What’s encouraging about the hiring of a new University of Hawaii president is that it attracted true up-and-coming applicants this time after several cycles in which top candidates stayed away because of the poisonous politics surrounding UH.

Wendy Hensel, 54, selected by the UH Board of Regents to succeed David Lassner at a $675,000 salary, is a Harvard Law School graduate now serving as executive vice chancellor and provost for The City University of New York, after a similar position at Georgia State University — both big research institutions like UH.

Her work administering CUNY, with 25 campuses across New York City’s five boroughs and 230,000 students, is fitting experience for getting the most from UH’s 10-campus system.

Hensel overcame a late attempt to derail her over a disputed discrimination complaint against her at Georgia State that regents didn’t find disqualifying.

Julian Vasquez Heilig, 49, the other finalist considered by regents, is also a potential rising star as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Western Michigan University. He showed strong community engagement skills in meetings with UH stakeholders.

It was a welcome change from other UH president hires in the past quarter-century.

Evan Dobelle was hired in 2001 without much relevant experience, but strong support from former U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. His big spending and an ill-advised dive into political endorsements got him sideways with both politicians and regents, who dismissed him in 2004.

David McClain, a UH vice president, was named to replace Dobelle on an acting basis that became permanent when nobody else showed much interest amid the political turmoil. He served five years and ably stabilized the university.

When McClain retired in 2009, both finalists to succeeded him were older than him and carried baggage from previous jobs. One ultimately dropped out, and the job went to the sole remaining finalist, M.R.C. Greenwood, who spent four years presiding over the “Wonder Blunder” and fighting with meddling legislators led by state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim.

Lassner, then UH information technology chief, got the job on an interim basis in 2013 that turned permanent when the other finalist, a retired military officer, was shouted down by student and faculty protesters when he tried to make his case. Like McClain, Lassner ended the chaos and held the job for 11 years until he’d had enough malice from Kim and Co.

So it’s good news that UH attracted talented academics in their prime this time around.

The only concern is that the hiring process was conducted in such secrecy, mostly by an outside search firm, that we don’t know who the other 90 candidates were.

In particular, with regents claiming there were no competitive local candidates, it would be nice to know who the local applicants were in a pool that included educators currently working at UH, as well as academics with strong Hawaii ties holding high positions at mainland universities.

But that’s an argument for another day. Hensel is a worthy appointee, and now it’s up to the regents who chose her to help her navigate the noxious politics that get in the way of achieving the great university we need.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.