Hensel to be next president of University of Hawaiʻi

The current executive vice chancellor and university provost at the City University of New York will be the next president of the 10-campus University of Hawaiʻi system.

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents on Thursday voted unanimously during a continuation of a special board meeting at the university’s Mānoa campus to appoint Wendy Hensel as leader of the state’s sole public higher education provider.

Hensel will succeed current University of Hawaiʻi President David Lassner, who will retire at the end of this year after serving in the post for more than 11 years.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of an exhaustive, extensive, nationwide search and hiring process, where our stakeholders were able to participate at every stage,” said University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents Chairperson Gabe Lee. “I am confident that Wendy Hensel is the right person to lead [the University of Hawaiʻi] and help guide the state through the significant challenges ahead.”

Regents also approved the following terms of Hensel’s appointment:

• $675,000 annual salary.
• $7,000 a month housing allowance.
• Up to $60,000 for moving expenses.
• Tenure fallback position in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law.
• Term: 3 years with up to a 2-year extension subject to Board of Regents approval.

The board is awaiting her formal acceptance.

Hensel has been at the City University of New York since 2022. It is a 25-campus university system with 235,000 students.

She served as provost, senior vice president of Academic Affairs and dean of the College of Law at different times during her time at Georgia State University prior to serving at the City University of New York.

Hensel is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and earned a bachelor’s degree with highest honors from Michigan State University, where she was a Harry S. Truman Scholar ​​and an intern at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her appointment marks the end of an extensive nationwide search for Lassner’s replacement that attracted 93 applicants.

From those applicants, the Presidential Search Advisory Group — volunteer representatives from University of Hawaiʻi stakeholder and governance groups who developed the position description and leadership profile — identified and interviewed 12 semi-finalists.

Three finalists were selected and two — Hensel and Julian Vasquez Heilig — agreed to continue the process and participated in public events that included question-and-answer sessions, campus forums and private meetings with stakeholders groups at all 10 University of Hawaiʻi campuses throughout the state.