Congratulations, Dr. Jayson Parba and Dr. Chet-Yeng Loong!

Dr. Jayson Parba has received an award of The Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching. This award recognizes University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty members who have made significant contributions to teaching and student learning.

Dr. Jayson Parba is an instructor of Indo-Pacific languages and literature in the College of Arts, Languages & Letters. He takes a critical stance in teaching Filipino language and culture. Aware of existing criticisms of the curriculum and teaching practices in many heritage and world language programs, he strives to build students’ critical language awareness. Through reflective practices, Parba has discovered that students find learning more meaningful through greater interaction with teachers and amongst their peers. A former student praised him as a true language teacher, one who not only knows the language but is trained in the theories and methodologies of language acquisition: “Under his tutelage, I felt the pace of my progress increasing rapidly.” Parba is described as a sophisticated thinker and a serious scholar with immense patience in the classroom where learning is a collaborative process. A colleague wrote, “His ideas not only promote a just society; they open students’ minds and motivate them to envision a better world. His generosity of spirit is a breath of fresh air in the department.”

Dr. Chet-Yeng Loong has received an award of The Robert W. Clopton Award for Distinguished Community Service. This award recognizes a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty member for playing a socially significant role by applying intellectual leadership and academic expertise to the improvement of the community. The award was established as a memorial to longtime UH Mānoa College of Education Professor Robert Clopton and first awarded in 1977.

Dr. Chet-Yeng Loong is a professor of music in the College of Arts, Languages & Letters. While sustaining exemplary academic scholarship and teaching, she leaves a legacy to Hawaiʻi as a creative force in music education, expression and experience. Her career as a professor has been a focused endeavor to educate and inspire generations of young students and music educators through teaching and mentoring, as well as through spearheading of multiple initiatives. Loong’s creation of innovative resources on multicultural music education with an emphasis on Asian and Pan Pacific materials contributes to the promotion of culturally responsive teaching and learning, and exemplifies the value of servant leadership in a way that extends her influence beyond the classrooms of the university, as former students attest. Many local music educators speak of the national and international demands on Loong as a music education clinician. One of them said, “We are grateful for Professor Chet-Yeng Loong’s contributions to the music community, and to be able to call her one of our own.”