Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to Vocational Education.

“These world-class educators and researchers are not simply being recognized; they are the driving force behind real, tangible improvements that are shaping the future of our students and the prosperity of our state,” University of Hawaiʻi President Wendy Hensel said in a press release. “It is an honor to be part of a university community where such groundbreaking work has both local impact and global reach.”

Each campus selects its awardees for the Board of Regent’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching and the Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. 

The Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Teaching:

• Mark Ombrello, assistant professor of history, Kauaʻi Community College
• Cara Chang, associate professor of English, Leeward Community College
• Leslie Crow-Kincaid, assistant professor of general business and hospitality in the business and cybersecurity division, UH West Oʻahu 
• Teri Evangelista, associate professor of mathematics, UH Maui College.
• Charlene S. Gima, assistant professor of English, Honolulu Community College
• Kekoa Harman, associate professor, Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, UH Hilo
• Pele Kaio, assistant professor of Hawaiian lifestyles, Hawaiʻi Community College
• Cheehyung Harrison Kim, associate professor of history, College of Arts, Languages and Letters, UH Mānoa
• Ryan Koo, professor of history, Windward Community College
• Miyoko T. Pettit-Toledo, assistant professor, William S. Richardson School of Law, UH Mānoa
• Subhashni Raj, assistant professor in urban and regional planning, College of Social Sciences, UH Mānoa
• Eirik Saethre, professor of anthropology, College of Social Sciences, UH Mānoa
• Amy Shiroma, assistant professor, Hospitality and Tourism Education Department, Kapiʻolani Community College
• Tamara Ticktin, professor of botany, School of Life Sciences, UH Mānoa
• Kara Wong Ramsey, associate professor, John A. Burns School of Medicine, UH Mānoa

Read the bios of each recipient

The Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research was awarded to:

• Nicolas Gaillard, associate researcher, Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, UH Mānoa
• Joseph Keaweʻaimoku Kaholokula, professor and chair of Native Hawaiian Health, John A. Burns School of Medicine, UH Mānoa
• Victor M. Lubecke, professor of electrical and computer engineering, College of Engineering, UH Mānoa

Read the bios of each recipient

The Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching was award to:

• Brian Yamamoto, professor of natural sciences, Kauaiʻi Community College
• Elisabeth “Lis” Gallant, assistant professor of geology, UH Hilo
• Ariel Gruenthal Rankin, assistant professor of anthropology, division of social sciences, UH West Oʻahu
• Lolita Pérez-Ayala, PhD candidate in the communication and information sciences interdisciplinary program, College of Social Sciences, UH Mānoa
• Shawn Sumiki, culinary arts coordinator, Hawaiʻi Community College
• Lisa Vallin, instructor, Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, College of Social Sciences, UH Mānoa

Read the bios of each recipient

The Masaki and Momoe Kunimoto Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to Vocational Education rewards outstanding achievement and significant contribution to vocational and technical education by a community college faculty member or student. The award was established by family members to honor the namesakes’ role in development of the food industry in Hawai‘i. This year’s winner is:

• Mary Farmer, nursing instructor, UH Maui College

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