Donovan’s job at UH remains unfilled since his 2012 departure

Question: Whatever happened to the position the University of Hawaii at Manoa created last year during the “Wonder Blunder” mess, specifically, the position that was created for (former Athletic Director) Jim Donovan before he left? Was someone else found to fill the position or was it quietly eliminated?

Answer: The position is vacant and school officials don’t expect to fill it any time soon, according to UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple.

“We still believe in the need for someone to lead the important job of branding and communicating the evolving land-grant mission of the university. However, due to severe budgetary restraints, we will not be filling this position in the foreseeable future,” Apple said in a statement to the Star-Advertiser.

Donovan served as the university’s athletic director for 4 1/2 years until being relieved in the wake of the Stevie Wonder concert fiasco. He was placed on paid leave on July 11, 2012, a day after UH announced it was the victim of an apparent scam for the failed concert that was to benefit the athletics department.

UH later learned neither the singer nor his representatives had authorized the concert and the university hasn’t been able to recover a $200,000 deposit.

As part of a compromise agreement, Donovan was reassigned in August 2012 to a newly created marketing position in the chancellor’s office, after university officials said he had been cleared of wrongdoing in the concert debacle.

The university approved a three-year deal that would have paid Donovan more than $200,000 annually for “designing, creating, articulating, marketing and communicating to the community, including assisting with the evolving land grant mission of the university,” UH said at the time. (His salary as athletic director was $240,000.)

Documents released to the Star-Advertiser under the state’s open records law showed that UH agreed to the deal in return for Donovan agreeing not to sue the school.

Apple told a state Senate panel investigating the fiasco last year that Donovan’s reassignment would save UH money because his new annual salary, $211,000, would be lower than what peer institutions would pay, and that the position was going to be filled anyway.

But a few months later, Donovan took a new job as athletic director at California State University at Fullerton in December.

This update was written by Nanea Kalani. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To …” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.