The University of Hawaii’s presidential selection committee will forgo hiring an outside search firm but will move ahead with its own national search — a process that committee members say they want to complete within a year.
The group voted unanimously to take on the work of vetting candidates themselves. The committee had negotiated a contract with a firm but never executed it.
Regent Carl Carlson, the committee’s chairman, last week had said the group was looking at narrowing its search efforts to focus on finding local candidates based on feedback at community outreach events.
Several committee members noted that past searches for presidential candidates weren’t necessarily strengthened with the hiring of a search firm.
"I think we have a good idea of what we’re looking for," said regent Jan Sullivan, who made a motion proposing that the group go the route of conducting its own national search. "I think we can do a good job."
Regents Vice Chairman James Lee added, "It’s going to be a lot of work … but I think we can manage the search ourselves."
Other committee members agreed but some raised concerns about a search taking longer, considering the group began meeting seven months ago.
"Let’s aim for no more than a year," said regent Chairman John Holzman, who is an ex officio member of the committee.
Carlson said afterward that the committee wants to make a job offer as soon as possible but cannot rush the process.
In the meantime, Regent Saedene Ota recommended that the university make it a priority to fill the vacant No. 2 job at UH, that of executive vice president for academic affairs, which opened in December with the departure of Linda Johnsrud.
The selection committee also heard testimony from individuals asking the group not to limit its search to local candidates, but they disagreed about whether an executive search firm should be retained.
University of Hawaii Professional Assembly Executive Director JN Musto cautioned the committee against rushing to hire someone before doing a thorough search.
"At this point I do not see any indication that you need to immediately change status quo," he said, adding that UH interim President David Lassner is capable of running the university in the meantime.
The committee expects to run ads for the position and accept applications or nominations through June.
