Roosevelt alum Gotanda named president of HPU

John Yukio Gotanda, a Villanova University law school dean who grew up in Hawaii, has been selected as the new president of the Hawaii Pacific University, the school announced today.

Gotanda starts June 30 and will succeed HPU president Geoffrey Bannister who will retire July 1 after five years.

Gotanda currently serves as the Arthur J. Kania Dean of Villanova’s Charles Widger School of Law in Pennsylvania. He previously served as the law school’s associate dean for academic affairs, associate dean for research and director of the JD/MBA program before he was named dean.

HPU officials said the school’s board selected Gotanda after nationwide search led by a committee that included trustees, faculty, staff and students.

“We are very pleased and proud to have someone of John’s caliber and reputation help us continue to build on our successes to date and lead HPU into the future,” Joachim Cox, chairman of the HPU board of trustees, said in a news release. “As a strategic leader with a record of success and a commitment to innovation, solid academics, and student success, he is absolutely the right person to guide HPU into the next phase of its development, as we begin our 51st year as Hawaii’s premier private university.”

Born and raised in Hawaii, Gotanda is a Roosevelt High School alumnus and earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He earned his law degree from the William S. School Richardson School of Law where he served as editor-in-chief of the law review.