Please join us for Alan Yabui’s Celebration of Life next Tuesday, April 12 (3:30-5:30 p.m.) in the BC Cafeteria. Hawaiian mixed plate will be served. Please wear your Hawaiian shirt.
More Information:
BC Cafeteria
April 12 (3:30-5:30 p.m.)
A note from Leslie Lum, who has graciously organized a Celebration of Life for Alan Yabui:
“You can tell how much Alan Yabui is loved from the groundswell of people who came together to mount this celebration and the many folks who are coming back to pay their respects. Gifts of food include ribs, pork and chicken katsu, fried chicken, mac and cheese, fried rice, noodles, salads, musubi, pineapple upside down cake, rainbow jello, macadamia chocolate chip cookies and more. Jennie Mayer and Scott Bessho will perform. Doug Brown, Laura Nudelman and others will give reflections. The cafeteria allows for social distancing and people can move outdoors as well.
Alan’s life is a great lesson in AA and NHPI history. He was an advocate of Hawaiian sovereignty, served in the Air Force, instrumental in starting the Minidoka Pilgrimage, and seeded the grass roots leadership at the college that won four national DEI awards on a budget of $35,000 a year.
When we have suffered so many losses that we couldn’t process over the past two years, Alan is pulling our community together at a time we need it most. He wants us to wear our Hawaiian shirts (he owned 60), share stories, and celebrate our loving and generous friend. Alan always welcomed everyone. Please join us.
Alan started at Bellevue Community College in September 1993 teaching communication and later taught Hawaiian Studies, retiring in 2015. He was an incredibly popular faculty member among all students who saw him as accessible and friendly, but especially among international students who found his intercultural communication course to be a space where they could thrive.
Alan was president of the Bellevue College Association of Higher Education (faculty association) for two terms (1997-1999) and Vice President at various times from 1999 through 2012 under Jim Ellinger, Frank Lee, Rosemary Richardson and Doug Brown; Alan also served on the negotiations team throughout the years. Alan loved being involved in the BCAHE, WEA and NEA as well as Rainier Uniserv. Former BCAHE president Rosemary Richardson said, “He never missed a meeting and absolutely loved to schmooze! He thrived at attending legislative lobbying days and never felt defeated; he was always positive in his outlook.”
Alan was one of the founders of the Bellevue College grassroots leadership Diversity Caucus along with Sayumi Irey and Leslie Lum. With Sayumi, he served as its first co-Chair in 2002. From 2002 to 2006, Diversity Caucus initiatives such as Beyond Diversity training, Courageous Conversations, the American Indian Film Festival, Living Treasures and various working committees led to Bellevue College winning the national Charles Kennedy Equity Award from the Association of Community College Trustees and Minority Access, Inc. naming BC one of only five community colleges in the nation to be the “Nation’s Leading Colleges and Universities Committed to Diversity” in 2006. Bellevue College honored Alan by recognizing him as one of the “Exceptional 50” on October 12, 2016 “for exceptional growth and development of the college.””
Last Updated April 7, 2022