Rose Tseng is chancellor at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and the only Asian-American woman in the nation to head a university. She previously served as chancellor and CEO at West Valley College/Mission College District in California. Before that, she was professor, department chair and then dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts at San Jose State University for a total of 23 years.

Tseng has served on numerous task forces and boards in California and Hawai‘i that promote collaboration between academia, business and government for economic benefit of the region. In California, she served on the board of the Joint Venture Silicon Valley 21st Century Education Initiative for K-12 education reform. She also served as co-chair of Workforce Silicon Valley, where education, labor, and business leaders planned training programs to build a high tech workforce.

In Hawai‘i, Tseng served on the Governor’s Economic Momentum Commission where she championed regional workforce training. In 2001, she initiated a National Science Foundation program called the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which aims to strengthen the technology economy of the entire state of Hawai‘i. Tseng currently serves as co-chair of the statewide EPSCoR program, which was recently awarded a second $9 million grant.

In Hilo, she serves on the boards of the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce and the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board.

At the national level, Tseng serves as an elected board member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. At the American Council on Education, she serves on the Network Executive Board at the Office of Women in Higher Education. She is a commissioner and evaluator for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Previously, she served as a commissioner on Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness at ACE and also on the Presidents Council at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II.

The author and co-author of many peer-reviewed scientific publications, Tseng has presented numerous papers at professional conferences on health and multicultural issues. She has been a nutrition education consultant for the United Nations and often speaks on higher education and economic development to groups throughout the U.S. and Asia-Pacific region.

Tseng is the recipient of numerous international and national awards, most recently an Honorary Professor award at Shenyang’s China Medical University and an Honorary Doctor of Education Degree at the International Technological University in Santa Clara. 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.

Tseng majored in architectural engineering and chemistry at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and received a B.S. in chemistry at Kansas State University. She received a M.S. and a Ph.D. and was a postdoctoral research fellow 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.