Empowering people to build communities

Stian Kronborg, one of the students competing on behalf of the
Hawaii Pacific Entrepreneur Club, at the May 2016 Enactus
National Competition held in St. Louis, Missouri

Hawaii Pacific Entrepreneur Club (HPEC) President Stian Kronborg demonstrated a penchant for entrepreneurship as a middle school student in Siggerud, Norway.

“I was operating a small waffle stand at my local climbing club where I did everything from planning how much batter to make to setting up and breaking down, and some of the revenue I made went to the climbing club,” Kronborg said. “When I saw what impact the little stand I had there made on the community I could not stop doing it.”

The exposure to free enterprise continued in high school for Kronborg. One of his business courses had a practical portion, requiring the class to form teams to start a business and sell a product or service. Kronborg’s group sold small pizza rolls.

“During competition that year, my team made second place among at least 20 teams,” he said. “We were the only ones from my school that got into the semi-finals.”    

Now living nearly 7,000 miles away from home, Kronborg is a junior International Business major at Hawai‘i Pacific University. He is active in multiple student clubs, including the Entrepreneur Club.

   

One of the purposes of HPEC is to improve the quality of life for the members of its community. To this end, Kronborg and his fellow club members engage in business consulting projects for organizations and individuals. Depending on client needs, the HPU team may be involved in conducting research, drafting project plans, preparing social media plans, creating websites, among other business-oriented activities.   

“The projects we have been working on have the potential to help the community around me, which is something that I strive for every day,” he said.

The opportunity to develop professional and leadership skills through the Entrepreneur Club is another advantage, Kronborg said, acknowledging the help and support of the College of Business and Student Life. Ken Schoolland, associate professor of economics and the HPEC advisor, is a valued mentor to Kronborg.

“Thanks to our advisor, professor Ken Schoolland, I have been able to network and make connections in the academic and professional world in Honolulu,” he said. “This past year he has helped me become a better leader by giving me tips and insight in delegating tasks, conducting more efficient meetings, and making me step out of my comfort zone.”

Under the guidance of Schoolland, Kronborg and fellow HPEC members collaborated in the 2015-16 year with clients, including a Hawai‘i non-profit and several entrepreneurs. They also provided entrepreneurship coaching to Hawai‘i high school seniors who participated in the first #HPUBIZ4GOOD competition, sponsored by the HPU College of Business.

The members of the Entrepreneur Club had the opportunity to showcase their client project work through the competitions of ENACTUS, an international non-profit organization focused on entrepreneurial action. In April, the HPU team participated in the first Virtual Enactus Regional Competition and won, qualifying them for the May national competition held in St. Louis, Missouri.

Bradley Eversley, Jordan Serpentini and Stian Kronborg, who were the Hawaii Pacific Entrepreneur Club
2016 Enactus National Competition competing team members, with their faculty advisor Ken  Schoolland

In addition to presenting HPEC client projects at nationals, there was a career fair and speeches by conference sponsor representatives including Walmart and The Hershey Company. There were also many opportunities to network with other university entrepreneur club teams and prominent business people. Kronborg had a conversation with a representative from Enterprise Holdings, which left a lasting impression on him.

“After World War II Enterprise started with, I believe three cars, and it is now the biggest car rental company in the world,” he said. “What I learned was that even if you start with the smallest amount of resources, you can be big with hard work and dedication.”

Kronborg said the experience of participating in nationals exceeded his expectations, and the camaraderie between the more than 100 university teams was incredible.

“Even though we all were there for competition, there was still respect among us,” he said. “We did not make it to the semi-finals  or win any awards, but in the end we all win with the projects that we do.”

For information about joining the Hawaii Pacific Entrepreneur Club: contact hpec.hpu@my.hpu.edu

Oceanography faculty is one of the authors of United Nations Environment Programme report

A colony of the dominant deep-water plate coral Leptoseris hawaiiensis 

Associate Professor of Oceanography Samuel Kahng, Ph.D., is one of 35 mesophotic coral ecosystems experts from around the world contributing to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report entitled “Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems: A Lifeboat for Coral Reefs?” The May 2016 released report is a result of follow-up recommendations from a 2014 UNEP workshop, which focused on management strategies to protect and preserve coral reef ecosystems. Kahng co-authored Chapter 2, What are mesophotic coral ecosystems? and authored section 3.8, The Hawaiian Archipelago. The full UNEP report and more information is posted here.

In Kahng’s lab at HPU, graduate students engage in research projects with him. Under the mentorship of Kahng, former student Daniel Luck (MS Marine Science ’13) concentrated his master’s thesis research on mesophotic coral ecosytems. More information on Luck’s research here, and Kahng’s teaching and research interests here.

Professor of Art History authors chapter of book, honoring King’s College, Cambridge professor

Jerome Feldman, Ph.D.

Professor of Art History Jerome Feldman, Ph.D., authored the chapter, “Transgressions in the House of the Chief: Hilimondregeraya village in South Nias, Indonesia,” in the May 2016 published book, Tributes to Jean Michel Massing: Towards a Global Art History. The book is a tribute to Professor of Art History at King’s College, Cambridge (UK), Jean Michel Massing, on his retirement. It contains essays by colleagues and former students. In 2004-05, Feldman served at Cambridge as the Slade Visiting Professor, one of the most prestigious honors in academia for art historians. 

Feldman, who is a specialist in the arts of Tribal Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, received his Ph.D. in tribal art history from Columbia University. He has been on the faculty at the university since 1979. In the Fall 2016 semester, Feldman plans to teach ARTH 1001 Art of Oceania, ARTH 3206 Renaissance to Modern Art and ARTH 2301 Tribal Art History.

Oceanic Institute of HPU scientist publishes in Ecology and Evolution

Brett Olds, Ph.D.

OI of HPU Shrimp Department research scientist Brett P. Olds, Ph.D. and a team of researchers, including OI of HPU Research Associate Mark Renshaw, had their paper, “Estimating species richness using environmental DNA”, published in Ecology and Evolution.     

The team assessed fish communities in a stream using two methods, depletion-based electrofishing and environmental DNA metabarcoding (eDNA) from water samples, to test the hypothesis that eDNA provides an alternative means of determining species richness and species identities for a natural ecosystem. Their results indicate that eDNA can not only identify all twelve species captured with traditional sampling methods, but also the additional species estimated to be in the stream. Therefore, modern genetic approaches have the potential to transform our ability to build a more complete list of species for ecological investigations and inform management of aquatic ecosystems.

Olds is a molecular biologist with extensive experience in molecular genetics and aquatic ecology. More on Olds here.