Hawaii Pacific University President Chatt Wright has served in the job for nearly 30 years. The university now has 8,500 students and an annual budget of more than $73 million.
HPU president looks
for further growth
Chatt G. Wright
» Is approaching his 30th year as president of Hawaii Pacific University, which has grown to have enrollment of 8,500 and an endowment of about $68 million.
» Wright joined what was known as Hawaii Pacific College in 1972 as founding dean of the business school. He became president in 1976.
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It was higher but the equity markets haven't done too well. It might have gotten close to $78-$79 million. I would sure like it to be but really it takes a great stock market to be able to achieve that.
Hopefully the equity markets will increase to have the endowment grow. There's been several bequests and gifts of over a million dollars that have added to it. The growth in the stock market portfolio has been a big driver.
We founded the endowment in 1980 so it is remarkable in a short period of time that they've grown to such a market value.
We get support from all of the major foundations here in Hawaii, the Atherton Family Foundation, the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, and the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation, and many others support us to great extent here in Hawaii.
A number of our trustees, Bill Aull, Marty Anderson, Steve Baker, Chuck Sted -- many people have made significant gifts to us through the past several years.
Another long-term goal has been to reach an enrollment of 10,000. When could that happen?
It's very difficult to say. We're going to be very careful in this growth. Our mission and ethos is educating undergraduate and graduate students for global citizenship.
By design, we want one-third of our students to be from around the world, one-third from the mainland United States and one-third from Hawaii and I think, of note, last year we had representation from 112 countries worldwide. The largest number of international students come to us from Sweden, where we have close to 400 students.
Since 9/11 and the creation of the Homeland Security Department, it's been very difficult to get visas approved for students from places like India, Indonesia, Malaysia and countries in the Middle East.
We get some visas approved but it's very difficult to get students from places with Islamic populations and that has presented a challenge to our university.
International enrollment has stabilized with declines in students from the Mideast, India, Pakistan and Southeast Asia, counterbalanced by growth from Europe and South America.
How big is your marketing budget?
We have an office in Stockholm, Sweden, where we have an HPU alumna who mans, or womans, the office who travels all through Sweden and Northern Europe. We pay her a salary and maintain an office.
We also have a representative from our campuses who has an office in Bangkok, Thailand. This man travels throughout Asia and helps us recruit students all throughout Asia.
Also, on all United Airlines flights worldwide, Hawaii Pacific University has a 90-second video on life on our campuses here in Hawaii. We have an exclusive agreement for universities on America in that. It ties into Hemispheres magazine. It costs just a little over $100,000 a year.
In addition, we have a dozen Hawaii Pacific University faculty and staff that are traveling right this minute.
They are attending conferences, doing cooperative work with universities and also recruiting students.
We have overall more than 1,200 full- and part-time employees and an annual budget of more than $73 million.
Are you seeing growth in students from China?
Very modest growth. It's always been difficult to receive visas from students in China. The reason is homeland security, in what used to be immigration before 9/11, they carefully screen undergraduate and graduate Chinese students because of the fear a lot of them would not return to China. That has not changed much.
We have grown from there, but in very small numbers for us.
So what has kept you in the same place for nearly 30 years?
I just love Hawaii. I started at Hawaii Pacific College in 1972 and so in some ways I think of myself as a founder of what became Hawaii Pacific University. ... I saw it through its first regional accreditation in 1973. This has been my life's work and I'm really proud of it and the people I've been associated with.
