The University of Hawaii at Hilo has formed a search committee and is hiring a consultant to find a replacement for Chancellor Rose Tseng.

Tseng, who has led the 3,500-student UH-Hilo campus since 1998, is retiring June 30.

The search committee is co-chaired by Sevki Erdogan, a member of the UH-Hilo Faculty Congress and a computer science professor, and UH Vice President for Information Technology David Lassner.

UH selected the search firm Isaacson, Miller and is negotiating a fee, said Carolyn Tanaka, UH vice president for external affairs.

Isaacson, Miller has helped select the UH-Manoa chancellor and other executives, including the UH-Manoa vice chancellor for students and the dean of the College of Engineering. The firm was paid between $51,300 and $103,550 for those searches.

Tseng made $305,280 before taking a 6 percent to 10 percent salary cut this year because of budget cuts.

The committee will recommend candidates to UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, who will then make a recommendation to the Board of Regents, which selects the chancellor. The committee hopes to complete the search and announce UH-Hilo's new chancellor by summer.

Tseng had originally planned to retire at the end of this year, but agreed to stay until the summer so that the university would not have to conduct the search for her replacement at the same time UH was hiring a new system president.

The other members of the search advisory committee are Dan Brown, professor of anthropology; Barbara Leonard, associate professor of accounting; Ken Morris, professor of pharmaceutical science; Pua Kanakaole Kanahele, director of research and development for Hawaiian-related programs at Hawaii Community College; Kelson Hoomano Pakele, president of the student government; Andrea Adrian, a secretary in the office of the vice chancellor for student affairs; Jeff Scofield, executive coordinator for Enrollment Services; Marcia Sakai, dean of the College of Business and Economics; Ross Wilson, chairman of the Chancellor's Advisory Board; Ron Terry, a private consultant; Eugene Nishimura, a vice president at Hawaii National Bank; Barbara Hastings, a partner at Hastings & Pleadwell public relations; Mike Fujimoto, president of HPM Building Supply; and Gladys Sonomura, a member of the Chancellor's Advisory Board.