#Board of Regents

The Board of Regentsʻ unanimous choice to take over for outgoing president David Lassner said despite not being from Hawaiʻi, she would continue to uplift indigenous values of the University of Hawaiʻi.

The university’s Board of Regents voted unanimously Thursday to appoint the current executive vice chancellor and university provost at the City University of New York to succeed David Lassner, who will retire at the end of this year after serving as UH president for more than 11 years.

The coming announcement follows a series of public events for the two finalists, Julian Vasquez Heilig and Wendy Hensel.

Julian Vasquez Heilig will attend open houses and public forums on Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i Island and elsewhere this week.

Wendy Hensel will take questions from the public during a campus forum from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center. Community members can attend in person or via Zoom. Finalist Julian Vasquez Heilig will do the same next Tuesday.

Wendy F. Hensel and Julian Vasquez will be introduced through a series of open houses and public forums scheduled in each of the four counties.

The board plans to publicly identify the finalists in September and will hold a series of public forums to introduce them to stakeholders.

Current University of Hawai‘i President David Lassner will retire at the end of 2024 or when the next president officially starts.

University of Hawaiʻi President David Lassner notified the Board of Regents and employees by email on Tuesday that he plans to retire at the end of 2024.

At a July 6 special meeting, the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents elected Alapaki Nahale-a as chair and Gabriel Lee and Ernest Wilson as vice chairs for one-year terms that run from July 2023 to June 2024.

Gov. Josh Green appointed former Hawaiʻi Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Global Resiliency Hub CEO Alapaki Nahale-a of the Big island and attorney Lauren Akitake to the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents.

Rachel Solemsaas, who has served as chancellor of Hawai‘i Community College since 2016, will be stepping down after the spring 2023 semester, the college announced Friday.

The new UH schedule freezes tuition for the next two academic years but has 2% increases in resident tuition rates at UH Hilo, UH Mānoa and UH West Oʻahu in academic years 2025-26 and 2026-27.

The University of Hawaiʻi 10-campus system is proposing a freeze on undergraduate tuition for two more academic years, but it would be followed by 2% increases in the next two academic years.

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents has approved a $30 million project to expand seating up to 17,000 seats at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, home field of the Rainbow Warriors football team.

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents during its meeting Thursday adopted the new Master Plan for UH-managed lands on Maunakea.

The Candidate Advisory Council (CAC) for the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents has presented a list of candidates to Gov. David Ige to fill one Hawaiʻi County seat.

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) approved a revised plan to restructure the internal management of UH-managed lands on Maunakea after months of consultation with internal and external stakeholders.

The decommissioning of two telescopes on University of Hawaiʻi-managed lands on Maunakea is tentatively scheduled to be completed by 2023.

The University of Hawa‘ii Board of Regents continue to take testimony regarding administrative rules for proposed public and commercial use on Maunakea lands.