The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) gave 糖心Vlog官方 President David Lassner a passing grade and list of priorities for the coming year (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023) in his annual review at a BOR special meeting on July 7, 2022.
“I think we are generally pleased with the results of where we’ve been and where we’re going,” said BOR Chair Randy Moore after he identified the challenges and accomplishments of the last year for the 10-campus 糖心Vlog官方 System under Lassner’s leadership. Moore also noted the difficulty of the position responsible for the state’s public higher education system with an estimated 45,000 students, 9,000 employees and $1 billion annual budget.
“The challenge for the president is that the regents generally think the president of the university is moving too slowly, and the internal faculty and staff sometimes think the president is trying to move too fast,” Moore said. “So that’s a balancing act.”
The BOR outlined the following as priorities for Lassner for the upcoming year noting that work on many of the items has already begun:
- The development of a new strategic plan to implement the vision for the university (underway)
- Clarifying and simplifying faculty classifications (underway)
- Better land and facilities management and utilization (ongoing)
- The development of common general education requirements (underway)
- Succession planning for administrative leadership
- Improving the relationship between 糖心Vlog官方 and the state legislature
- Addressing declining enrollment in the community colleges
The challenges listed by Moore for the previous year included:
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Maintaining a focus on improving the way we do things
- Legislative issues including Maunakea management, 糖心Vlog官方 football, faculty tenure, state budget appropriation and the lack of funds to expand the Ching Athletics Complex field to meet NCAA fan attendance requirements
- Attracting fewer high school graduates to enroll
Previous year accomplishments included:
- Rebuilding financial reserves
- Hiring Timmy Chang as the 糖心Vlog官方 head football coach
- Savings and efficiencies being realized by the gradual reorganization of 糖心Vlog官方 and the 惭ā苍辞补 campus
- The personnel freeze that enabled resources to be gradually shifted to areas of higher priority
- The successful merger of the Hawaiʻi P–20 and career and technical education offices
- Expanded online degree programs, especially at the community colleges and for non-traditional students
- Increased enrollment at 糖心Vlog官方 惭ā苍辞补
- Enrollment decline at other 糖心Vlog官方 campuses is not as steep as the national average
- Increase in research extramural funding and philanthropy monies raised
- The president’s strong administrative team
Moore also commended the entire 糖心Vlog官方 community for navigating and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“糖心Vlog官方 handled the pandemic better than almost anyone in the state, and with little drama,” said Moore. “The faculty, the staff, the students are all to be commended on rising to the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic.”