Dr. Sylvia Yuen, executive director of the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i (RCUH) since July 2015, will be leaving her position in June 2020. Established by the Hawai‘i State Legislature in 1965 as a public instrumentality, RCUH’s volume of business is more than $260 million annually and it has approximately 2,400 employees. “Sylvia is a visionary leader who has brought about transformational changes to the corporation,” said Donna Ikeda, chairperson of the RCUH Board of Directors. “We were very fortunate to have her at the helm of RCUH and are sorry she is retiring.”

Under Dr. Yuen’s leadership, RCUH enhanced its communications by updating and increasing the platforms used to reach a larger audience. Improvements in the corporation’s IT systems led to new functionalities and services such as ePayments, eSign, electronic personnel action forms, and e-document processing, all of which increased efficiency and productivity. Dr. Yuen also greatly expanded training opportunities for staff, recognizing that such training was an ongoing process needed by employees to competently perform in an ever-changing and increasingly technological society. Since 2016, the number of people participating in RCUH training has increased by more than 200%. Clients rate RCUH highly, with 89% of survey respondents indicating they would recommend its services.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with the people at RCUH who are passionate about supporting and enhancing research, development, and training in Hawai‘i,” said Dr. Yuen. “The journey’s not quite over, but our wise and supportive board and wonderful staff can be proud of our accomplishments and what we’ve achieved together.”

The RCUH Board has begun the recruitment for the corporation’s next executive director.

Yesterday, November 4, 2019, we encountered a system error in the afternoon and consequently checks could not be printed.  We are working to resolve the issue, and we will post a message when the RCUH Financial Portal is back in operation.

Until the problem is resolved, purchasing and payment transactions cannot be approved at this time.  We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. Thank you.

Willingness to go above and beyond, powerful in pushing the science agenda, high quality, exemplary work ethic, and exceptional performance—these are a few of the phrases used by principal investigators to describe the work of their high-achieving employees.

RCUH proudly  congratulates the 2019 Outstanding Employees of the Year honored at yesterday’s awards luncheon at Waialae Country Club! (Click on employee’s name to view their video.)

Outstanding Researcher/Project Manager/Professional

1^st Place: Ning Li, Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System, UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

2^nd Place: Justin Hite, Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project, UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit

Honorable Mentions

Danielle Hull, UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

Crissy Kawamoto, UH Cancer Center

Kiaina Schubert, Subaru Telescope

Rob Weryk, UH Institute for Astronomy

Outstanding Team

1^st Place: UH Animal and Veterinary Services
Diana Blanco, Tereso Dace, Jeff Hall, Bob Post, Ying Zhang

2^nd Place (tie): Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics
Geoffrey Bower, Derek Kubo, Susan O’Neal, Peter Oshiro, Philippe Raffin

2^nd Place (tie): East Asian Observatory
Graham Bell, Daniel Bintley, Steven Mairs, Izumi Mizuno, Harriet Parsons

Honorable Mentions

Mauna Kahālāwai Watershed Partnership (Kyle Alreck, John Comcowich, Kainoa Marchello, Marcus Richter, Daniel Tanaka), UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit

Pacific Islands Deep Sea Coral and Sponge Initiative (Sarah Bingo, Virginia Moriwake, Meagan Putts), UH Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research

The UH Manoa Department of Public Safety (DPS) offers the following training for UH and RCUH employees.

Active Shooter Awareness & Response Training*

Participants will learn about various active shooter situations, discuss measures and options that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of victimization, and learn what to expect when DPS and law enforcement arrive on the scene.

LOCATION: Campus Center Dining Room 203E

TIME: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

DATES:

• Friday, October 11, 2019
• Wednesday, November 13, 2019
• Monday, December 9, 2019

*To register for the Active Shooter Awareness & Response Training, you must have a UH email address. If you are a RCUH employee and need to request a UH email address, please click here to learn more. To schedule a group training for your project, please email [email protected].

Conflict Resolution & De-Escalation Workshop

DPS also offers a workshop on Conflict Resolution and De-Escalation. Participants will learn about precipitating factors and signs of agitation, discuss verbal and non-verbal de-escalation techniques, and learn techniques for what to do when de-escalation isn’t possible. This course is only offered to groups by request with a minimum of eight participants.  To schedule a session for your project, please email [email protected].

The Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission will be offering ethics training classes in September and October on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i. The classes will provide an overview of the state ethics laws that apply to all state (including RCUH) employees. Attendance is highly encouraged if you have not previously attended or would like a refresher. If you’re unable to attend on the designated date, another option is to view RCUH’s online course on the Hawai’i State Ethics Code.

Classes are open to all State employees and there is no fee to attend. Be sure to register early because seating is limited. Please see below for training dates and locations:

O‘AHU

Date/Time: September 27, 2019, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Kapi‘olani Community College, Ohia Auditorium 118
To register online: https://ethics.hawaii.gov/2019-09-27honolulu/

Date/Time: October 22, 2019, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: State Capitol Auditorium (415 S Beretania Street)
To register online: https://ethics.hawaii.gov/2019-10-22honolulu/

KAUA‘I

Date/Time: October 4, 2019, 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Kaua‘i Community College, OCET 106 C&D
To register online: https://ethics.hawaii.gov/2019-10-04kauai/

*Please note these trainings are managed and conducted by the Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission. For questions regarding this training, please call (808) 587-0460 or email [email protected].

RCUH is pleased to announce the 2019 Outstanding Employees of the Year nominees. This year we have 11 nominations in the individual and team categories, which include 29 exceptional individuals from O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Maui, and Hawai‘i island. Congratulations to all of them for this well-deserved recognition!

RESEARCHER/PROJECT MANAGER/PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY:  

• Justin Hite, Kaua’i Forest Bird Recovery Project, UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit 
• Danielle Hull, SOEST Laboratory for Analytical Biogeochemistry, UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
• Crissy Kawamoto, Cancer Prevention in the Pacific Program, UH Cancer Center
• Ning Li, Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System; UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
• Kiaina Schubert, Subaru Telescope
• Robert Weryk, Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, UH Institute for Astronomy

TEAM CATEGORY:

• Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics (Geoffrey Bower, Derek Kubo, Susan O’Neal, Peter Oshiro, Philippe Raffin)
• East Asian Observatory (Graham Bell, Daniel Bintley, Steven Mairs, Izumi Mizuno, Harriet Parsons)
• Mauna Kahalawai Watershed Partnership, UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit (Kyle Alreck, John Comcowich, Kainoa Marchello, Marcus Richter, Daniel Tanaka)
• Pacific Islands Deep Sea Coral and Sponge Initiative, UH Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (Sarah Bingo, Meagan Putts, Virginia Moriwake)
• UH Animal and Veterinary Services Program (Diana Blanco, Tereso Dace, Jeff Hall, Robert Post, Ying Zhang)

Join us and celebrate achievements of these outstanding employees at the RCUH Awards Luncheon on Monday, October 28, 2019, at Waialae Country Club. Tickets are $35. Please download and complete the reservation form below. Email the completed form to [email protected] by Friday, October 4, 2019.  Questions? Please contact [email protected].

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Does your project have a scientific breakthrough or significant achievement you’d like to share? Or, perhaps you want to spread the word about the great work your project is doing?  Just let us know and it could be included in the 2019 RCUH Annual Report! We’re also seeking high resolution photos that capture your project’s work and operations.

Projects are featured in the RCUH annual reports (see samples from 2018 report)  and we’d like to continue to profile projects in our 2019 report from a variety of fields, such as marine science, agriculture, medicine, astronomy and more.

Please consider submitting a project profile.  All you need to do is complete this brief form and email it to [email protected]. The deadline is Friday, September 13, 2019. While all submissions may not be featured in the 2019 RCUH Annual Report, they may be used in future publications.

Questions?  Contact RCUH Corporate Services at [email protected].  Thank you.

RCUH is pleased to present four (4) new RCUH-produced online courses:

• Workplace Violence Prevention (mandatory for RCUH employees & supervisors)
• Financial Portal: Financial Forecast Reports
• Financial Portal: RCUH Fiscal Reports
• Financial Portal: UH Project Fiscal Reports

We’re also excited to release more than 100 new personal and professional development courses in the RCUH Training Portal on a variety of topics—from leadership & management to health & wellbeing. See the list below.

If you need an account for the RCUH Training Portal, please click here to register.

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Principal Investigators and supervisors are now able to track their employees’ training using the RCUH Training Portal. Whether it’s project-specific training or one of RCUH’s training courses, projects can work with RCUH Corporate Services to set up and manage staff training.

With RCUH’s assistance, projects will be able to:

• Organize their project by “Teams” and “Sub-teams” to assign required training to specific groups of people.
• Create custom learning paths for their teams and sub-teams (e.g., Project Management Learning Path, Fiscal Administrator Learning Path).
• Upload their own videos, manuals, or training to supplement RCUH training offerings into the Training Portal for their staff to complete.
• Receive scheduled reports to track their employees’ training (RCUH and project courses, live and online). Employees will still be able to track their own training.
• Allow employees to upload an external license/certificate into their profiles.

If your project is interested in enrolling for this service, please contact the RCUH Corporate Services Department at [email protected] or call (808) 988-8315/8314 to set up an appointment. Because each project requires a high level of customization, we want to set up an initial conversation or webchat and walk you through the process and respond to any questions you may have.

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The RCUH fiscal year-end processing has been completed. You may now approve online purchase orders, payments, and travel in the Financial Portal. The first check run for Fiscal Year 2020 will be on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 4:00 PM.

Reminder: Service dates are required for all payment transactions through Friday, August 30. For payments approved after August 2, $100,000 or greater, and with service dates of June 30 or earlier, please complete the RCUH AP Worksheet. Please include estimates or projections for invoices that have not been received as of August 2.  Please email your worksheet to Staci Murata at [email protected] by Monday, August 5.

Please refer to the Wednesday, May 29 General Announcement on Service Dates for more information.