UH-Maui Maui could be the site of a new University of Hawaii four-year campus, UH President Evan Dobelle was to announce this afternoon.
in the works
The new university president
Other Dobelle initiatives
wants to establish a 4-year
campus on MauiBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comIn a text of his first public speech, Dobelle called for a new Maui campus, as well as a study for a four-year technical baccalaureate program in downtown Honolulu.
Expanding UH services on Maui would be incremental, he had written, "broadening the mission, not changing it, continuing the accessibility and affordability."
Over the next 18 months, UH will use the necessary resources "to ensure we service an expanding market on that island, particularly in south Maui (Wailea), Kihei and Upcountry as well as west Maui (Lahaina) and Hana and reach out for more options for those on Lanai and Maui."
Other areas for potential expansion include a new UH campus in Kona.
Dobelle was to deliver his remarks at a reception from the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. Dobelle's speech included grand goals for UH: "As we go forward, there will only be one standard of measurement at the University of Hawaii -- and that standard will be excellence. Not excellence but ... ; not excellence, if only ... ; not excellence, maybe; but excellence, period," the speech read.
On July 2, his first day on the job, Dobelle made several key appointments, including interim Manoa chancellor Deane Neubauer.
Today, Dobelle's speech explained that Neubauer would coordinate the university's effort to seek accreditation as a system, rather than individually for each campus as in the past. One of Dobelle's first acts as president was to suspend the reaccreditation process until January 2003 to give the university time to change the way it presents itself.
Although each campus will maintain its separate and distinct mission, by emphasizing that the university is a system, "we can focus not on competition between our campuses that may harm students but on collaboration that delivers on the promise of a qualified, unified system of higher education," the speech said.
Neubauer will also be looking at a new "college within a college" at the Manoa campus, perhaps a highly rigorous liberal arts program.
Neubauer and Dobelle also will review relevance of the academic school year -- two semesters with the summer off -- and look into opportunities and locations for a trimester or quarterly system.
Dobelle was also to announce that soon a permanent director for the Mauna Kea Management Office would be selected to "go forward with consensus and sensitivity to native Hawaiian issues and relationships the UH has in the future."
The office at the University of Hawaii-Hilo is in charge of managing the area where several telescopes are located and protecting Hawaiian cultural sites at the summit.
Dobelle has also directed full funding for the UH Hawaiian studies department.
Barry Raleigh, dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology, was appointed head of the Special Task Force on Research Infrastructure.
Working with Harold Masumoto, outgoing director of the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii, Raleigh will spend the next six months examining where the agency can expand and what structure would be needed to support it.
Its board has been asked to suspend its search for Masumoto's replacement in the interim.
Plans to build a new medical school and biotechnology park in Kakaako will also reach closure with strong urban planning "to ensure that we not only can afford to build it, but we can financially sustain it and the location is one that provides a maximum benefit to our citizens."
In April, UH faculty went on a 13-day strike for a new contract. Dobelle, who has publicly voiced his support of the faculty in past appearances, was to say today that he will "work in partnership with the unions to present a new contract request to the state that is significant, long-term and makes sure that the entire system is in financial equilibrium."
Some main points of University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle, right, in his first public speech today: Making his points
>> He calls for a new four-year UH campus on Maui and a study for a potential four-year technical baccalaureate program in Downtown Honolulu.
>> At UH-Hilo, the university will work to make the U.S.-China Center a reality, plan a new UH-Kona.
>> A straightforward audit by PriceWaterhouseCoopers of all accounts by December, with a hard look at how the university does business, focusing on whether the UH bureaucracy is too big and whether it serves the needs of faculty and students.
>> To convene three summits on the state of all public education; the environment and economic development.
>> To partner with the unions to present the state with a long-term contract that keeps the system in financial equilibrium and attracts and retains the best candidates.
>> A plan for UH's international role, in light of its expertise and contacts in Asia, the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Ocean regions.
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