HONOLULU — University of Hawaii President David Lassner is recommending the school suspend its search for a new chancellor at the Manoa campus for two years.
HONOLULU — University of Hawaii President David Lassner is recommending the school suspend its search for a new chancellor at the Manoa campus for two years.
The recommendation came Wednesday following an unsuccessful nationwide search to fill the position that Lassner has been holding on an interim basis. He plans to continue in both that role and as UH president, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
A search committee formed last spring had identified three finalists for the job from the mainland.
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 a campuswide email Wednesday, Lassner said he contacted one of the finalists but the candidate withdrew from consideration.
Lassner said he could not comment on the reason for the withdrawal.
“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 in the email. “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.”
The board of regents in August approved a recommendation from Lassner that he serve as interim chancellor with no additional pay for the added duties. He earns a $375,000 base salary as president.
Lassner replaced interim chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman, who did not want an extension and has returned to a faculty position.
Bley-Vroman had taken over for Tom Apple, who was dismissed as chancellor in 2014.
Lassner said at the time that he gave Apple an unsatisfactory performance rating because he was unable to address serious financial troubles. Apple maintained he was forced out two years into his five-year appointment.