Regents give Dobelle
team he requested
Capping a two-year effort to restructure the 10 campuses of the University of Hawaii into a unified management system, the UH Board of Regents approved the appointment of two key systemwide positions yesterday.
The regents also approved several other critical administration positions, including a new dean of the School of Travel Industry Management and a new interim chancellor for Hawaii Community College.
The appointments almost complete UH President Evan Dobelle's reorganization of UH.
While the appointments were approved, the regents' meeting was filled with debate that included a few jabs at Dobelle about high salaries and the need for some positions.
"We will give him (Dobelle) all the tools he needs, but we will demand accountability," said regent Patricia Lee. "The public is suspicious about higher salaries."
Outgoing regent Kathleen Thurston said, "To see such a wide range between administrators and faculty salaries is difficult to stomach."
The regents approved the appointments of:
>> David McClain, dean of the UH-Manoa College of Business Administration, to the post of vice president of academic affairs, making him the chief academic head in the systemwide structure effective July 1.
McClain replaces outgoing Interim Vice President Deane Neubauer, who has served the university for 30 years.
McClain will earn $260,000. As dean of the business school and the interim vice president for research, McClain earned $237,000.
>> Sam Callejo was appointed to the newly created position of chief of staff for the university to free Dobelle for other duties such as fund raising. Dobelle functions as a chief executive officer, and Callejo serves as his chief adviser and chief operational officer.
Callejo, UH's former director of capital improvement and chief of staff to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, will earn $200,000 a year.
Several regents questioned the need for a chief of staff and passed the appointment in an 8-to-4 vote.
Regent Charles Kawakami said: "Give the president the opportunity to build his team. If he doesn't perform, then we should take action. But if we don't give him this (the chief of staff position), then his fallback will be that 'You didn't give me the opportunity to build my team.'"
Kawakami looked at Dobelle and said: "We should give you the opportunity, but then you had better perform, or we will have to take action. It's a business deal."
Dobelle said McClain and Callejo "have the attitude, dedication and leadership skills to successfully implement our strategic plan and position UH as the world-class institution it has the potential to be."
Bert Kobayashi, the outgoing chairman of the board, said, "It's a local dream team that now allows President Dobelle to do the job he needs to do."
Neubauer, the outgoing interim vice president of academic affairs, presented the appointments to the board and explained that the management structures of other large public university systems had been studied closely.
"UH is a $1 billion-a-year institution with 10 campuses, and it requires executive leadership," said Neubauer. "This model was not adopted capriciously. But we studied how other large systems formed their (management structures)."
The regents also approved:
>> Walter Jamieson as the new dean of the School of Travel Industry Management for three years beginning Aug. 1. Jamieson is vice chairman of the World Tourism Education and Research Centre at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
Jamieson's annual salary will be $145,008. The interim dean, Pauline Sheldon, was paid $106,008.
>> Jan Yokota, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, to take over for Callejo as director of capital improvements. Yakota's salary will be $120,000, compared with Callejo's $150,816.
>> Shirley Daniel, the only woman with an endowed chair at UH's business school, to serve as interim chancellor of Hawaii Community College in Hilo effective July 1.
Daniel, who is on loan to HCC from the business school, will retain her current annual salary of $156,816, which she receives as a UH-Manoa professor and from her Henry Walker Chair. She will also receive about $2,500 monthly for travel.
Outgoing HCC Chancellor Sandra Sakaguchi earned $106,224. Sakaguchi was approved for a special assignment to oversee the planning and design of the new UH campus in Kona.
Regent Ted Hong, a new Lingle administration appointee, who also serves as the state's chief negotiator, grilled Dobelle and others. During discussion of Daniel's appointment, he asked Dobelle if her job was to decide to close HCC. Dobelle said no.
Over the past two years, Dobelle has been criticized for his hiring practices and high salaries. Dobelle's administration has defended the salaries, saying that new deans, chancellors and administrative officers are expected to be paid more than predecessors because the university is seeking the best-qualified candidates it can afford on the national and international academic markets.
The regents also approved Jim Wills, the associate dean of the business school, to take over for McClain as interim dean. As associate dean he earned $131,544, and as interim dean that will increase to $155,056.
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One of the two rejected designs for a new UH logo.
Board suggests ending
contract for new UH logo
The Board of Regents recommended yesterday that the University of Hawaii administration negotiate an end to the $82,000 contract it holds with a mainland graphics firm to develop a new UH logo.
Last month, a subcommittee of three regents was assigned to study the issue.
In April, UH unveiled two designs, "The Wave" and "The Spectrum," as finalists to be the systemwide logo that would define the essence of the university.
Reaction was swift, negative and indignant that a local firm that understood Hawaii was not used instead of Robert Rytter & Associates, of Maryland. There were also questions about how the administration was using money in a time of cutbacks.
The envisioned logo is intended to replace about 150 different logos that are now used across the university's 10 campuses. The logo will not replace distinctive athletic logos.
A subcommittee of regents is continuing talks with local designers and artists to solve the logo debacle.
