UH seeks dean to head travel industry studies

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

A search committee has been formed to find a new dean for the University of Hawai'i's School of Travel Industry Management.

The position has been vacant since Chuck Gee retired at the end of 1999.

Pauline Sheldon, a professor at the school, has been serving as interim dean. Gee, who has been credited with building the school over three decades into an internationally recognized entity, is dean emeritus.

Lawrence Foster, dean of UH's William S. Richardson School of Law, heads the search committee.

Others on the 15-member committee include John Brogan, retired president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts; Rick Egged, executive director of the Waikiki Improvement Association; Robert Zoller, former president of Hawaiian Airlines; Sheldon and three other professors from the school; and representatives from the school's alumni association, the UH College of Business Administration and other areas of the university, the tourism industry and the community.

Committee members were chosen by officials with the School of Travel Industry Management and by the school's advisory board, according to university spokesman Jim Manke.

The Boston firm of Isaacson, Miller has been retained to help with the search.

A posting for the position on the university's Web site says the school is looking for a "visionary leader." Desirable qualifications include a doctorate in business or a travel-related field; expertise and knowledge of tourism in the Asia-Pacific region; executive experience; "sensitivity and perceptiveness necessary to function successfully in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic environment"; and teaching and research experience in hospitality, tourism and/or transportation.

The School of Travel Industry Management offers a master-of-science degree in travel industry management and a bachelor-of-science program in three areas: tourism management, hospitality management and transportation management.

The school also offers certificate, professional and executive programs.