VNR: Walter Dods, Jr., Jay H. Shidler, donate Akaji sculpture to UH Mānoa’s RISE

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/tQF

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Walter Dods, Jr. and Jay H. Shidler have gifted a sculpture by the late Bumpei Akaji to their alma mater. The sculpture, “RISE,” was installed outside the Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center, and dedicated in a special ceremony prior to the official grand opening of the center on June 15.

The sculpture “RISE” was created in 1979 by Kauaʻi-born artist Bumpei Akaji as a gift for the late Masaru “Pundy” Yokouchi, founding chairperson of Hawaiʻi’s State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Dods and Shidler purchased the sculpture from Yokouchi’s estate on Maui. Dods named it “RISE” with permission from Yokouchi’s family.

“I thought it’d be cool to name it RISE, and bringing it back to Metcalf Street is just incredible,” Dods said.

Akaji was one of seven local artists who attended UH Mānoa after World War II and lived at the “Metcalf Chateau,” an old house they rented in the 1950s on Metcalf Street, a short distance away from the RISE Center. Akaji, who was a member of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team during the war, stayed in Italy to study painting and sculpture before returning to attend UH and became one of the first to earn a master’s in fine arts degree from UH Mānoa in 1952.

RISE grand opening

The RISE building was named for Dods in honor of his gift of $5 million, which supports the RISE programs operated by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business. The student entrepreneurship and innovation center with housing for 374 students opened in August 2023.

RISE was built under a public-private partnership between UH, UH Foundation and Hunt Companies Hawaiʻi. UH Foundation recently moved its headquarters to the second and third floors of the Charles Atherton House at RISE.

“This project is such a powerful example of what can happen when we innovate in our thinking and embrace creative partnerships to re-imagine our state’s future,” said Gov. Josh Green, MD. “These projects serve as an example that there is a way to improve facilities without relying solely on taxpayer dollars, and in UH’s case, tuition monies.”

“We are proud that UH Foundation is a partner in this groundbreaking project that will nurture and inspire generations of student entrepreneurs,” said UH Foundation CEO Tim Dolan. “We’re excited we get to work here in this historic building and grateful we get to admire this wonderful gift from Walter and Jay, the sculpture by Bumpei Akaji, every day.”

PACE Board Chair Susan Yamada noted that her first trip to the University of Utah’s Lassonde Studios, which served as the model for RISE, was just seven years ago. The groundbreaking was in January 2022 and the building was completed in August 2023.

Related UH News stories:

• New state-of-the-art UH Mānoa RISE center inspired by Utah’s Lassonde Studios, June 4, 2023
• Space for 3D printing, fabrication, sewing, more in new UH Mānoa RISE center, July 5, 2023
• RISE to host student entrepreneur events, funding incentives, July 30, 2023

“The journey to this grand opening was very challenging,” Yamada said. “Overcoming adversity by working as a team and persevering are traits we want our students to acquire while studying at UH.”

In addition to gifting the RISE sculpture to UH, Dods brought it from Maui to Mānoa with help from Matson, Royal Contracting and Island Movers, each of which donated their services.

Artist and consultant Kelly Sueda oversaw a restoration of the sculpture to its original glory, as well as the installation.

Dods is an alumnus of UH Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business, a longtime donor to UH and former president of UH Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

He is one of the most influential businessmen in Hawaiʻi, and has been an active community volunteer and fundraiser since early in his career. He retired from First Hawaiian Bank in 2004 after a 36-year career with the bank, the last 15 years as chairman and CEO. A recognized industry leader, Dods was the National President of the American Bankers Association in 1996.

Shidler, founder and managing partner of The Shidler Group, is an alumnus of the business school that bears his name in recognition of his generous support. Shidler has also recently made major gifts to the UH Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law and to the UH Cancer Center. He served as a board member of the UH Foundation from 1994 to 1997.

FOR UH • FOR HAWAIʻI, The Campaign for the University of Hawaiʻi, is focused on raising $1 billion to support UH priorities on all 10 campuses across the state, including student success; research that matters; kuleana to Native Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi; sustainability, resilience and conservation; innovation and entrepreneurship; building Hawaiʻi’s workforce; and engaging our community. Learn more at uhfoundation.org/4UH4HI

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/tQF

VIDEO:

BROLL: 1:30

Shots of Bumpei Akaji sculpture dedication and Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center dedication ceremony

SOUNDBITES:

Walter A. Dods Jr., UH alumnus and longtime donor to UH (:12)

“Tourism is very important to us, but we need to find many other little legs of the economy. What better than unleashing entrepreneurs on our economy. And that's what this facility is going to do.”

Susan Yamada, UH Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship Board Chair (:18)

“You work your life for this to have this legacy to be able to pass to future generations. I just can't even tell you the gratitude and the joy I feel for everyone who helped make this happen.”

Jay H. Shidler, UH Mānoa alumnus and philanthropist (:18)

“Engineering students, business students, well, we got to get the engineer students to talk to the business students and that's called, that's the petri dish of entrepreneurship and this has the promise of building a lot of companies, small companies, big companies.”

Tim Dolan, UH VP for Advancement and UH Foundation CEO (:19)

“So the campaign FOR UH • FOR HAWAIʻI, we’re about $650 million towards a billion dollar campaign. But far more than the number is this sense of momentum, this acceleration that more and more people, more donors are supporting the university and what the university represents.”