(BIVN) – The national recruitment for the next president of the University of Hawaiʻi will begin in late May.

The UH Board of Regents approved the position description and leadership profile at the board’s most recent monthly meeting.

The UH president oversees the state’s 10-campus system, which includes the University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College on the Big Island. The new president will succeed President David Lassner, who announced in September 2023 that he will retire at the end of 2024.

A UH news release says the position description and leadership profile “were based on feedback provided through six public forums that were held on four islands, and a public survey along with input from the regents and the Presidential Search Advisory Group (PSAG), who edited and finalized the profile before it was brought to the board.”

“We are very pleased that the next phase of the search can officially begin, and the regents thank the PSAG for their important work on the leadership profile,” said BOR Interim Chair Gabriel Lee in the news release. “We are hoping there is a lot of local and national interest in the position and that we are able to attract the best candidates possible to lead the state’s sole provider of higher education.”

image of the front page of the UH Presidential Search website.

The firm hired by the BOR to conduct the recruitment, WittKieffer, will be following this timeline:

• May to August – Candidate recruitment period
• August – Review of candidate materials, first round of candidate interviews
• September – Three to four finalists are named
• October – Final selection and negotiation, new president is announced
• Early 2025 – New president begins

From the University:

The PSAG is made up of stakeholders from across the UH system and local community. The group assisted with county forums along with the development of the leadership profile and position description. The PSAG will review candidate applications, identify and recommend candidates for interviews, interview the first round of eight to 12 candidates and recommend semifinalists to the selection committee, which consists of all 11 regents.

As part of the listening phase of the search promised by the regents, approximately 565 people attended the six public forums held across the state in person or via Zoom. The public survey completed in February received 2,093 responses.