Finalist candidates for UH Manoa Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs invited to campus for meetings and presentations

Four finalists have been identified for the position of UH Mānoa Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and they have been invited for campus interviews during the first two weeks of September.

"I am so grateful to the committee for their hard work and thorough review in narrowing the strong pool of applicants to four very well-qualified candidates," UH Mānoa Chancellor Peter Englert said. "They are strong administrators, people from both the arts and the sciences, and representative of the diversity of the Mānoa campus itself.

"Now we begin what is always an interesting and challenging task of gathering input from the university community when our finalists come to campus over the next few weeks. I am sure they will be warmly welcomed and they will learn quickly about what a unique place Mānoa is and can be," Englert added.

The four finalists were selected from a pool of more than 70 applicants and nominees. They are:

Liahna Armstrong — Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and Professor of English at Central Washington University since 1996. Dr. Armstrong received her Ph.D. in English at UCLA, where she also received her master‘s degree. She received her bachelor‘s in English and Communication at Whitman College. Previous teaching and administrative experience includes positions at Montana State University, where she was Head of the English Department; Grinnell College, where she was Chair of the Department of American Studies; the University of Oregon, where she was a faculty member at the Robert Donald Clark Honors College; and at Oregon State University as an assistant professor of English.

Cristina González — Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, University of California, Davis, and Professor of Spanish. Dr. González received her Ph.D. from Indiana University, where she also did her master‘s degree work. She obtained her Licenciatura in Romance Philology from the University of Oviedo, Spain. Previous teaching and administrative experience includes service as Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of California, Davis, and Chair of the University of California System Council of Graduate Deans; Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she also chaired the Faculty Senate Graduate and Research Councils; and Graduate Program Director in Spanish at Purdue University.

Hamilton I. McCubbin — Former Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer at Kamehameha Schools. Dr. McCubbin received his Ph.D., master‘s and bachelor‘s degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did post doctoral work at Stanford University (Mellon Fellow), Yale University and the University of Minnesota (Bush Fellow). Before serving as CEO, McCubbin was Dean and Professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 14 years. Prior to that, McCubbin served as department head and Professor of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota for seven years and also taught in the fields of family science, sociology, social work and early childhood education at the University of Minnesota. He has been a director of six research institutes conducting experimental and longitudinal studies of stress and resiliency in children and families.

Neal J. Smatresk — Dean, College of Science, University of Texas at Arlington since 1998. Dr. Smatresk received his Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin, his master‘s in biology at the State University of New York in Buffalo, and bachelor‘s degree in biology at Gettysburg College. He has been in teaching and administrative positions at UTA since 1982, including four years as Chair of the Biology Department prior to his selection as Dean of Science in 1998. Previously, he conducted post doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.

Search Advisory Committee Chair Michael Forman also expressed his gratitude to the committee for identifying "four fine prospects. Each possesses unique qualifications for the job," he said. "I urge faculty and staff from throughout the campus community to take time to ask questions, to get to know more about these finalists and to offer comments to the chancellor so that he will better be able to make his final selection."

Members of the search advisory committee are:· CHAIR - Michael Forman, Professor, Linguistics, College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, 2002-2003 Faculty Senate Chair· Marla Acosta, Secretary, School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene· Horst Brandes, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering· Vicky Cayetano, President/CEO, United Laundry Service· Danielle Conway-Jones, Associate Professor, William S. Richardson School of Law· Ted Kwok, Head Librarian, Library Services, Business, Humanities and Social Science Department· Shayna Lum, B.A. Candidate, Economics and Psychology, and ASUH Senator· Fred Mackenzie, Professor, Oceanography, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology· Jeff McNeill, Ph.D. Candidate, Communications and Information Sciences and GSO representative· Diane Perushek, University Librarian· Edgar Porter, Interim Dean, School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies· Lorna Ramiscal, Education Specialist, Hawaiʻi Institute for Geophysics and Planetology, Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium.· Gay G. Reed, Associate Professor, Educational Foundations, College of Education· Martha Staff, Assistant Director, International Student Services· David Stegenga, Professor, Mathematics, College of Natural Sciences · Ann Wills, President and Chief Executive Office, Craft Supply of Honolulu

Schedule of UH Mānoa Campus VisitsCandidate Finalists — Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Hamilton I. McCubbin — Tuesday, September 2 and Wednesday, September 3 - Open presentation — Tuesday, September 2 — 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Cristina Gonzalez — Monday, September 8 and Tuesday, September 9 - Open presentation — Tuesday, September 9 — 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Neal J. Smatresk — Wednesday, September 10 and Thursday, September 11 - Open presentation — Thursday, September 11 — 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Liahna Armstrong — Thursday September 11 and Friday, September 12 - Open presentation — Friday, September 12 — 2:00-3:30 p.m.

All open presentations will be held in the Architecture Auditorium, Room 205, School of Architecture

Each candidate will address the following topic:Academic Excellence in the Research University:Challenges and Opportunities in the Next Decade

For more information, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/executivesearch/vcacademicaffairs