Selection of senior staff among first-day duties
| • | Dobelle richly rewarded |
 |
What do you think of UH President Evan Dobelle's salary package? Join our discussion. |
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle yesterday named the members of his senior staff — most of them members of the university community not considered Bachman Hall insiders.
Advertiser library photo • Aug. 17, 2000
Deane Neubauer, a political science professor for 31 years and the director of the Globalization Research Center, will become the interim chancellor of the Manoa campus. In the 1980s he served as dean of the School of Social Sciences, but is the first Manoa chancellor to move directly from the faculty to the top administrative position on that campus.
Nainoa Thompson, a former UH regent, is now an adviser.
Nainoa Thompson, the master navigator of the voyaging canoe Hokule'a who resigned as a UH regent in June, will become the president's unpaid special adviser on Native Hawaiian affairs. Thompson's resignation had left the nine-member group without its most high-profile community member, a key figure in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture who helped balance out a board dominated by high-powered business leaders.
Walter Kirimitsu, University general counsel, will serve as Dobelle's chief of staff and become acting UH president when Dobelle is travelling. Kirimitsu is a former state appeals court judge.
Advertiser library photo • Sept. 30, 1998
Dobelle also suspended all attempts at three UH campuses to win reaccreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The Manoa campus in particular was deeply involved in efforts to prepare for a 2002 accreditation visit. The campus in 1999 had been accredited but was blasted for its communications, planning, administration and governance.
Walter Kirimitsu will serve as chief of staff.
Instead, WASC will revisit UH in 2003 and look at every campus in the system, Dobelle said.
Joyce Tsunoda, chancellor of the community colleges, will serve as a special adviser on international affairs. Rose Tseng, chancellor of UH-Hilo, will spearhead the development of a system-wide distance learning strategy. Barry Raleigh, Dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology, will head a special task force on research infrastructure. All three will retain their current positions.
Advertiser library photo • 1999
"I hopefully changed the way we do business around here," Dobelle said.
Rose Tseng will help with distance learning.
The next three weeks could bring more administrative changes for UH as Dobelle and Neubauer settle into their offices. There was no word yesterday on whether Dean Smith, the current executive vice chancellor of the Manoa campus, would return to a faculty position in the medical school. He was traveling and could not be reached for comment.
"Change is difficult, sometimes painful, but we must be prepared to welcome it, for maintaining the status quo is not an option," Dobelle said.
Dobelle, who becomes the 12th president of the University of Hawai'i system this week, plans to unveil his vision for the UH system in a speech at a Chamber of Commerce meeting July 18.
"There's too much talk of who we're not versus who we are," he said. "We're an island university but we're only looking one way."
Jennifer Hiller can be reached at 525-8084 or by e-mail at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.
