David Lassner, was appointed UH Interim President, effective Sept. 1. Photo: Chayne Toyama/Kapiʻo
On July 30, David Lassner was appointed interim University of Hawai‘i president, effective Sept. 1. He took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with the Kapiʻo and let us get to know him better.
What drew you to the University of Hawaii? Have you ever been to Illinois in the winter? My last winter in Illinois, I was in a $125 a month apartment a block away from part of the University of Illinois campus. I had my oven on with the door open the entire winter trying to heat up my apartment. I was working in a computer lab for this system called,Plato, which was used for teaching and learning and was invented at the University of Illinois. It really wast the most advanced system of it’s kind at the time. That’s the system the University of Hawaiʻi wanted to get started with. I was asked in December if I would be willing to go to the UH for the next academic year to help UH get started. That took me about half of a second to say yes. I arrived here, I think it was the day after Elvis died. It was a big day in Hawai’i, and I started work on Sept. 1 1977 and I never made it back (to Illinois).
What one area of operation, at Kapiʻolani CC, do you see in most need of repair?
I have now been interim president designee for one week. And, certainly I’ve seen what’s been in the papers, and a couple of the offices that’s been reported. I have not dug in to that. What I would hope is that the way the responsibility works is that, it’s the chancellors responsibility to address issues on campus. And, not that I believe everything in the media, but often where there is smoke, there is some fire, at least. I think there are some things going on that need to be looked at. I would expect the chancellor to look at them first. But, I haven’t really asked for or received a briefing on issues at Kapi’olani.
What insights to the college system have you gained from an administrative point of view that you wish you had known back in your college days? When I was in college I didn’t pay any attention to this stuff. I had no clue, that part of it, not much I can say. We have a huge opportunity in Hawaiʻi, this is the best, this wasn’t on the list of things I was asked to do, but I would like to see UH recognized widely as the best performing higher education system in the country. I think we can be. We have a really unique opportunity in having the community colleges, which are really a system within a system…But moving towards seamless transfer and articulation for students being able to move around between campuses.
For neighbor island students in particular, where they don’t have access to all of the classes…Those students have access to the online courses but also to the interactive television courses, cable TV courses, all of that can be available throughout the state.
At a linear rate, I think you know tuition doesn’t pay the full cost of instruction, it’s painful I know. If we’re going to increase our capacity to server say 25 percent more students, we’re not going to get 25 percent more money from the state to do their part of it and so we have to figure out ways on the as administration, faculty and staff to serve the state in more efficient manners.
What differences in policy or goals can we expect to notice when comparing you to the previous president? In particular focusing on graduating more students. How can we help increase educational capacity in the state of Hawaiʻi? That’s more degrees and certificates from all of our campuses, in particular in STEM, but also in areas of shortage throughout the state.
Kapiʻolani Community College is very successful in competing for federal grants, and that’s a source of great pride that I think the whole UH system needs to appreciate. We have to up our game throughout the UH system, and a lot of that is at Mānoa. It’s our research university campus. The UH faculty are the best source of brain power to helps us understand how to improve the quality of life for pretty much every body through out the state.
The third one is upgrading our facilities. I think probably the two campuses where we have the most work is, UH Mānoa. But Hawaiʻi Community College, is probably in the worst condition of all of our UH Campuses. What is the stuff that should have been done five, 10, even 20 years ago that wasn’t done? That number is in the hundred of millions at UH. We have to put a program in place to make sure we’re keeping up with our maintenance so we don’t fall behind that badly again.
We do have some concerns from the public and legislatures of our accountability. They’ve (BOR) asked me to focus on improving accountability and the public’s perception of UH. A lot of the strategic directions really are consistent though with what we’ve been doing. I whole-heartedly support these efforts and have started under the previous presidents who have set us in the right direction.
What’s your opinion on student engagement? Like, getting students involved, how important do you think that is in their college experience? Learning occurs when the wheels are turning inside your brain. And so whatever it is, and to be fair, a great lecturer could make the wheels turn…reading a textbook may or may not, you might just be zoning as you’re going through it, or it may be really fascinating. If the computer software is making you do something, than it is likely engaging you and there’s a better chance the learning may occur. Engagement can be with a person, like a faculty member, it can be with the content, computer software simulations, animations, or reading and it can also be with other students, that’s why group learning is so successful with students, it creates engagement.
Do you have any suggestions for students on how they can reduce their debt?
well, so especially I would say, if you are a Mānoa student, “15 to Finish,” and 18 to finish faster! However much you can do if you’re working. They’re (classes) all free after 12. Theres a trade off, if you can work on campus, that’s a little more effective use of your time because you’re not bopping back and forth to another off-campus job. In general on campus employers will almost always be extremely sensitive to your course schedule.
UH has done a spectacular job in financial aid folks on our campuses over the past few years in increasing the amount of Pell Grants awarded to Hawaiʻi. This is something President McClain noticed and President Greenwood pushed on relentlessly…We are now bringing a lot more federal grants into Hawaiʻi than ever before, so you have to apply for financial aid early. You have to go through FAFSA, process. I think that there is probably scholarship money that doesn’t get awarded. So combing the scholarships some of them are pretty specialized.