Remembering Wayne Iwaoka

Abstract

IFT lost a great one this past summer, Dr. Wayne Iwaoka of the University of Hawai'i. Wayne was one of the initiators of the Journal of Food Science Education (JFSE) and was its first Scientific Editor. As such, I would like to provide some history of the JFSE and highlight some of his accomplishments.

Wayne Iwaoka, PhD

I first met Wayne at an Education Division meeting when he and a group of like-minded academics were proposing that IFT start a new journal dedicated to teaching and learning in food science, the Journal of Food Science Education. Their enthusiasm and determination led to the first issue of JFSE, published in 2002.

That issue contained an Editorial from then Editor-in-Chief, Owen Fennema, who was himself known for being an excellent teacher. Owen was a strong supporter of the JFSE, instrumental in getting the concept through IFT. Wayne, as the first Scientific Editor of JFSE, also wrote an editorial for that initial issue providing a rationale for starting such a journal. He then invited contributors “to respond to JFSE articles with comments to the editor or to the authors, and also to share your innovative classroom techniques with other food science educators. We can meet the needs for more and better food science educational courses and curricula by engaging in dialogue with each other and by becoming designers of learning experiences.”

The JFSE invited quite a range of article types. According to the Aims and Scope of the JFSE, the range of topics included problem-based learning and innovative learning techniques; development of teachers and students; forms of motivation and their promotion; innovative laboratory exercises, community-based, workplace, and continuing education; and interpersonal and human relationship development of students. Article types included book reviews, lab examples, classroom techniques, and education research.

Unfortunately, the JFSE was shut down in 2021 after 19 years, leaving food education researchers with few opportunities to share ideas. The Journal of Food Science (JFS) added an education research topic at that time and publishes several articles per year, but the majority of JFSE contributions now go elsewhere. Wayne (and Faye Dong), in a guest editorial in the final issue, called for IFT to develop a platform for sharing education-related topics. This, unfortunately, has not occurred, leaving a hole for teaching and learning discourse. This is a topic that should be revived.

In addition to helping start the JFSE, Wayne was also very active in redesigning IFT's university Food Science program approval process, what has now become HERB (Higher Education Review Board). He was a key member of the 1998 Task Force charged with converting program approval from a course check-off system to one that required assessments of learning outcomes. He then led the 2008 Task Force that improved upon those first attempts to bring the world of food science into the assessment era, something that almost all institutions now require.

Wayne Iwaoka and Rich Hartel collaborating at a 2012 HERB meeting

In recognition of his talent as a teacher and coach, Wayne was awarded the IFT William V. Cruess Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004, to go with teaching and mentoring awards at University of Hawai'i. In recognition of his contributions to IFT, he was named an IFT Fellow in 2006.

On a more personal side, Wayne was warm and caring to all, always with a smile on his face. He was first and foremost an educator, caring deeply for his students and their growth. I look back at my interactions with Wayne, both professional and personal, with fondness. While we enjoyed numerous conversations about teaching and learning over the years, one of my most memorable outings with Wayne was a bike ride on the north shore of Oahu, with a stop for some delicious shrimp scampi at a roadside cart.

Wayne will be missed, but his contributions will endure.

Sincerely,

Rich Hartel, PhD

Editor in Chief, Journal of Food Science

Professor, University of

Wisconsin–Madison