Dr. William Steiner, Dean of College of Agriculture, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
Dr. Dennis Gonsalves, Director, Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center
Jerry Konanui, President of the Association for Hawaiian ‘Awa
Kalo, Issues of Genetically-Modified Organisms: A panel presentation
KONA: Keauhou Beach Resort, Ballroom II
Date/Time: November 27, 2009
5:30–7:00 p.m.
HILO: UH Hilo (Eia Hawai‘i), University Classroom Building #127
Date/Time: November 30, 2009
Noon–1:30 p.m.
Abstract:
Hala no ia lā o ka pōloli (a hungry day passes) is an expression of thankfulness that there was food for another day. There are passionate, deep issues revolving around kalo and GMO. Presenters will offer their perspectives that robustly expand aspects of this significant community discussion.
Bios:
William Wallace Mokahi Steiner
Dr. William Steiner has served as Dean for the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo since 2005. As visionary, financial and academic manager for the college, Dr. Steiner has developed new research thrusts into biofuel development, heritage foods development, and dairy sciences while developing the equine sciences program. His intention is to move the college forward into a future that embraces a growing forestry industry and work in the fields of sustainable agriculture.
Prior to his appointment as Dean, Dr. Steiner served for 22 years in U.S. federal research, first as a scientist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Columbia, Missouri, then as director for the USGS Pacific Islands Ecosystem Research Center (PIERC) in Honolulu, where he oversaw start-up of the Center in 1995 and federal research into natural resource management and conservation for states and territories under U.S. jurisdiction within the Pacific Basin. Prior to this, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and as an associate professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He earned his Ph.D. in genetics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) in 1974, a bachelor’s in zoology from UHM in 1970, and an A.S. in Agriculture from Boise State before transferring to Hawai‘i. His scientific career has resulted in over ninety publications, numerous professional presentations, and one book.
Dr. Steiner was born in Honolulu to a mother whose roots trace back to three Hawaiian ‘ohana—the Haleakala family on Maui, the Punahele family on Kaua‘i, and the Haili family on Hawai‘i Island. His father is descended from a long line of Swiss homesteaders and mechanically-minded people. Dr. Steiner grew up on the family’s 16,000-acre cow ranch in Owyhee County Idaho where he attended one–two room schools and a very small high school. While in Missouri, he bought and operated a 160-acre organic and draft-horse farm which he still owns.
Dr. Steiner writes poetry and songs in his spare time and is self-taught on the guitar. An inveterate observer of people and culture, Dr. Steiner finds human diversity and behavior fascinating and believes that one of our biggest threats is the loss of cultural diversity. He recognizes that cultural diversity is a result of environmental diversity, and that loss of natural resources threatens the base upon which humanity is derived.
Dennis Gonsalves
Dr. Dennis Gonsalves was born and raised on a sugar plantation in Kohala, Hawai‘i. After graduating from Kamehameha Schools in 1961, he attended the University of Hawai‘i and received a bachelors degree in horticulture in 1965 and a master's degree in plant pathology in 1968. He then matriculated to the University of California at Davis and obtained a Ph.D. in plant pathology in 1972. From 1972-1977, he worked at the University of Florida, and at Cornell University from 1977 to 2002. In 1995, he was elevated to the endowed Liberty Hyde Bailey Professorship. In May 2002, Dennis became the director of the USDA Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo. His main focus now is to build up the USDA center in Hilo to a world class research entity that solves agriculture problems in Hawai‘i and other Pacific islands. He is a plant virologist by training and led the research team that developed the virus resistant genetically engineered papaya in Hawai‘i.
Jerry Konanui
Jerry Konanui is a Native Hawaiian and a product of generations of Mahi‘ai and Lawai‘a. He was privileged to have been cared for by his grandparents and then by his parents allowing the generational knowledge and experiences to flow from both generations onto him.
Since childhood, he passionately absorbed himself in the works of his kūpuna and mākua. Jerry’s depth of both ancient and traditional knowledge of his kūpuna, especially as a mahi‘ai (farmer), has placed him at the call by many who seek such knowledge. In the early 1960s, Jerry started to be invited to the māla and lo‘i of farmers; by the end of the 1960s, he was giving hands-on classes in kalo culture and identifications as well as other food crops. In the 1970s, he started attending and presenting at every taro event across the state. In the 1980s, Hui Kalo Moku O Keawe was formed—with Jerry as president—and Jerry was called upon for statewide educational workshops and demonstrations. In the 1990s adn the early part of the twenty-first century, Jerry gave presentations on awa and taro research in the South Pacific. He attended many conferences in Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu, where he represented Hawai‘i at the inauguration of the Pacific Islands Kava Council. Learning the cultural practices of others helped to reinforce his Hawaiian background.
As president of the Association for Hawaiian Awa, he was instrumental in working with the the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to produce and publish Hawaiian ‘Awa: Views of an Ethnobotanical Treasure.
Today, along with the ongoing maintenance of our Hawaiian varieties of kalo in public as well as in private collections, Jerry is called upon to verify the kalo, uala, awa, ko as well as other mea kanu. He is presently working with Maui Nui Botanical Garden; Waimea Valley, O‘ahu; Kahanu Gardens, Hana, Maui; Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Kona, Hawai‘i; Pu‘u Kohola NPS, Kawaihae, Hawai‘i; Puanui Agricultural Project, Kohala, Hawai‘i, as well as many private collectors and individuals. He has also helped to verify the UH taro collection on Kaua‘i and Moloka‘i. He is a partner in a recent Web site for taro, as well collaborator on a new kalo varieties book with color photos, a PowerPoint for taro varieties, a field guide for taro varieties, educational taro posters and other taro related work.
Jerry is a member of the Hawaii State Taro Task Force representing the statewide Onipa‘a Na Hui Kalo organization.