Leeward CC Associate Professor Kay Ono wins national award

Posted: Apr 29, 2011

Kay Fujimoto Ono, associate professor of business technology at Leeward Community College, was presented the highly competitive 2011 National Business Education Association Post Secondary Teacher of the Year Award in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions in Teaching Business.

 

Ono, a Leeward CC faculty member since 1995, was honored at an awards banquet was held at the 2011 National Business Education Association (NBEA) Annual Convention in New Orleans, La., on Friday, April 22, 2011. Well over 1,500 business educators from the U.S., Canada and other nations attended the convention.

 

“We were ecstatic to hear the news about Kay! We all know what an extraordinary educator she is, and this national award just confirms it,” said Business Division Chair Shelley Ota. “This is not an easy award to get, and culminates years of dedication to business education. We are so proud of her in bringing national recognition to Leeward Community College by receiving this award.”

 

In addition to her teaching load, Ono helped develop a series of health-related business certificates funded by a national Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant and based on community workforce needs. She worked closely with the grant’s principal investigator from the Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Care Center to prepare front-line health care workers and help them obtain certification. Developing a unique preceptor model, Hawai‘i was the only site in the nation to offer this type of business certificate for college credit.

 

Ono has been a very active leader in the Hawai‘i Business Education Association (HBEA), serving as its president and chair of various committees, and has served on the Western Business Education Association Board as secretary and as a Western Region representative to the NBEA Board.

 

She has been the advisor for Phi Beta Lamdba/Students in Free Enterprise and mentors new advisors. She has also been a Leeward CC faculty senator, Curriculum Committee member, a Wo Learning Champion and conference planner for the Wo Innovation Learning Day, and was selected as a UH System President’s Emerging Leaders Program.