University of Hawaii President Wendy Hensel, who’s been on the job just two weeks, received a cordial greeting Friday during a joint UH budget briefing before the historically UH-hostile state Senate Ways and Means and Higher Education committees.

But senators continued to direct years of frustration at Hensel’s deputies who have been grilled in the past, especially by Sens. Donna Mercado Kim and Donovan Dela Cruz, who chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Hensel told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after the ­3-1/2-hour briefing that she had met privately with Kim, Dela Cruz and other senators who Hensel said all want UH to succeed.

So their sometimes tough questions Friday were appropriate given their years of experience scrutinizing UH’s budgets and plans, compared with Hensel’s experience earlier in the week before the House Finance Committee, where seven of the 16 committee members are newly elected freshman representatives, Hensel said.

At one point Friday, Hensel even received a rare compliment from Kim to a UH president during questioning over ongoing UH Manoa dormitory renovations.

In just her first two weeks on the job, Hensel told the committees, she had “walked every property and talked to students” — along with two visits to UH West Oahu this week.

Kim used the opportunity to both applaud Hensel and take a swipe at her predecessor, former UH President David Lassner.

“You should be congratulated because the last president didn’t even know these dormitories were vacant,” Kim said.

The hearing began by focusing on the future of UH athletics, especially following Lassner’s dismissal of former athletic director Craig Angelos in November as his final, high-profile act as president.

Hensel took over UH after working at Georgia State University and more recently was in charge of day-to-day operations of the 25-campus, 240,000-student City of New York University system.

On Friday, Hensel repeatedly stepped in front of pointed questions directed at her administrators to offer a national perspective.

Regarding questions over priorities, spending and ways of generating additional revenue for UH athletics, Hensel told the senators, “This is moving so quickly nationally. Every college in the country is having this conversation, particularly colleges that are in Division 1 but not at the top of Division 1. It is an extraordinarily challenging time with moving parts in the mosaic of finances and expensive and costs. … I understand the desire to have more certainty … so we will come back to you with a more complete plan that answers your responses.”

Dela Cruz told the Star-Advertiser after the briefing that he “definitely” was optimistic about UH under Hensel, and UH’s relationship with the Legislature, in particular.

“Her tone is a lot more collaborative, to begin with,” he said. “I think that already creates a better working relationship. She really tried to put things in a national context and how we can look at it from a local context. We all want UH to be the best.”

During questioning over UH’s budget request to fill security staff positions, Hensel told the Star-Advertiser that she was surprised to learn Friday that Jan Gouveia, the UH System’s vice president for administration, has been seen by Dela Cruz donning a security vest and directing traffic herself at high school graduations held at UH.

“Jan does a lot of jobs,” Hensel told the Star-­Advertiser. “We need to manage the shortage before Jan has to put on the yellow vest again.”

Dela Cruz told the Star-­Advertiser that seeing ­Gouveia directing traffic “shows that she’s that committed that UH can fulfill the services they provide.”

He was particularly impressed that Hensel told senators that she would further “investigate” their questions and make recommendations “without waiting for the (UH) Board of Regents,” to whom she reports.

Hensel’s “only been on the job two weeks and had to prepare for our budget hearing, and the House Finance budget briefing before,” Dela Cruz said.

The senators Friday repeatedly expressed frustration over years of lingering issues, including the upkeep of Manoa’s College Hill, which was intended to house the UH president but has fallen into disrepair.

No UH president has lived in 4,500-square-foot College Hill since M.R.C. Greenwood was named president in 2009 and accepted a housing subsidy to live in Waikiki because she needed a more ADA-compliant residence that would fit her family.

College Hill is now being used for gatherings, primarily for UH Foundation fundraising receptions, the senators were told.

But UH officials could not immediately answer questions over how often events are held at College Hill and whether they generate rental revenue to justify the ongoing maintenance costs.

“What is our cost of this property, cost to maintain it, and what is the plan?” Kim asked. “Because if we’re not going to utilize it, then there needs to be a plan for it. It’s expensive real estate just sitting there to do foundation receptions.”

Hensel again interrupted tough questioning over College Hill to offer a national perspective and said the issue of what to do about university presidents’ residences and other university properties continues to be debated around the mainland.

“It’s not my decision where I’m living now,” Hensel said. “That was part of the contract that came to me as is. But I think it would be within the president’s purview to investigate the questions that you’ve made and make a recommendation to the board as to the use of that housing. I sound a little bit like a broken record, but it’s actually a national conversation that’s happening about whether it makes sense to maintain expensive real estate as presidential residences.”