The University of Hawai‘i plans to announce its top finalists for president next month.
At a meeting last week, the Board of Regents said there were more than 90 applicants vying for the position.
“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,” BOR Chair Gabriel Lee said in a UH news release. “This will provide stakeholders with the opportunity to provide feedback to the regents, who will make the final selection.”
The search firm WittKieffer conducted the national recruitment in May. The Presidential Search Advisory Group, comprised of 12 stakeholders, was tasked with reviewing the applications and recommending the finalists.
Public forums are expected to be held in mid-to-late September. Official dates will be announced after the finalists are named.
All 11 regents are part of the selection committee, which is slated to name the next president this fall. The new president is expected to start early next year.
The selected person will replace UH President David Lassner, who will retire at the end of this year. Lassner, 69, has led the state public university system since 2014. He was the 15th president in university history.
During his tenure, he led the university through the COVID-19 pandemic. He also reorganized the relationship between the university and the UH Foundation, which has led to more donations.
His leadership has also come under scrutiny. While the university previously managed the sites on Maunakea, backlash prompted the responsibility to be passed off to the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority. By March, the authority had drafted procedural rules, position descriptions and a $14 million budget request to the state to begin the transfer.
Lassner has been with UH for a total of 46 years. He started in an entry-level IT role in the 1970s and eventually became the university's first Chief Information Officer.
