Welcome to Hannah Lutgen, who is the new Maui County Extension agent for landscape and ornamental growers! It’s great to have her onboard as part of the team! Hannah received her Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Horticulture and comes to the college from her previous position as a conservation specialist with the Maui Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

The Office of Academic and Student Affairs participated in the 2019 Hawaii Agriculture Conference, which provided a gathering place for all sectors of Hawai‘i agriculture and brought together multiple participants and components of Hawai‘i’s food system. Intrepid members of the office jumped in the mud during an ag field trip/volunteer ag-venture at Leilehua High School’s student farm, then after cleaning up, they spent the next two days exhibiting at the conference’s AgxChange.

This Halloween, the Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences held its annual pumpkin-carving contest, to fearful and artistic effect! From the front of a VW bus to a surprisingly faithful depiction of the classic painting The Scream and an assortment of grotesque faces, PEPS teams and individuals showed just what can be done with a pumpkin. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about and preserving the ahupua‘a system, Hawai‘i’s unique form of land use from mauka to makai, check out these one-year fellowships in ahupua‘a management for UH students. Beginning in Spring 2020, students will join a diverse team of UH faculty, natural resource professionals, and cultural and community groups engaged in restoring ecologically and culturally important Hawaiian ahupua‘a.

Marking the first year since the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture moved its main administrative operations to UH, director Cheng-Sheng Lee offered his thanks to CTAHR and the other institutions that have made it a successful transition. One of his important tasks as executive director has been to identify researchers outside of aquaculture who can apply their field of expertise and unique skills to help solve the challenges facing the aquaculture industry.