Bonnie Irwin, the second of four finalists for University of Hawaii at Hilo chancellor to visit the university this month, met with dozens of faculty, staff and community members during a public forum on campus Friday.
Irwin, who currently is provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University, Monterey Bay, also has worked at universities in Illinois and Iowa.
“The challenges and opportunities for regional comprehensive universities right now are very daunting in a lot of ways,” she told the crowd at the start of her presentation, which discussed those challenges and opportunities.
She began, however, by reflecting on the university’s mission statement, which states in part that UH-Hilo aims to challenge students to reach their highest level of academic achievement by inspiring learning, discovery and creativity.
“To me, the work we do at a university is almost a sacred calling,” she said. “We get to lift up students’ lives and their families. And there is no more (greater) work that one can do. It is what energizes me, it is what takes me into my office day after day, knowing there are students that we can help.”
According to Irwin, money, time and space are some of the challenges faced by regional universities.
“There is never enough money for a public institution. Ever. So that’s just a given,” she said. “I’ve worked in Illinois, I’ve worked in Iowa, I’ve worked in California, and even in a state that has a fairly robust economy — California now has the fifth-largest economy in the world — there’s not enough money for public higher education. In the last 30 years in California, we’ve built far more prisons than opened universities, and that tells us something.”
Her presentation highlighted a number of topics, including the importance of community partnerships, as well as the university’s assets, which include the Hawaiian culture and the faculty and staff.
“You can bring in any leader you want, but this is the resource that’s going to move the university forward,” Irwin said. “The leader can help, can help channel energy, can inspire, can try to provide the resource support, but the asset’s in this room.”
Following her presentation, Irwin took a variety of questions from the audience.
One audience member asked how the campus leader would fight for the school in a system “that would like to limit us.”
Irwin, however, is used to working at a smaller campus within a much larger university system, and said her current post is at a school with 7,000-8,000 students in a system with 450,000 students.
“Big campuses and Southern California campuses rule the day,” she said. “They don’t see us. So when they’re making a decision that I think negatively impacts us, I get in their face about it. Sometimes I’m successful. Not always.”
However, when asked about her management style, Irwin said she’s “pretty laid back” and casual in her leadership and communication.
“When people ask me what my greatest accomplishments are, I often start with the fact that I think I’ve hired very well. So I try to hire people who are very good — people who are smarter than I am, who know things that I don’t — and I let them be.”
Irwin said she also has a “real strong commitment to professional development,” and will step up in defense of her staff.
“I think sometimes, to be honest, because I’m a little casual and I try to be approachable, that people sometimes underestimate my backbone, but I can bring it when I need it. I try not to bring it. I prefer carrots to sticks, but if the carrots don’t work, and we’ve got something we’ve got to get done, we’re going to get it done. I am very patient, but I am also persistent.”
When asked by the Tribune-Herald how she would address UH-Hilo’s enrollment, which has declined every year since 2012, and student retention, Irwin said student retention has to be addressed first.
“Because one of the ways enrollment will rise is if the university produces more successful students, if they actually make it to graduation and they’re back out in the community as successful professionals,” she said.
One way to do that is creating a community around students that’s more holistic and determining the kind of support that they need to stay engaged and in school, Irwin said.
“But it means people cooperating in ways that universities sometimes find uncomfortable — again, eliminating the silos that we tend to find ourselves in.”
The final two chancellor candidates will visit campus next week.
Similar open forums are planned for 10:15 a.m. at the Rose and Raymond Tseng Terrace at UH-Hilo on Wednesday (Nov. 14) with Terisa Riley, senior vice president for student affairs and university administration at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and Friday (Nov. 16) with Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee, professor of business emeritus with California State University, Sacramento, who recently served as vice president for administration and business affairs, and chief financial officer.
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.