Posted on: Tuesday, January 15, 2002

Manoa chancellor on WAC board

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Interim chancellor Deane Neubauer has been designated as the University of Hawai'i's voting member to the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors, the first person in other than a presidential-level post to serve on the board in the conference's 40-year history.

Board members determine conference policy, including expansion, television and bowl contracts. The WAC chairmanship is rotated among the 10 members, one from each school.

Evan Dobelle, who as UH president would normally have taken the post, assigned it to Neubauer, who has served as interim Manoa chancellor since July.

Previously, UH President Kenneth Mortimer represented the school on the WAC board, twice serving as chairman, and the athletic department reported to him.

But when Dobelle came to UH in June, the posts of president of the 10-campus UH system and Manoa chancellor were split as part of a restructuring. In the new UH organizational chart, the athletic director reports to the chancellor.

In addition, Dobelle said he didn't want to be involved exclusively in Manoa's athletics because UH-Hilo has an athletic program and other campuses may also undertake programs. Dobelle says he wants to explore the possibility of upgrading UH-Hilo to Division I and adding programs at the community college level.

Neubauer, a political science professor at UH for 31 years, was director of the Globalization Research Center before becoming the first faculty member to move directly into the campus' top administrative post.

Dobelle said advertisements for the position of chancellor will be placed shortly and he hopes to have the position filled by August.

Dobelle said among criteria for the new chancellor would be experience "in dealing with big-time sports."