Four-year Maui university speeding toward reality

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KAHULUI, Maui — When the University of Hawai'i at Maui opens its doors in a few years, it may not be much to write home about. It certainly won't be a Manoa or a Hilo or even a West O'ahu — but it will be a start for a community that has coveted a four-year institution of higher learning for some time.

The entrance to Maui Community College is the only door to a local institution of higher learning on the Valley Isle. University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle plans to establish a four-year branch there. Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It's a long time in coming," said Darrell Conley, vice president of the MCC student government. "It's so exciting something's actually being done and that it's not just the talking stage anymore."

For anyone who doesn't think Dobelle is serious, take note: He's taken Clyde Sakamoto away from his duties as provost of Maui Community College and given him a new 16-month assignment. His task is to turn MCC and Honolulu Community College into baccalaureate-granting institutions, as the new university president outlined in a plan announced July 18.

Dobelle, who will discuss his plan with the community here this week, said he can see UH-Maui operational within three years.

"It's good move," said Linda Lingle, former Maui mayor. "I like his vision. It's a broader perspective. It's a view for what the system can be, rather than what it is."

It was Lingle, now head of the Hawai'i Republican Party, who elevated demand for a four-year college on Maui more than a decade ago, when she first ran for mayor and made lobbying for one a campaign promise.

	Maui Community College
•	Enrollment: 3,000 Student population is 90 percent Maui County residents, 65 percent women, average age 29. MCC enrollment is the largest among the Neighbor Island community colleges but is ranked in the middle of the UH systemâs seven two-year colleges.
•	Top programs: nursing, culinary arts, computer science and technology
•	Features: Five new buildings have been built at MCC in the past six years, with one more on the way: a culinary arts building with a 100-seat dining room. MCC also has learning centers on Lana'i and Moloka'i

But nothing came of it. "We were a little ahead of the times," Lingle said.

So while excitement and anticipation run high on Maui today, there is also skepticism. Can Dobelle really pull this off? The word "university," after all, invokes visions of grand expenditures for land, buildings and tenured faculty.

In 1993, then-UH President Kenneth Mortimer told the Maui Chamber of Commerce there wasn't enough demand to justify a four-year campus on Maui. What's more, he said, even if a need was documented, based on the way the state and the university operates, it would take at least 10 years to establish a four-year college campus.

"If I sound skeptical, it's because I've been around the block a couple of times," said state Rep. Joe Souki, a former House speaker. "I know what we have and I know what we want. What we want and what we are capable of affording are two different things."

Dobelle, who was both a four-year and community college president on the Mainland, said times are changing. Not only has Maui County's population grown by more than 25 percent in the last decade — to 128,000 — but new technologies and ideas have created new instructional opportunities and eliminated the need for a traditional campus.

The college's new culinary arts building rises next to the new $15 million information technology and distance-learning building. Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser

For example, look for lots of upper-division classes to be taught in any number of venues across the island, such as in high school classrooms and hotel meeting rooms.

Also look for a greater reliance on distance-learning technology such as interactive television and the Internet. The existing University of Hawai'i Center at MCC is a model that already offers 10 bachelor's and six master's degrees from other UH campuses.

Another idea, Dobelle said, is to market the college to areas such as Japan and Europe, taking advantage of the island's reputation as a visitor destination. New tax laws have made it attractive for the private sector to build dormitories and lease them back to the university, he said.

Without any marketing, MCC already has 200 people on a student housing waiting list, many of them from Japan and other foreign countries lured by Maui's exotic reputation. The college's Hale Haumana provides housing for 55 students.

As for the college itself, the student population is about 3,000 — 65 percent of whom are women. The average age is 29.

Student growth is reflected in the changing landscape on campus. Five new buildings have gone up in the last six years, and the campus has seen $70 million in construction in the last nine years, including a just-opened $15 million information technology and distance-learning building.

Former provost Clyde Sakamoto has new duties. Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser

Over the next year and a half, Sakamoto will be reaching out to the community for direction and initiating discussions with accrediting authorities. He has already formed a campus committee to help shape the new institution.

He also will be traveling to the Mainland to study how other institutions were transformed from junior colleges to universities.

Sakamoto said that by February 2003, he expects to have not only a plan in place but to have taken major steps in developing curricula for the new baccalaureate programs.

He said the four-year program will start small and grow gradually, emphasizing current strengths and offering new programs that fit the marketplace.

Sakamoto, MCC's top administrator since 1990, said he would expect UH-Maui to offer programs already in high demand, as well as those that MCC does well. Programs in the areas of health, the visitor industry and computer technology are among the obvious strengths, he said.

Neither Sakamoto nor Dobelle could say what will be the fate of Maui Community College as it now exists. Both insist the commitment to open access and low-cost tuition will remain, at least in existing freshman- and sophomore-level classes.

The vocational and technical classes — those programs not traditionally associated with a four-year institution — will continue, Sakamoto said.

Maui Community College's new $15 million information technology and distance-learning center offers students 10 bachelor's and six master's degrees from other UH campuses. Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser

The buzz on campus is generally positive.

"The students are excited," said Velma Panlasigui, outreach coordinator for the UH-Manoa Outreach College on Maui. "It means more opportunities and options. But the plans aren't concrete, so they're not so sure what they're happy about yet."

"I like the fact that (Dobelle's) stirring things up. He's bringing a new energy," added John Pye, MCC professor of astronomy, oceanography and physics.

But Pye added that the university cannot forget about its traditional community college constituency. "No one wants a situation where you can't get in and can't come here," he said.

Mark Slattery, a former student and now a professor in the building maintenance program, remembers when the former Maui Technical School made the transition into Maui Community College in the 1960s. He said the technical and vocational programs survived nicely, in part because the staff rallied around their programs.

Slattery said his colleagues may have to do it again, especially if there's talk of being "exclusive" and if decisions are being made by "Ph.D.s in ivory towers."

"If they are not responsive to the needs of the students, if they forget about who this campus is for, I'll be ready to go to battle," he said.