Incoming University of Hawai'i president, M.R.C. Greenwood, at the Mānoa campus in May. Greenwood will start as president of the 10-campus system by Aug. 24. - Photo: Lisa Asato

By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola

M.R.C. Greenwood will take over as the next president of the 10-campus University of Hawai'i system by the time fall semester begins Aug. 24.

Greenwood will replace outgoing UH President David McClain, who will retire July 31, and whose tenure is considered positive for Native Hawaiians.

Greenwood said continuing and supporting the university's good work during a state budget shortfall will be "a very important priority," and that, among other things, "issues related to how we preserve the culture, the language of the native people are going to be high on my list."

The UH Board of Regents unanimously appointed Greenwood to the post June 10, making her the first woman to lead the university. Her $475,008 annual salary – more than McClain's $414,096 salary – will be subject to the same cuts that UH administrators may face because of the budget crunch, said board Chairman Al Landon, adding that her higher pay was based on a survey of university president's salaries at similar schools.

The three-year post, which comes with two annual renewal options, includes a $5,000 monthly housing allowance until repairs at College Hill are completed, $326 monthly car allowance, and about $150,000 per year for fundraising, travel and related expenses.

Greenwood, director of the Foods for Health Initiative at the University of California-Davis, is an expert on obesity and diabetes and a member of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academies of Sciences. She served as chancellor of UC-Santa Cruz from 1996 to 2004 and in the White House Office of Science and Technology during the Clinton administration.

McClain called her "a brilliant, internationally recognized scholar and a proven and transformational academic leader."

Michael Chun, Kamehameha Schools-Kapālama headmaster and president, said Greenwood was a go-getter who "can make things happen." Chun, who was part of the 12-member presidential selection committee, said Greenwood's assets include having ties in Washington, D.C., where many of the university's funding sources are, and her expertise in obesity and diabetes, which are significant health concerns for Native Hawaiians. He also praised her success in winning a $330 million contract to develop the nation's first NASA University Affiliated Research Center at UC Santa Cruz, which beat out schools like Stanford University. The contract was the largest in UC history at the time.

Chun said Greenwood is aware she faces a learning curve when it comes to Native Hawaiians but "is prepared to engage the Hawaiian community in ways that will allow her to be a positive factor in the Hawaiian community." He said Kamehameha Schools probably sends more Hawaiians to the UH system than any other school, public or private, in the state, and he plans to continue the school's good relationship with UH under Greenwood's leadership.

Greenwood resigned as provost at the University of California, the university's second highest position, in 2005, amid ethical concerns over the hiring of a friend and business partner. An investigation found she violated UC conflict of interest policy and should have removed herself from the hiring of her friend. Greenwood has apologized for the incident. UC general counsel James Holst told the presidential selection committee that the ethical lapse was an isolated incident. According to the committee, he said, "At no point in her university service was there any pattern of impropriety or ethical lapses."

Speaking to media via video conference from California after the regents' vote, Greenwood said she considers herself "a person of deep personal integrity" and was shocked to learn she had "made an error that was interpreted as a conflict of interest."

"It was very unfortunate," she said, "but one can learn from one's lessons and I would hope that's something we're teaching our students as well."

Greenwood also said she didn't plan to bring any individuals with her for a new leadership team at UH nor did she plan to "make any changes in the leadership upon my arrival."

Reading a prepared statement, she told media: "There is no greater public mission than ensuring access and success in higher education and we must steadfastly protect and work for the fulfillment of this mission, including furthering the university's unique responsibilities to the indigenous people of Hawai'i and to Hawai'i's indigenous language and culture."

Asked how she would fulfill that responsibility to Native Hawaiians, she said she would have to "study on this" but that she was reading up on the programs the university offers and seeing how they could be furthered. She said she has been "working on these issues almost every day" since meeting with the Pūko'a Council in May during the selection process. She also said she was aware that the UH regents recently "reconfirmed their position on the importance and the integral part of these programs in the university, and I'm fully supportive of that."

Members of the Pūko'a Council, a systemwide group of Native Hawaiian faculty and staff that advises the president, said they had made strides under McClain's leadership, including increased permanent positions, having the school's unique responsibility to Native Hawaiians included in the school's mission, and having Native Hawaiian access and success at the university named in its strategic outcomes plan.

Seeing that two of three finalists had withdrawn from the selection process, Doodie Downs, a member of the Ho'olulu Council of Native Hawaiians at Hawai'i Community College, had asked the board before the vote to select an interim president and start the selection process over from the pool of applicants they already had.

"While we are disappointed that they didn't do that, we are going to work with the president," she said after the announcement. "We look forward to her starting because we have our strategic plan in place and we would like to continue the mission of the university. That's our goal."

Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa, a Hawaiian Studies professor at UH-Mānoa and a member of the Pūko'a Council, said the council is "very excited about working with (Greenwood)."

Although the council would have preferred a president from within the UH system, she said, the university "has set a great example for supporting indigenous language and culture, and the template has been laid down."

"We educate everybody that comes to Hawai'i about Hawaiian language, culture and history, and we'll be glad to do that with her," Kame'eleihiwa said, adding that the council's priorities will be to maintain faculty positions during the tight economic times, and then push to add more when the economy improves. Kame'eleihiwa said she hopes to take Greenwood to the United Nations so she can see "what's been going on for indigenous education around the world."

"I think we're a team here at the University of Hawai'i," she added. "We have excellent regents, we have an excellent leadership team. If they have made this decision then we will, as a team, support them."