UH President Announces Retirement
University of Hawaiʻi News Release May. 6, 2013
University of Hawai‘i System President M.R.C. Greenwood will retire from the presidency of Hawai‘i’s public land grant institution in September of this year, she announced today. “This university has accomplished an amazing amount in a rather short and extremely challenging time,” said Greenwood. “As the economy shows signs of improvement, I am proud of how well we’ve coped with the greatest recession in modern memory and serious state spending restrictions. Through the support and hard work of our faculty, staff and friends we’ve been able to accommodate the largest student enrollment in history, streamlined course availability and transfers, incurred no lost days of instruction, and maintained a very robust research portfolio.” Greenwood’s reasons for making the decision are personal, health-related, and family oriented.
In responding to her retirement announcement, Board of Regents Chair Eric Martinson said, “MRC Greenwood’s accomplishments have been outstanding. The university’s reputation has advanced nationally and internationally, the strategic goals set by the Board of Regents have advanced, and she helped navigate the university through one of our nation’s and state’s most severe recessions. She’s been instrumental in putting the university on the path to increased cooperation with the business community and has helped build recognition of the importance of the university for the economic engine it represents for Hawai‘i.” Martinson cited Greenwood’s stewardship of major system wide projects including the UH Hilo Hawaiian Language building, the UH Cancer Center, Windward Community College’s learning center, UH West Oahu campus, the UH Maui College campus center, and the new information technology building under construction at UH Manoa. He also noted substantial progress under her leadership of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the Big Island, the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope on Maui, and the West Hawai‘i Palamanui campus of Hawaii Community College, set to break ground in late May. “She will leave behind an extraordinarily solid legacy and we look forward to her continuing service as a faculty member to the University of Hawai‘i,” said Martinson. Plans for replacing Greenwood will be under discussion by the Board of Regents in the coming months.
In a message to the entire UH ‘ohana and friends, Greenwood thanked the faculty, staff, administration and students for a full and fruitful 4 years as president. “I have never known a better or more willing group of individuals. I am proud of what we accomplished under very difficult circumstances. I am looking forward to my retirement to once again be ‘grandma’ and to write, teach and do some policy work.” Greenwood is an internationally known researcher and scientist, a policy leader in higher education, the incoming President of the Association of Public Land Grant Universities (APLU) and a former associate director and consultant to the White House Office of Science and Technology under President William J. Clinton.
Greenwood plans to take an unpaid leave upon her retirement and will return to her tenured faculty position after that. She was hired in 2009 after a national search and took office in August of that year.
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Star-Adv: UH PRESIDENT GREENWOOD TO RETIRE IN SEPTEMBER
SA: Her contract calls for her to be paid $475,000 annually.
Greenwood said she informed Board of Regents Chairman Eric Martinson today of her decision to retire.
She said the details of her departure and the search for her successor must still be ironed out….
At her offices at UH’s Bachman Hall today, Greenwood said that the last year was challenging, “but not the hardest I’ve spent politically.”
“I actually have loved this job,” she said. “But I’m not so young anymore, I’ve got some health problems and there are some issues with my family that I need to be dealing with. So I’ve had to weigh these things and look at why did I come to Hawaii? What was set out as the things that the Board (of Regents) would like me to accomplish while I was here? What have I done? What more could I get done in another year or two?”
Greenwood said that after taking a one-year unpaid leave, she will probably return to a tenured faculty position at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.
read … Ca-Ching!
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Governor’s Statement on the Resignation of UH President
News Release from the Office of the Governor May 6, 2013
HONOLULU – Gov. Neil Abercrombie issued the following statement this afternoon regarding the announcement by M.R.C. Greenwood that she will resign her position as president of the University of Hawaii this September.
Gov. Abercrombie stated:
“From the moment I met President Greenwood, I was impressed with her commitment and her desire to give her very best effort on behalf of the University of Hawaii. She brought a wealth of experience and determination to put that to work for the university. I personally wish her every good fortune in the years to come.
"As for the university and the presidency, I will be contacting the Board of Regents and the wider university community as we chart our next steps.”
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Retaliation: Abercrombie Quietly Shortchanges UH by $22M (Saturday May 4, 2013)
SA: The University of Hawaii is raising concerns following the state's decision to not fund about $22 million for faculty raises over the next two years.
UH President M.R.C. Greenwood said the negotiated raises will now probably have to be covered by tuition dollars at each campus, which could be a tough task for smaller campuses.
Greenwood said she's not sure why the raises weren't included in the state's budget — approved by legislators earlier this week — like those for other public-sector collective-bargaining units.
"It's a big blow," Greenwood told the Star-Advertiser, adding her greatest concern with the budgeting process "is the state declined to support the core of our faculty contract."
University of Hawaii faculty are set to get 3 percent raises in each of the next two years, as part of a six-year contract that runs through June 2015.
UH had been moving through the legislative session assuming the pay raises would be covered with state general funds. But last week UH officials learned the governor hadn't sent to lawmakers a procedural request for money for the raises.
State Budget Director Kalbert Young said the decision to not request state general funds for the UH raises was intentional....
Headed to the Governor: One measure, House Bill 114, takes away the university president's authority to serve as "chief procurement officer" for new construction projects. The bill transfers that responsibility to the administrator of the state procurement office....
Also headed to the governor is Senate Bill 1388, which would remove the UH president's authority to serve as president of the Research Corp. of UH's board of directors, and modify procurement exemptions for some construction work....
As He Said He Would: Wandering into the Wonder Blunder, Abercrombie Describes Pressure He Put on Greenwood
As He Said He Would: Greenwood Threatened to Expose Abercrombie, Say, Tsutusi: ‘Serious Violation of Multiple Laws’
read ... Retaliation
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Greenwood was Inouye’s pick for President. Abercrombie will now install his own operative. Oddly, some people think all this has to do with a Stevie Wonder concert.
Abercrombie’s Mitsunaga vs Inouye’s Kobayashi: Mitsunaga Names Names, Slams UH for Favoritism Towards Kobayashi
MRC Greenwood Background that only Hawai’i Free Press reported: