Family and Community Education Program
2005 Ka Lei Hano Heritage Award

The 2005 Ka Lei Hano Heritage Award will be presented to the tireless and dedicated volunteers of the Family and Community Education program for strengthening Hawai‘i's people through projects and activities that educate, assist, and enrich our families and communities.

For more than 50 years, the Hawai‘i Association for Family and Community Education has provided education, leadership development training, and community service benefiting the families of our state. The members of Hawai‘i FCE are deeply committed to the goals and programs set by the National Association for Family and Community Education. Their programs, which address such important concerns as literacy, citizenship, health and nutrition, and caring for the environment, enable individuals to learn and then share information that strengthens the families and communities of Hawai‘i.

Organized in January 1949, Hawai‘i FCE continues to encourage continuing education to improve family life, develop home and community, and promote a better understanding of cultural differences. Since its inception, Hawai‘i FCE has changed its name many times, but its members have always maintained strong ties to CTAHR's Cooperative Extension Service. Together, Hawai‘i FCE and CTAHR bring useful, research-based information to members of the community, fulfilling a key aspect of the land-grant mission.

Through community engagement and collaborations with local agencies and businesses, the members of Hawai‘i FCE make our state a better place for families to thrive. We are honored to recognize their decades of service to Hawai‘i.

Dr. Kenneth Otagaki
2005 CTAHR Outstanding Alumnus

This year we honor Dr. Kenneth Otagaki as our Outstanding Alumnus. Dr. Otagaki's contributions to Hawai‘i agriculture span six decades and reveal his remarkable foresight. He was an early and outspoken advocate for agricultural diversification. He worked to protect green space and conserve agricultural land. A supporter of farmers throughout the state, he also helped train young agriculturists from around the world, strengthening CTAHR's international relationships. His commitment to diversified agriculture, environmental protection, and community building reflect our college's vision today.

Kenneth Kengo Otagaki was born in 1917 and grew up in Laupahoehoe on the Big Island's Hamakua Coast. Seeking educational opportunities unavailable in his hometown, he moved on his own to O‘ahu and supported himself by working as a houseboy so that he could attend McKinley High School, graduating in 1936.

Dr. Otagaki studied animal science at the University of Hawai‘i, receiving a B.S. in 1940. He worked as a farm manager before entering the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps in 1941. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he transferred to the 100 th Infantry Battalion, the first unit of Japanese-American soldiers to see World War II combat in Europe. In January 1944, while serving as a stretcher-bearer near Cassino, Italy, he was gravely wounded by a mortar explosion, losing his right leg, two fingers on his right hand, and the use of his right eye.

Undeterred by his injuries, Dr. Otagaki attended graduate school on the G.I. Bill, earning an M.S. in dairy husbandry from Iowa State University in 1946. He taught animal husbandry at UH Manoa before returning to graduate school, receiving a Ph.D. in nutrition in 1954 from the University of California, Davis. Returning to Hawaii, he served CTAHR as an animal scientist for 12 years. As a researcher, he sought to improve the self-sufficiency and value of Hawai‘i agriculture by developing animal feeds from the waste materials and byproducts of the state's then-principal crops, sugarcane and pineapple.

In 1963, Gov. John A. Burns appointed Dr. Otagaki to head the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture. At a time when few could have predicted the dramatic changes that would soon reshape farming in Hawai‘i, Dr. Otagaki recognized that high labor and land costs spelled trouble for plantation agriculture and that sugarcane and pineapple production would shift to less-expensive locations. Throughout his eight years as Director of HDOA, he pushed for the expansion of diversified agriculture. He helped introduce and subsidize vacuum coolers and refrigerated vans to extend the shelf life of vegetables. He promoted cooperatives as a mechanism by which small farmers could benefit from economies of scale. He worked with landowners to balance development with the need to protect good agricultural lands.

Dr. Otagaki returned to CTAHR in 1971 as Director of the International Training Program, which provided farm-based training and short-term academic courses to tropical agricultural interns from abroad. The program focused on teaching entrepreneurship so that trainees would be able to establish businesses in their home countries. Through individual training and program management, Dr. Otagaki helped build the college's relationships with individuals and academic institutions in foreign countries while spreading useful knowledge around the world. After retiring from UH in 1985, Dr. Otagaki continued working in the area of international agriculture for some years as a consultant in the private sector.

Dr. Kenneth Otagaki has given many years of service to our college, our state, our nation, and the world. His enduring commitment to agriculture honors his alma mater, and his long, exemplary life is a testimony to the value of hard work and perseverance in the face of tremendous challenges. We are very proud to name him CTAHR's Outstanding Alumnus of 2005.