Dr. Patsy Y. Iwasaki is an English Department faculty member at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, with a PhD in Learning Design and Technology and an MEd in Education. Her teaching and research awards include the UH Hilo Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi Award for Excellence and Innovation. Her research interests and teaching practices include instructional design and development, comics/manga and migration narratives, documentary film, English studies, diversity, place and community-based, culturally relevant resources in education, and cross cultural exchange and collaboration. She has conducted extensive research activities, published articles, and given presentations in the United States, Asia and Europe in these areas. Dr. Iwasaki has also conducted research and developed educational projects about Katsu Goto, a 19th century labor advocate and important figure in the Japan-Hawai‘i immigration, labor and social evolution narrative. She has published a graphic novel Hāmākua Hero: A True Plantation Story and is currently creating and producing a documentary film about Goto. She is active in the community, serving on the boards for several organizations dedicated to diversity, education, the Asian American community and youth. She lives in Hilo and struggles to balance her work, family, snacking on dark chocolate and watching The Mandalorian. Learn more about the Katsu Goto film project here : https://katsugotomovie.org/ Hāmākua Hero on the Bess Press website. A third printing is coming soon: https://besspress.com/collections/popular/products/hamakua-hero?_pos=1&_sid=c4b6c0f5c&_ss=r |