Manoa weighs chancellor candidates

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

The two finalists for the new position of chancellor of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus — one from New Zealand, the other from Florida, each with powerful backgrounds in science and administration — are on campus this week for a series of meetings to culminate in a decision next week.

Lynn W. Jelinski is running a private consulting firm in Florida.

Peter Englert has spent four years at a university in New Zealand.

The candidates are:

• Lynn W. Jelinski, who received her doctoral degree from UH and has been running the private academic consulting firm Sunshine Consultants in Green Cove Springs, Fla., since leaving a position at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge as vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, dean of the graduate school and professor of chemistry.
• Peter Englert, who has spent four years at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, the last two as pro vice chancellor and dean of science, architecture and design. Victoria University is similar in size to UH, with 14,000 students and 1,200 research, teaching and general staff.

Before her stint at LSU, Jelinski taught for seven years at Cornell, where she was director of the Cornell Center for Advanced Technology. She came to that appointment from a position as head of the Biophysics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Jelinski received her doctorate in chemistry from UH in 1976, her master's degree from George Washington University in 1972, and her bachelor of science from Duke University in 1971. From 1977 to 1980 she did post-doctoral work with the National Institutes of Health, then joined the Polymer Chemistry Research Department, becoming head of the department in 1984.

Englert has taught for two decades in a range of university systems, in New Zealand, the United States and Germany, where he was educated.

He received his doctorate in nuclear chemistry from the University of Cologne in 1979, and received his master's and bachelor's degrees in chemistry at the same institution.

Beyond that, Englert has leadership experience, especially in guiding institutions through restructuring and strategic planning. He is an experienced fund-raiser, having increased external research money in Wellington by 45 percent in the last two years.

He established international teaching, research and commercial relationships in Asia and the Pacific, and developed the first support groups for Maori and Pacific Island students in Wellington.

Before accepting positions in New Zealand, including general manager for nuclear sciences at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Englert was a professor in the chemistry department at San Jose State University in California.

Given both candidates' strength in research, and in building and administering academic research programs, the UH search committee has sent a clear message about the kind of leader they expect at Manoa.

A greater emphasis is being put on the importance of research at UH and the wealth of federal money available to support it.

The salary for the Manoa chancellor will top $250,000, which is in the median range of that offered by Carnegie Research 1 institutions, the category that UH falls into. Former UH President Kenneth Mortimer received about $170,000 while also serving as chancellor.

Students will have a chance to hear and question both candidates Friday in two forums beginning at 1 p.m. in the Architecture Building auditorium.

The field was narrowed to six, then two, from 50 candidates, said Paul Costello, UH vice president for external affairs. Costello said UH President Evan Dobelle would make his selection over the weekend and send the recommendation to the Board of Regents for action at its regular meetings next Thursday and Friday.

Reach Bev Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.