Plan has UH-Maui opening in 2003

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

A four-year University of Hawai'i-Maui has moved a giant step closer to reality with $500,000 designated for "design" planning over the next 18 months and a timetable that has it opening as early as fall 2003.

"We're trying to accelerate the timetable," said Maui provost Clyde Sakamoto, who in September was put on special assignment by UH President Evan S. Dobelle to plan the move from the two-year community college to a four-year campus for the Valley Isle.

Now Sakamoto has a special budget to begin designing an expanded campus for Maui and a similar expansion for Honolulu Community College. These two campuses will be followed by others "as they express an interest," Sakamoto said.

In a meeting yesterday with The Honolulu Advertiser editorial board, Dobelle and three top UH administrators brought journalists up-to-date on two dozen top priorities for the university system. Included on the agenda were some of the goals for the community colleges, which Dobelle hopes will take their place as equals within a statewide system.

"We want to respond to that community's demands and build on the strengths," said interim Manoa Chancellor Deane Neubauer, who is in the midst of creating a strategic plan for the university system to be unveiled in April.

Those strengths include increasing the university's involvement with the Maui High Performance Computing Center and stimulating collaboration with Silicon Valley.