Derek Ferrar Joins East-West Center As Media Relations Specialist

HONOLULU (Nov. 16) — Derek Ferrar has been named Media Relations Specialist for the East-West Center. As a member of the Office of External Affairs staff, he will be authoring articles for the Center’s news wire and website, handling news releases and media inquiries, connecting journalists with expert sources on Asia Pacific issues and otherwise facilitating the dissemination of East-West Center programs, activities and resources through the media.

Ferrar was most recently a Public Information Specialist with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Previously, he was editor in chief of Hawaiian Airlines’ Hana Hou! Magazine and a founding editor of the Honolulu Weekly newspaper. As a writer, he has traveled widely in Asia and the Pacific on assignment, and his articles have appeared in such publications as Outside, Utne Reader, Travel+Leisure, Surfer’s Journal and Pacifica.

Among a variety of awards, he has received the Philippines government’s national Kalakbay Award for foreign travel writer of the year, several Excellence in Journalism awards from the Hawai‘i chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and several Hawai‘i Publishers’ Association writing awards.
 
Born in New York City, Derek lived in India for several years in the late 1970s and settled in Hawai‘i in 1985. He received his B.A. in Journalism from UH in 1991, with a minor concentration in ethnomusicology.

The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.

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Media Contact:
Karen Knudsen
Director of External Affairs
East-West Center
Phone: (808) 944-7195
Email: knudsenk@EastWestCenter.org