Australian Educator Picked to Head HCC’s Kona Center

An administrator from a business school in Australia with family ties to Oahu has been selected to head Hawai‘i Community College’s Kona operations.

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents today named Kenneth “Marty” Fletcher director of the University of Hawai‘i Center, West Hawaii.

Prior to his selection, Fletcher was the senior lecturer for online education and a program director for the business school at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.

Fletcher spent much of his youth on Oahu and still has family there, Hawaii Community College said in a press release.

“I feel truly blessed to be joining the West Hawai‘i ‘ohana of Hawai‘i Community College and the University of Hawai‘i system,” Fletcher said. “I’m excited to work with the college and the community to make sure we are delivering the excellent higher education opportunities West Hawai‘i deserves.

“If I had dreamed of a scenario for my return to Hawai‘i Nei when my wife and I first started contemplating returning home, it couldn’t have been any better,” he said.

Kenneth “Marty” Fletcher. Courtesy photo.

Fletcher holds a master’s degree in international management from Northern Territory University, now Charles Darwin University, in Darwin, NT Australia. He received his Ph.D. in education from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minn.

After finishing his undergraduate education, Fletcher played professional basketball in Melbourne, Australia, and then worked in management for several companies.

Following graduate school he worked in higher education in both the US and Australia in fields that included management, technology and behavioral sciences

University of Hawai‘i Center, West Hawai‘i currently operates out of leased facilities in Kealakekua.

Construction of Hawai‘i Community College – Palamanui, which will be the new home for the center, began in November. A mixed-use development created through a partnership between UH and the Hunt Companies and Charles R. Schwab, it is expected to begin operations in 2015.