Office of the Chancellor
As a chancellor of UH Hilo, Dr. Rose Tseng has the leadership responsibility for the immediate operational management and governance of UH Hilo, within Board governing and presidential administrative policy.
About the Chancellor
Dr. Rose Tseng became chancellor of UH Hilo in 1998 after having served as chancellor and CEO at West Valley College-Mission Community College District in Silicon Valley. Before that, over the course of 23 years, she was professor, department chair and then dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts at San Jose State University. While an administrator in California, Dr. Tseng served as a nutrition education consultant for the United Nations.
Dr. Tseng is an educator, administrator and champion of entrepreneurial business. She believes in higher education's power to bring about local economic development. In Hawai‘i, she has established extensive partnerships between the university and the business community to benefit the state and Asia-Pacific region. UH Hilo’s science and technology park has greatly expanded during her tenure.
She initiated the grant that brought the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program to Hawai‘i to improve the entire state’s research infrastructure. In addition, she has spearheaded innovative educational programs that integrate culture and science, preparing students for the challenges of the future. One example is the development of the 'Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai'i, whose exhibits and programs present Hawaiian astronomical knowledge along with the latest discoveries from the Mauna Kea observatories.
Dr. Tseng is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently an Honorary Professor award from Shenyang’s China Medical University and an Honorary Doctor of Education Degree from the International Technological University in Santa Clara. She was recognized as a Woman of Distinction by the Girls Scout Council of Hawai‘i. In 2001, she received the Island Business Model award and was honored as a role model by the Hawai‘i State Legislature. The San Jose and Silicon Valley Business Journal named her one of the Bay Area’s Top 50 Women in Management. She also was honored with the Statewide Role Model Woman of the Year award from the California State Legislature in 1998 and received a White House Commendation in 1993.
Born in Northern China and raised in Taiwan, Dr. Tseng majored in architectural engineering and chemistry at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and earned a B.S. in chemistry at Kansas State University. She earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences, with minors in biochemistry and physiology, at the University of California at Berkeley. She holds a certificate in Education Management from Harvard University.
She has stated her intention to step down from the UH Hilo chancellorship as of June 30, 2010.
Chancellor Tseng's curriculum vitae