Candidate chosen for UH chancellor turns position down

University of Hawaii President David Lassner is expected to continue serving simultaneously as interim UH-Manoa chancellor for the next two years, following an unsuccessful nationwide search to fill the position.

Lassner announced Wednesday that he will recommend to the Board of Regents that the chancellor search be suspended for two years.

“We are going to focus on really making this campus even greater than it is today over the next two years and then in two years we’ll take a look at what the best thing to do is,” Lassner said.

A 20-member search committee he convened last spring had identified three mainland finalists who participated in a final round of in-person interviews and campus forums over the past few months.

The finalists were Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture; Lauren Robel, executive vice president and provost at Indiana University Bloomington; and John Valery White, acting chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education.

In an email Wednesday to UH-Manoa students, faculty and staff, Lassner said he contacted the finalist recommended by the committee, but that the candidate withdrew from consideration.

“This was a superb Search Advisory Committee that did everything correctly, and I had no disagreement with their conclusions,” Lassner said. “Based on the committee’s assessments, with which I am in full agreement after my own meetings with the finalists, I am unable to recommend a new chancellor at this time.”

He declined to name the finalist or disclose his or her reasons for turning down the job.

“But I will say that the reasons in no way reflected on UH-Manoa or the qualifications, suitability and genuine interest of the candidate in the position,” Lassner said.

The other two finalists are not being considered. “The recommendation from the search committee was that there was one strong candidate with whom I should reach out in an attempt to bring that person here, and I did that,” Lassner said.

The university spent roughly $10,700 on the search, according to a university spokesman. That included $1,981.28 in advertising costs; $239.80 for background checks; $3,357.58 for food and beverage costs during interview meetings and open forums; and $5,116.92 for the three finalists to travel to Hawaii. “They fly coach. They stay in a modest hotel,” Lassner said.

“The UH presidency and the Manoa chancellorship are two distinct, large and difficult jobs. So I am absolutely not recommending that the positions be combined,” he said.

The regents in August approved a recommendation from Lassner that he serve as interim chancellor with no additional pay for the added duties. As president, he earns a $375,000 annual base salary. He said he will not be seeking additional compensation to continue as interim chancellor.