Testimony by Rose Tseng
Chancellor of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo

Presented Before the Senate Committee on Higher Education and the House Committee on Higher Education

January 5, 2007
Hawai‘i State Legislature
Honolulu, Hawai‘i

Aloha. On behalf of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, I would like to first say thank you. Your support to UH Hilo enables us to meet our commitment to offer our students excellent academic opportunities, and to achieve our mission to meet the economic and professional workforce needs of the Big Island and the state.

UH Hilo, the state’s comprehensive university, has the academic rigor and ambience of a small private college. The positive difference is that UH Hilo is accessible to students of many varied and diverse backgrounds– residents, commuters, nontraditional and international students, and distance learners. As the state’s comprehensive university, we focus and create our programs to provide the needed professional workforce with an outreach to the underserved rural communities of our island and state. In this way, our mission and goals are ongoing solutions to improve the overall quality of life and increase and revitalize the education and economic opportunities for our students and the citizens of our state.

We hold many distinctions. No other college or university in the United States can make claim to our remarkable geographical, biological, climatic and cultural diversity. Our natural environment is a learning laboratory of limitless possibilities found nowhere else in the world. We maximize these assets and are leaders in studies in indigenous cultures, environmental sciences and conservation biology.

Our geographic location is an East-West intersection of global pathways. Land or space is our advantage– our University Park of Science and Technology adjacent to our main campus is prime land for future developments. We also have an additional 700 acres located near our campus. Our faculty are excellent teachers and researchers dedicated to offer our students an exemplary education both in the classroom and in our island’s natural learning laboratory. All of this together with our island’s aloha spirit creates a very special teaching and learning environment for our students and our community.

UH Hilo’s excellence was recognized by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) when our accreditation was reaffirmed for ten years, taking us to 2014. WASC commended us for our “bold vision of service to the Hawaiian community,” and our efforts to “transform from a liberal arts college to a comprehensive university that serves the workforce needs of Hawai‘i.”

The word transform epitomizes our passion for helping students reach their fullest potential as critical thinkers, entrepreneurs, lifelong learners and contributing members of society. Our student-centered learning, together with the integration of science, culture and technology, transforms our students and equips them with the skills and leadership to successfully compete in our changing and fast-paced global society.

Our passion for transformation extends beyond our university borders and into the underserved rural communities throughout the Big Island and the state. The establishment this past year of the North Hawai‘i Education and Research Center Phase I is one striking example of how we transform underserved rural communities by providing them access to higher education. The center serves as our distance learning center and a base station for filed research. Through our outreach we enrich and revitalize the North Hawai‘i communities with new education, social and economic opportunities.

You have worked together with us and play a critical role in fueling our transformation. It is through your good support that we are able to continue our momentum of transformation, and create exciting education and economic opportunities for our students and our communities.

Our university offers over 30 baccalaureate degrees, six master degrees and two doctorates among our five colleges: Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management; Arts and Sciences; Business and Economics; Hawaiian Language; and thanks to your support, our newest college, the College of Pharmacy.

The College of Pharmacy is of great benefit to Hawai‘i, and a remedy to our state’s shortage of pharmacists. We plan to admit students from the Big Island, O‘ahu, Maui and Kaua‘i and have clinical sites on each of these islands. We have completed our initial accreditation report, started hiring faculty, and are looking forward to welcoming the first class in Fall 2007. This will mark the start of the pipeline of growing our own pharmacists in the state of Hawai‘i.

‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i is an inspiration and a phenomenal educational and cultural resource for all of us, especially for Hawai‘i’s youth. The center is a stunning complement to the observatory facilities in our University Park of Science and Technology and attracts visitors from around the world.

We recently held the groundbreaking of the Student Life and Events Center. Through this center we will be able to finally meet critical needs of our students, many of whom have worked very hard to bring this center to a reality.

We have clearly achieved major milestones. At the same time, we continue to be challenged in our operations and services, primarily because our level of funding has not kept pace with our enrollment growth. The average annual rate of enrollment growth since Fall 1997 is 3.65% with an overall increase of about 33% from 1997 to 2006. Fall 2006 headcount of 3,507 was largely due to an increase in students from Hawai‘i. This headcount was the highest enrollment in the history of this campus.

During our enrollment growth, staffing levels and services in academic affairs, student affairs, administrative affairs and the library remained constant and were often adversely impacted due to limited human and fiscal resources. Your support of positions in the last biennium were badly needed and brought much relief. We thank you for recognizing and helping us fulfill our need. These positions make it possible to begin to close the gap and address the many needs of our growing student population.

However, we still have many critical and unmet needs. Our student affairs building is over 35 years old and was designed to service about 1,500 students. Our students have more than doubled, and we are in dire need of renovating the building to consolidate operations. The renovation will make it possible for a one-stop-shop to serve our students more efficiently and effectively.

We need instructional positions in social work, business, accounting, computer science and other areas. This will help us to meet the critical professional workforce needs in Hawai‘i and expand and diversify our economy.

Enhancing our student’s success is always a top priority. A tutorial center focused on the sciences, English and math will increase our students’ retention and graduation rates, and open the doors to career paths and employment opportunities needed to build the educational capital of our state. Student retention will also be boosted through the activities that will be offered through our Student Life and Events Center.

We would like to expand our services and outreach to underrepresented and underserved populations, and provide more educational opportunities for our Filipino and Hawaiian communities. We also look forward to continue our outreach programs to our North Hawai‘i communities.

Future investments include research positions and infrastructure to better manage over $18 million in research and training grants. We have been helping ourselves strengthen our programs by seeking and obtaining federal grants through the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, NASA, USDA, and others. These grants are significant in enabling our university to develop the professional scientific workforce for our state.

Our graduate programs were established to help address our island and state’s social and economic issues. Graduate program directors will enhance the direction of these programs and better serve the current 100 graduate students.

Given the resources, UH Hilo can address underserved regions and populations of the state, build our educational capital, and efficiently meet Hawai‘i’s need for more professionals to enter the workforce and revitalize and diversify our economy.

In conclusion, thank you again for your support. Over the years, UH Hilo has demonstrated its excellence and ability to bring dynamic education and economic opportunities to our students, the Big Island and the state of Hawai‘i. Our transformation is purposeful with a vision towards meeting our Strategic Plan goals. We are eager and poised to continue the synergy of transforming our university to a world-class comprehensive university for our island communities and the state of Hawai‘i.

Again, thank you. I look forward to working together with you.