More than 120 individuals gathered at the UH Mānoa Campus Center Ballroom on November 1, 2024, to honor 21 outstanding RCUH employees. Attendees celebrated the achievements and dedication of all nominees, some of whom flew in that morning from Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island. RCUH wants to offer a special thanks to Hawaii News Now weather anchor Guy Hagi for emceeing the event, as well as the Selection Committee for taking the time to review 12 nominations across three categories. The Selection Committee was comprised of:

• Ken Kawahara, RCUH Board of Director
• Howard Lao, First Hawaiian Bank
• Jody Shiroma, PBS Hawai‘i

These judges evaluated the written nominations and selected awardees based on their:

• Initiative taken to develop the achievement or to advance the project.
• Leadership and resourcefulness in implementing the achievement or to advance the project.
• Impact of achievement on the project, professional field, and/or larger community.
• Other information on the importance, significance, and/or quality of the achievement.

Without further ado, we are pleased to announce this year’s awardees:

RESEARCHER/PROJECT MANAGER CATEGORY

• First Place: Kristen Harmon, Hawaii Wildlife Ecology Lab, UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources
• Second Place: Ray Kahaunaele, Kaua ‘i Invasive Species Committee, UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
• Honorable Mentions:
  • Stanford J. Fichtman, Grants Office, Kapi‘olani Community College
  • Christine Tallamy Glazer, Soil Health, Environment, and Ecosystem Resilience Lab, UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources

PROJECT SUPPORT STAFF CATEGORY

• First Place: Miku Lenentine, Center for Resilient Neighborhoods, Kapi‘olani Community College
• Second Place: Kealakekua Meyer, GEAR UP and Kūlia ma Kapiʻolani, Kapiʻolani Community College
• Honorable Mentions:
  • Sydney Carey, Curriculum Research & Development Group, UH Mānoa College of Education
  • Russell Sumitomo, Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology, Kapi‘olani Community College

TEAMS CATEGORY

• First Place: UH Sea Level Center (Jon Avery, Jerard “Ziggy” Jardin, Jason Klem, Nikolai Turetsky), UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
• Second Place: Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance (Marco Castro, Dylan Moniz), UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
• Honorable Mentions:
  • Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (Emily Contreras, Nan Himmelsbach, Andrea Lee Schmidt), UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
  • Maunakea Shared Services (Douglas Astrande, Tracy Miyashiro, Travis Perez, Aaron Zimmer), UH Institute for Astronomy

In an effort to increase awareness of updates to RCUH’s policies and procedures, Policies 2.206 Administration of UH ORS Subawards and 2.304 FFATA Reporting have been updated. This action was taken to align RCUH policies with updated UH Office of Research Services requirements. The updated policies are posted on the RCUH website and are available for immediate download.

Should you have any questions, please contact Erin H. Yoda via email at [email protected].

RCUH received multiple questions about RCUH RFP No. CS2024-1, “Design and Development of RCUH Website.” Below are RCUH’s responses.

Q: In Section 2.5-1, is RCUH referring to a commercial CMS product, a custom CMS, or an open-source CMS? Should we include a scope for CMS training in this proposal?

A: In terms of a CMS, RCUH is not restricting it to a certain type of CMS, however it should be user-friendly for staff to update and maintain. In terms of CMS training, a scope would be helpful, but not mandatory for the proposal. Pricing for CMS training should be included in the base proposal, per 3.1.5 (pg. 11 – see second bullet under Base Proposal).

Q: What specific SEO goals does RCUH want to achieve? For instance, improved rankings, increased traffic, higher conversion rates, etc.

A: In terms of SEO goals mentioned in Section 2.6, RCUH would like to:

• Improve page loading speed
• Increase organic traffic, engagement
• Lower bounce rate
  
  

Q: Could the choice of CMS be a factor in reducing administrative overhead during the modernization process?

A: Yes, that could be a factor in your proposal.

Q: What specific requirements or guidelines does RCUH have in mind for ensuring that all images on the new site have appropriate alternative text to meet WCAG compliance?

A: Per Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, websites should provide text alternatives for any non-text content, such as images, and if non-text content is pure decoration, is used only for visual formatting, or is not presented to users, then it is implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology. RCUH would like to ensure all images have alternative text to be compliant with these guidelines and will discuss this process with the selected Offerer. RCUH will provide a collection of images with descriptions that the selected Offeror may choose from for the updated webpage.

Q: In the Document Library, permalinks should remain the same even when documents are updated or replaced. If we move forward with modernization, we should structure slugs and breadcrumbs on the page for improved navigation. Will these changes be acceptable for modification?

A: Yes.  We encourage other suggestions Offerers may have to improve navigation on the RCUH website.

Q: RCUH having defined routes at https://www.rcuh.com/news/ does not effectively represent information to the end user compared to https://www.rcuh.com/about. Should we address this issue?

Yes.

Two (2) questions were received October 1-6, 2024 about RCUH RFP No. CS2024-1, “Design and Development of RCUH Website.” Below are RCUH’s responses.

Q: [We do] not complete any design work until the agreement and deposit has been furnished and the project call has been completed. The project call is required to have an in depth discuss about the business vision, hyper define the demographic, as well as communicate the main pain point(s)/solution(s) for the project’s marketing message to be solidified.  Per the Request for Proposal item 3.1.2, bullet five “provide a rough sketch of the homepage” which is required for the bid to be accepted. Is there any flexibility with the Request for Proposal Section 3-Proposal Requirements?

A: The rough sketch of the homepage provides us a means to evaluate the Offeror’s creativity and responsiveness to our vision. It is required for acceptance of the proposal.

Q: After reviewing the RFP, I noticed it includes items that differ significantly from the current website. Are you able to share the budget range for this project? This will help ensure that (A) I have a realistic chance at the project and (B) it aligns with a budget that works for both of us.

A: The refreshed website should enhance the user’s experience with more features than currently available. We have a budget range of $15,000 to $25,000 for design and development. Offerors should present their best offer based on their understanding of our requirements.

It’s only October and we’re already anticipating the new year! Pre-orders for our popular wall calendar, 24 inches x 19 inches, are now being taken on a first come, first served basis. We’d appreciate having projects designate a coordinator who will consolidate orders. Please email [email protected] with the following information:

• Coodinator’s name
• Coordinator’s email address
• Project name
• Quantity

We are happy to mail calendars to the neighbor islands (please provide a mailing address) and will consolidate them as much as possible (10-12 calendars fit in a mailing tube). Due to increased postage costs, we are unable to distribute the calendar outside the state of Hawaiʻi.

All Oʻahu requestors must make arrangements for order pick up at RCUH’s offices at the East-West Center, Burns Hall.

We anticipate that the calendar will be ready for distribution in early December and will confirm the date via email. Should you have any questions, please contact RCUH Corporate Services via email, [email protected].

The Research Corporation of the University of Hawaiʻi (RCUH) is soliciting proposals from Offerors who wish to be considered for the “Design and Development of RCUH Website.” A copy of the Request for Proposal (RFP) No. CS2024-1 may be downloaded here.

Questions About the RFP
All questions about the RFP must be directed to Kaylee Hull at RCUH via email to [email protected]. Closing Date for Receipt of Offeror Questions is 4:00 PM (Hawaii Standard Time), October 15, 2024.

Responses to Questions About the RFP
All received questions and responses will be posted by 4:00 PM (Hawaii Standard Time), October 18, 2024 on the RCUH website, https://www.rcuh.com.

Closing Date for Receipt of Proposals
Completed proposals must be received via email to [email protected] no later than 4:00 PM (Hawaii Standard Time), November 15, 2024.  Offerors may be required to give an oral presentation (refer to Section 4.5 Oral Presentations) tentatively scheduled for the week of December 2, 2024.  It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure confirmation of proposal receipt prior to the Closing Date for Receipt of Proposals.  Proposals received after the time and date fixed for submittal will not be considered. 

The RCUH Financial Portal will be down for system maintenance from Saturday, September 14, 2024, 8:00 p.m. (HST) to Sunday, September 15, 2024, 5:00 a.m. (HST).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

The RCUH Financial Portal 2.0 was implemented on July 15, 2024. To hear from our users of the system, RCUH will be hosting a virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. HST via Zoom.  We would like to hear user feedback, questions, comments, and input on possible future enhancements to help us better meet our user needs. Please click on the link below to register for the virtual Town Hall:

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. HST

Location: Zoom

RCUH Financial Portal 2.0 Town Hall Registration

If you have any questions or comments, please contact RCUH Accounting at [email protected].

Date: Friday, November 1, 2024
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Venue: UH Mānoa Campus Center Ballroom
Cost: $40 per ticket or $240 for a table of six

Join us on Friday, November 1 as we recognize the accomplishments and hard work of 21 outstanding RCUH employees! Attendees will be inspired by their stories of perseverance, successes, and efforts to better our society and strengthen our local community. This annual celebration is not to be missed, so secure your seat today!

Seats are limited so be sure to RSVP by Friday, October 11, 2024, by filling out the form below. If you have any questions, please contact RCUH Corporate Services at [email protected] or (808) 956-0504. We hope to see you there!

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