President search on schedule, finalists expected in September

UH News, August 15, 2024

The search for the next president of the University of Hawaiʻi 10-campus system is on schedule, with the finalists for the position expected to be announced next month, according to UH Board of Regents (BOR) Chair Gabriel Lee. Lee provided the update at the August 15 BOR meeting at the University of Hawaiʻi at UH Maui College adding that there were more than 90 applicants for the position.

“The regents are grateful to the Presidential Search Advisory Group (PSAG) for its hard work in reviewing the applications and look forward to its recommendations and the next stage of the search,” said Lee. “The board plans to publicly identify the finalists in September and will hold a series of public forums to introduce them to all of our stakeholders. This will provide stakeholders with the opportunity to provide feedback to the regents, who will make the final selection.”

The schedule for the public forums, expected to be held in mid to late September, will be announced after the finalists are named. All 11 regents are serving on the selection committee and are tentatively scheduled to name the new president in October or November with a start date in early 2025.

The national recruitment by WittKieffer, the search firm hired by the BOR, was formally launched in late May. The new president will succeed President David Lassner, who announced in September that he will retire at the end of 2024.

The PSAG is made up of 12 stakeholders from across the UH System and local community. Along with reviewing the applications and recommending the finalists, the group assisted with the development of the leadership profile and position description, which were based on feedback received from six public forums held on four islands and a public survey.

The 10-campus UH System is Hawaiʻi‘s sole public system of higher education, with more than 9,200 employees serving about 48,000 students. It fulfills its mission of providing affordable, quality higher education through seven community colleges, two regional universities and a globally acclaimed research university with education and research centers throughout the state. UH offers unique opportunities, grounded in Hawaiʻi, to meet the needs of the people and islands it serves, from workforce training to preeminent academic programs and research.