Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
A troubleshooter to deal with faculty morale problems is among the new appointments made by acting University of Hawaii President Albert Simone to his "management team."
Gilfred Tanabe, associate professor of psychology at Manoa, has been named assistant to the president to work on "improving the climate on all the campuses," Simone said today.
Tanabe will "advise me on how to develop a better sense of family, a better sense of togetherness, so that such things as morale can improve," Simone said.
Also moving to Bachman Hall, the UH administration building, is Rex Wade, Manoa dean of arts and humanities, who was named acting assistant vice president for academic affairs. Simone said Wade brings an important arts and humanities perspective to the administration.
"He’s been a dean and a department head (of history), so he understands adminstration, and has been at Manoa his entire career, so will provide a very strong linkage between the campus and administration," Simone said.
Peter Dobson, who has been the assistant vice president for academic affairs, will move up to acting vice president of academic affairs — a position that became vacant when Simone moved into the president’s office.
Dobson, a physicist, has been a part of the UH administration for several years and "has a comprehensive understanding of the whole university. He knows the job so well and (knows) what has to be done," Simone said.
It earlier was reported that two of the university’s four chancellors — Ralph Miwa from West Oahu College and Stephen Mitchell from Hilo — would be reassigned as part of a move to pare down to a three-chancellor system.
Miwa will be acting as chancellor for both Hilo and West Oahu, working out of Hilo, Simone said, while Mitchell will move to Bachman Hall to deal with collective bargaining and personnel matters.
Mitchell’s move is in line with reorganizing the administrative set-up at the university.
"It’s clear we’ll be staying with a single Board (of Regents) concept," Simone said. "But within that concept, there is room for improving the organization."