Perform in English and Hoike in Hawaiian Language. Sit in English and Noho in Hawaiian Language. Release in English and Hookuu in Hawaiian Language. Dance in English and Haa in Hawaiian Language. Hide in English and Pee in Hawaiian Language. Memorize in English and Hoopaanaau in Hawaiian Language. Touch in English and Hoopa in Hawaiian Language. Sing in English and Mele in Hawaiian Language. Appear in English and Oili in Hawaiian Language. Dive in English and Luu in Hawaiian Language. Crawl in English and Kolo in Hawaiian Language. Dance in English and Hula in Hawaiian Language. Balance in English and Kaulike in Hawaiian Language. Bellow in English and Kuo in Hawaiian Language. Breathe in English and Hanu in Hawaiian Language. Extend in English and Hoonui in Hawaiian Language. Embrace in English and Puliki in Hawaiian Language. Flinch in English and Kuemi in Hawaiian Language. Sit in English and Noho in Hawaiian Language. Release in English and Hookuu in Hawaiian Language. Dance in English and Haa in Hawaiian Language.
Hide in English and Pee in Hawaiian Language. Memorize in English and Hoopaanaau in Hawaiian Language. Touch in English and Hoopa in Hawaiian Language. Sing in English and Mele in Hawaiian Language. Appear in English and Oili in Hawaiian Language. Dive in English and Luu in Hawaiian Language. Crawl in English and Kolo in Hawaiian Language. Dance in English and Hula in Hawaiian Language. Balance in English and Kaulike in Hawaiian Language. Bellow in English and Kuo in Hawaiian Language. Breathe in English and Hanu in Hawaiian Language. Extend in English and Hoonui in Hawaiian Language. Embrace in English and Puliki in Hawaiian Language. Flinch in English and Kuemi in Hawaiian Language.

UH Mānoa Theatre & Dance Professor Wins 2023 Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching

2023 UH Mānoa Awards winners

Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching

  • Rosanna ʻAnolani Alegado, associate professor, oceanography
  • Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, associate professor, theatre and dance
  • Richard Chen, associate professor, law
  • Monica LaBriola, assistant professor, history
  • Summer Puanani Maunakea, assistant professor, curriculum studies
  • Alexander Stokes, assistant professor, cell and molecular biology

Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker Smiling.

Tammy Haili’ōpua Baker is an associate professor of theatre & dance in the College of Arts, Languages & Letters. A steward of Indigenous knowledge, she fulfilled that kuleana (responsibility) by building the Hawaiian Theatre Program, the only one of its kind focused primarily on performance. A colleague who’s also been her student in Hawaiian language views the experience of acting in her productions as a master class in pedagogy.

“Professor Baker is continually supporting students and others in the production of 40 performers in speaking and singing lines individually and collectively. [She was] clearly the director throughout, nevertheless each actor (students) and production staff (teachers) were all made to feel their work was necessary and appreciated.”

Baker is internationally recognized, the first from Hawaiʻi to receive the Kennedy Center’s Medallion of Excellence. A reviewer of her plays describes them as “guides to restoring language and reclaiming the stories of generations of Indigenous populations; gifts to a culture whose language and history have been suppressed. Her transformative work shines through the passion, voice and aloha spirit of her students.”

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