Dobelle Appoints Allan Ah San to Oversee Expedited Program

University of Hawaiʻi
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Posted: Nov 27, 2001

University of Hawaiʻi president Evan S. Dobelle today announced the appointment of Allan Y.S. Ah San to his senior staff to oversee the university's expedited construction and repair and maintenance projects. Dobelle linked the announcement to planned construction work about to begin on all UH campuses that involves a quarter-billion dollars in funding from state and other sources.

"We are now engaged in planning and actual construction that marks the greatest commitment of dollars to new facilities and repair and maintenance projects in the shortest time span in the university's history, surpassing even the rapid expansion of our physical plant in the 1960s," said Dobelle.

"We're prepared to expend nearly $250 million in the period over the next 12 to 14 months to expand the university's capacity to handle new students, for increased research capability for our world class faculty, to replace aging classroom and office facilities system wide, and to begin to bring our campuses near-current on repair and maintenance projects.

"This is nothing short of an intense period of renewal and revival for our campuses on all islands," Dobelle added. "Faculty, students and staff will see the improvements and benefit from them, and ultimately all of our communities benefit.

"Allan Ah San brings a wealth of talent and experience to this task," president Dobelle said. "We're pleased to bring a new and more concentrated focus to work that is not only critical to the university in the long term, but also to our state's economy in the near term."

Ah San has served the university for three decades in a variety of administrative support positions, most recently as Associate Vice President for Administration. He is a UH alumnus, with a degree in finance from UH Manoa and certification from the National Association of College and University Business Officers Executive Leadership Institute. With these new responsibilities Ah San will report directly to president Dobelle.

Summary - sources of funding:

Governor Cayetano has or will soon release $52 million in capital improvement funds authorized during this year‚s regular and special legislative session. For the fiscal year beginning July 2002, an additional$18 million was authorized. (Total $70 million)

The special session of the legislature that ended earlier this month appropriated $17 million for repairs and maintenance. An additional $10 million is committed to R&M for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2002. (Total $27 million)

This year's special session also authorized $150 million in revenue bonds to finance construction of the UH Health and Wellness Center complex at Oʻahu's Kakaʻako waterfront. (Total $150 million)
(Grand total - $247 million)