Since 2005, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa has been home to the Dan and Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals, which honors U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye and his wife, Maggie, for their lifetime of public service. The Inouye Chair is an initiative that is aimed at drawing today’s leading artists, intellectuals, and other public figures to Hawai‘i to share their work, educate students and the broader community, and in turn be inspired by Hawai‘i’s own rich and unique offerings.
The inaugural Chair holder was a historian of African American history, John Hope Franklin. Since Franklin, the Chair has brought other distinguished and accomplished visitors to Hawai‘i’s shores, including director John Sayles, economist Christina Romer, documentarian Frederick Wiseman, business leader Dick Parsons, and writer Ngugi Wa Thiong‘o. All of them have fulfilled Dan and Maggie Inouye’s wish for the Chair in Democratic ideals to create “extraordinary opportunit[ies] for Hawaiʻi‘s students, our state‘s future leaders, to learn from [the] pioneer[s] of American history and society.”
Chair holders are selected based on their commitment to democratic ideals and the importance of public life. The chief goals of the Chair are to enrich the University’s offerings in American arts, letters, politics and society, and to extend to an accomplished figure the opportunity to take part in the scholarly and social life of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Dan and Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals is jointly administered by the Department of American Studies and William S. Richardson School of Law.
Beginning in Spring of 2015, the Inouye Chair will be established as a semester-long visiting appointment (fall or spring).
Suggestions for nominations may be sent to any of the committee members below.
Committee Members:
Peter Arnade
Dean
College of Arts, Languages & Letters
Camille A. Nelson
Professor and Dean
William S. Richardson School of Law
Mari Yoshihara
Professor and Department Chair
American Studies Department
Richard Chen
Assistant Professor
William S. Richardson School of Law
Elizabeth Colwill
Associate Professor
American Studies Department
Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu
Assistant Specialist
American Studies Department
Susan K. Serrano
Faculty Specialist
William S. Richardson School of Law
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Karla Zarate-Ramirez
Associate Vice President, Major Gifts
University of Hawai’i Foundation
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Ken Inouye
Family Representative
Jennifer Goto Sabas
Community Representative