Wayne T. Iwaoka named new Interim Vice Chancellor for Students

Newly created position will focus on quality of student life on UH Manoa

The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Wayne T. Iwaoka to be UH Mānoa Interim Vice Chancellor for Students. The position is a new one — created by vote of the Board when it approved a reorganization of the Mānoa campus administrative structure earlier this year.

"We are so pleased that someone of Professor Iwaoka‘s qualifications is stepping into this important post," said UH Mānoa Interim Chancellor Denise Konan. "The Vice Chancellor for Students will oversee several functions that have a great influence on the quality of student life on campus — and that is always a top priority for us."

Iwaoka is currently an Associate Researcher and Associate Professor and Graduate Chair in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. He previously served as Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

The Vice Chancellor for Students is responsible for student support services outside the classroom — including residential and campus life, the student career and employment office, campus counseling and health services and judicial affairs, and the Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity office.

"I‘m looking forward to this new challenge," Iwaoka said. "One of our strategic imperatives is to make sure that all of our students are supported in every way possible in and out of the classroom through all of their years on campus. The student services staff does a good job of that, and elevating this function to the Vice Chancellor level will help us focus our efforts and make sure we have adequate resources."

Before he came to the Mānoa campus in 1988, Iwaoka worked as a researcher at MIT, a professor at the University of Washington, and as a program manager at both the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health and Department of Agriculture.

The interim appointment is for one year beginning October 1, 2005. The term will coincide with a national search for a permanent Vice Chancellor for Students.