{"id":228317,"date":"2026-01-15T10:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=228317"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:57:59","slug":"uh-president-hensel-delivers-inaugural-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/15\/uh-president-hensel-delivers-inaugural-address\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> President Wendy Hensel delivers inaugural systemwide address"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_60264\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0KSMubarx74?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"糖心Vlog官方 President Wendy Hensel delivers inaugural systemwide address\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>University of <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> President Wendy Hensel delivered her inaugural systemwide address on January 14, outlining key accomplishments from 2025, addressing challenges facing higher education and setting priorities for the year ahead across <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr>\u2019s 10-campus system.<\/p>\n<p>The livestreamed address marked the beginning of a new annual tradition intended to promote transparency, accountability and engagement with the <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> community. Hensel, who began her tenure on January 1, 2025, framed the address as an opportunity to reflect on progress while charting a clear path forward for the university.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-hensel-address-2026-5-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Hensel speaking on stage\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-228350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-hensel-address-2026-5-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-hensel-address-2026-5-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-hensel-address-2026-5.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today is really a down payment on our commitment to transparency,&rdquo; Hensel said. &ldquo;We&#8217;ve been trying to do a lot of town halls and conversations about what&#8217;s going on in a very difficult time when it&#8217;s not so easy to talk about what&#8217;s happening. This is our attempt to make sure you know what we&#8217;re doing\u2014that we&#8217;re delivering the value that the state expects\u2014and also to identify where you can get involved to help us reach where we all want to go together.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>In her remarks, Hensel highlighted major developments from the past year and priorities going into 2026, including enrollment across the 10 campuses topping 51,000 in fall 2025, the highest in eight years; the launch of Direct2<abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr>, an initiative that streamlines admission to <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> for <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> public high school seniors; advancing artificial intelligence across the <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> System; building an integrated workforce ecosystem; improving student success, including graduation and retention rates; record extramural funding in <abbr>FY<\/abbr>2025 amid increased uncertainty in 2026; capital improvement project requests; current landscape of collegiate athletics, including the impact of <abbr title=\"Name, Image, and Likeness\">NIL<\/abbr>; and <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr>\u2019s financial outlook, including state appropriations, tuition and fees, grants and reserves.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-hensel-address-2026-6-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Hensel speaking to people\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-228325\" \/><\/p>\n<p>She also acknowledged ongoing challenges facing the university, such as swiftly changing federal policies, and cuts to federal research grants and awards, as well as underscored the need for continued dialogue and systemwide alignment as <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> navigates a rapidly changing higher education landscape in <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> and across the nation.<\/p>\n<p>The address was livestreamed to ensure broad access for faculty, staff, students and community members across the state.<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_63193\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QSY052cwM7g?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"糖心Vlog官方 2025: A Year of Momentum\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> president\u2019s address promotes transparency, accountability and a clear path forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193,12],"tags":[61,62,63,64,65,1638,394,71,14,9,60,947,59,56,1664,66],"class_list":["post-228317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","category-video","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-president","tag-presidents-office","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-video-2","tag-hensel","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228317"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228354,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228317\/revisions\/228354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}