UH reopens search for
director of Astronomy
Institute

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

With three top vacancies recently filled at the University of Hawaii, the search has been reopened for an Institute for Astronomy director.

"We've invigorated the committee and given them a charge," said Alan Teramura, senior vice president for research. "We asked them to find the best person possible. It's a global search.

"We told them it is one of the top priorities for the universities. "I think just saying that actually speaks volumes in itself."

Robert McLaren, who oversees the Mauna Kea observatory complex, has been interim director of the astronomy institute since July 1997, when he succeeded Don Hall.

Two prominent candidates were interviewed for the position this year -- Frank Shu, a University of California-Berkeley astronomy professor, and Richard Ellis, director of the University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy.

Shu was interested in the job but the UH couldn't find an appropriate position for his wife, whose field is biotechnology commercialization.

Ellis expressed concern that the extensive administrative responsibilities would take too much time from his research.

Teramura said, "For the right person it's going to be a very challenging and rewarding opportunity. It's a real plum in the astronomical community, a very highly visible position both in the university as well as in the state and community." The reorganized search committee has been widened to include faculty members outside the astronomy institute, as well as institute representatives, Teramura said.

He said the committee has been asked not only to publish job descriptions but to seek out qualified candidates. The committee is headed by Klaus Keil, director of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

He said the position is being advertised internationally "and we will encourage by telephone calls qualified people to apply."

"I think all of us realize, and I think the university administration realizes, that the position of director of IFA is one of the most exciting positions at this university and one of the most challenging positions," Keil said.

"I think the IFA is one of the flagship units at this university and, because of the facilities it runs on Haleakala and Mauna Kea, has far-reaching implications for the state of Hawaii."

Keil said he's been assured that the university administration "will make an all-out effort to bring in the best person we can attract." Noting high-level candidates recently appointed to other UH positions after lengthy vacancies, he said, "I am hopeful it will spill over to the IFA search."

They include:

(PI) Dr. Edwin Cadman, Yale University professor of medicine, appointed dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, effective Nov. 1. His annual salary will be $430,000, of which hospitals will contribute $100,000.

(PI) Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Vogel, former chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Hamburg, who became director of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii in April. His annual salary is $200,000.

(PI) Dr. Wai-Fah Chen, George E. Goodwin Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, appointed as dean of the College of Engineering, effective Sept. 1. His annual salary will be $185,016.

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