Next president for UH should be visionary, McClain says

NOW THAT HE'S taken himself out of the running, interim University of Hawaii President David McClain may help select the next UH president.

Board of Regents Chairwoman Kitty Lagareta said a board task force will meet Friday to discuss the next step in the selection process.

Among the topics they will discuss, she said, is what role McClain can play in the search for a permanent UH president.

She said McClain knows the job and what's required. "I think we are going to use him certainly as an adviser," Lagareta said.

McClain said yesterday the next president should be someone who is a visionary and who can execute the vision. He emphasized that the ability to carry out a vision is a key factor.

"We need someone who is a good leader and sensitive to Hawaii's unique situation," McClain said, adding that being able to get along with and bring together diverse constituencies from students to lawmakers is another key quality needed in the next president.

McClain was appointed as interim president last June after the regents fired Evan Dobelle as president. Dobelle and the university later reached a $1.6 million settlement, the regents rescinded the firing and Dobelle resigned.

On Monday, McClain said the next president should be able to commit to at least a seven-year term.

For personal and other reasons, McClain said, he would be able to serve only until 2009 and does not "intend to actively pursue the UH presidency."

John Douglass, a senior research fellow at the University of California-Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education, said McClain is doing the right thing in allowing the search for a permanent president to go forward.

"It's a very prudent and wise move by the current interim president," Douglass said. "He's allowing the board to move forward with the process, yet it doesn't totally preclude him."

Douglass noted that McClain's statement doesn't rule out the possibility of McClain staying in the job until 2009, if asked.

Former UH President Fujio Matsuda said he believes McClain has done a good job and "would make an excellent president."

However, Matsuda said, it is up to the Board of Regents to determine what the university needs and then decide if McClain or someone else is best suited for the job.

"What does the board expect the president to do for the university and how long would it take (for that person to accomplish the task)?" Matsuda said.

On campus yesterday, students and faculty said the person hired should have the vision to make UH a premier institution in the Asia/Pacific region and should make it a priority to fix the aging facilities.

Communication skills are important and whomever is selected needs to be familiar with Hawaii, they said.

"It has to be someone who knows what local means," said Brien Hallett, an associate professor at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace.

Matsuda said he agrees that understanding Hawaii is important. But, he pointed out, it doesn't mean a candidate has to come from Hawaii.

Former UH president Thomas Hamilton came from Michigan State and didn't have Hawaii ties, yet was one of the best presidents UH has had, Matsuda noted.

Douglass said being president of a public university system is a much more difficult job than being chancellor of an individual campus.

One of the questions search committees face is whether to hire someone from within or from the outside. Because of the complexity of multi-campus systems, there's a strong argument for hiring from within, he said.

Lagareta agreed that "there may be another David McClain-type within the system."

The next step in the selection process is for the board task force to come up with recommendations on hiring a search firm and the search process.

Those recommendations will be presented to the full board as early as December and could be approved in January or February.

The search process could take anywhere from several months to a year, Lagareta said.

McClain's term as interim president expires in August.