HONOLULU (KHON2) — Two finalists have been named in the search for the next president of the University of Hawaii, according to the Board of Regents.
They are Wendy Hensel, currently at The City University of New York, and Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, currently at Western Michigan University.
Julian Vasquez Heilig, Wendy F. Hensel (Courtesy UH)
Hensel is the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost at CUNY and has previously held positions at Georgia State University. She is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and earned a bachelor’s from Michigan State University.
Vasquez Heilig is the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at WMU and has previously held positions at University of Kentucky. He earned his PhD and master’s degrees from Stanford University and holds additional degrees from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
“There was a tremendous amount of interest shown in the president’s position, and now we have two excellent candidates,” said BOR Chair Gabe Lee.
The UH community and general public can meet the candidates at open houses and public forums in the coming weeks. They will be in attendance in all four counties: Hawaii, Maui, Honolulu and Kaua’i.
“It was very important to the regents that representatives from each campus and the various UH stakeholders have an opportunity to meet the finalists,” said Lee. “I know that all of these stakeholder groups will also provide valuable input to the regents.”
Each candidate will be interviewed by the BOR after the public events.
The new president will succeed David Lassner, who will retire at the end of the year.
A decision on the next president is expected by mid to late October.