David Lassner on Challenges, Finances, TMT and Calm at UH

David Lassner is stepping down as president of the UH system at the end of 2024, 11 years and four months after being named interim president.

That’s a remarkably long run: None of his three predecessors had the job for more than five years. And the latest nationwide survey by the American Council on Education found that in 2022, university presidents had been on the job an average of 5.9 years.

UH is currently searching for Lassner’s replacement, with finalists expected to be named by September and a new leader announced in October. The university expects the 16th UH president to start work in January.

Lassner sat for an exclusive interview with Hawaii Business Magazine to share what he wants to do while he’s still leader of the 10-campus system and his plans after stepping down in December. The interview has been lightly edited for length and conciseness.

Q: Was it always your plan to step down after this year?

I started thinking about it, I’m going to say, three years ago. Every year when I had the annual discussion of my performance and evaluations with the Board of Regents chair – about how can I do better, what do they really like? – the question of succession always came up.

Because people don’t last that long in these jobs. The average tenure for university presidents has gone down nationally from over eight years to under six years, and here is probably even shorter. So years back, I told the board chair: 2024, that’s enough. If I’m still here, I don’t want to keep going past that. So I’m really happy that I was able to go out when I wanted to, the way I wanted to.

Q: What are your proudest accomplishments?

I have a lot of things I feel good about accomplishing in my previous job too. (Lassner was UH’s VP for information technology and chief information officer before serving as president.) But in this job, I can tell you what people have told me they appreciate. It’s interesting that they really appreciate that it’s calm. We have our bits of drama, but in general, the institution is calm.

When I came into this job, I literally didn’t like to open the paper in the morning, because if there was a story about UH – and there often was – it was negative. And now I feel if something bad happens, we get covered – nobody gives us a pass – but by and large, the public gets to hear about the good work we’re doing. And that has changed attitudes in the community.

We’re financially secure and stable. Our budget balances, our reserves are healthy. When I came into this job, we were at the tail end of the previous recession, and then we had to go through the pandemic and manage through that financially. We’re fortunate there was so much federal support. But I think whoever comes in next will not have to worry about righting the ship financially.

We have a great team. I hope they want to stay and support the next president. I think the UH System is working together, better than ever – all the parts of it. There are times when we compete between campuses, but by and large the leadership works together.

For example in June, I spent two hours meeting with the leaders of all our campuses. We talked about issues around serving students, and how do we do that collectively rather than conversations about “Why are you doing this? I want to do that.” I think that working together is now embedded much more strongly in our DNA.

We’ve really revamped fundraising and the relationship between UH and the UH Foundation. We launched a billion-dollar fund raising campaign last year, which is amazing for this place. The last one was half that size, and we never quite announced it even.

Our extramural funding is going gangbusters. That’s the money we get mostly from the federal government, but also from other sources like private foundations, to do research or educate underserved populations or do service to the state or the region. The last two years have been the best in our history, and we’re going over $600 million this year.

The Isabella Aiona Abbott life sciences building opened on the Mānoa campus in 2020. | Photo courtesy: University of Hawai’i

It’s not just a number, it’s two things. One is $600 million of investment in UH, in our faculty and our students, and we’re creating literally thousands of jobs across the Islands. And these tend to be good jobs to work on research projects.

But it’s also a vote of confidence that all of these (funders) are entities, that when they see a problem or a challenge, they think UH is the entity best equipped to address it.

Q: You mentioned challenges like the pandemic. What were the others you faced?

The pandemic was a huge challenge. And I was super proud of how we came through it. I think, arguably, UH did as well as anybody in the state. Our students continued learning. We pivoted online quickly. All kinds of programs at UH were helping the whole state. We were doing vaccination, testing and training community health workers. Our engagement was huge.

But we pivoted online. We were among the first to say, after spring break, we’re not coming back to class. It was more of a challenge for our faculty because students were already familiar with the online environment and the tools. But we managed to get our faculty online. The bottom line is students were still graduating on time, and we were educating students as we needed to do. Even if they couldn’t go to a graduation ceremony, they still got a diploma. That was all about our teamwork.

The UH Mānoa campus saw many changes during Lassner’s tenure. Bachman Hall, built in 1949 and recently renovated, was where he worked in the office of the president. Students occupied parts of it during the TMT dispute. | Photo courtesy: University of Hawai’i

TMT (the Thirty Meter Telescope proposed for Hawai‘i Island’s Maunakea) was hard for me personally. I’d say it really divided many people inside the university and I had a lot of friends who were very disappointed in me for supporting TMT.

I have no qualms about my belief that it would have been good for Hawai‘i. I got a death threat on social media. We had students peacefully occupying our building (Bachman Hall). When they moved out of their own volition, it felt empty. But I learned a lot. It was really hard seeing the pain that was caused and would have been caused in either direction.

Q: How has the university changed since you became president?

We have more processes in place to help us do routine things. Fundraising is more effective. Our extramural funding capacity is much stronger and more effective, and lets us create jobs and help Hawai‘i.

In June, we blessed the RISE center on University Avenue. (RISE is the Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs student housing facility.) We’re creating a living, learning, work environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. I think that’s going to be a game changer for Hawai‘i.

The Walter Dods, Jr. RISE center on University Avenue opened in 2023 as a student living/ learning community focused on innovation. | Photo courtesy: University of Hawai’i

I think this campus looks better every year, and I’ve been here through thick and thin. When I first came (in 1977), you literally had to take your slippers or shoes off to walk across campus when it rained because the drainage didn’t work and the parking lots were dirt.

I think the way we’ve enhanced the campus and the way it looks is a positive place for students to be proud of.

We improved our graduation rates and our retention rates. When I came into this job, the narrative was you could not graduate in four years because you can’t get your classes on time. So we looked into the data and figured out how to offer classes that students need.

Four-year graduation rates were up significantly at UH Mānoa and UH West O’ahu during Lassner’s tenure but not at UH Hilo. | Photo courtesy: University of Hawai’i

(UH reported that the four-year graduation rates steadily increased at two of UH’s four-year colleges during Lassner’s tenure. Comparing the cohort that enrolled in Fall 2013 and the Fall 2019 cohort, UH Mānoa’s four-year graduation rate went from 34.1% to 41.1% and UH West O‘ahu‘s from 8.9% to 27.6%. However, UH Hilo’s graduation rate went from 20.9% to 21%, with ups and downs in between.)

UH is pretty unique in having all public higher education organized under one Board of Regents and one president. I think we need to leverage that for the people of Hawai‘i to create opportunities on every island for every community, and get them the education they need to succeed.

Q: What is the biggest thing you’ve learned while president?

Stand by your principles. You don’t have to be disagreeable, but sometimes you have to disagree. One interesting thing about this job is you have so many people who think they know what you should do and that their opinion matters more.

Students and faculty believe it’s their university. I will hear from parents when they are unhappy about something. I report to a Board of Regents that is supposed to navigate all this. The Legislature has strong opinions and is more involved at a micro level than almost any legislature in the country. And you must have a relationship with the governor. They’re responsible for navigating the whole state forward, and the university is a huge part of helping the state succeed.

Q: What do you envision for the University after you step down?

We have a very solid strategic plan that lays out the areas in which the university system has to make contributions to help the whole state advance around workforce, student success, economic development, and the relationship between Hawai‘i and Native Hawaiians. I think that’s something that the state’s going to have to do better at.

TMT probably exacerbated the issue. But it also highlighted the fractures that we’ve seen as Native Hawaiians have been traditionally at the bottom of lists you want to be at the top of, and the top of lists you want to be at the bottom of: incarceration, welfare, economic vitality, education and homelessness. It’s something we all have to work on.

The university plays a really big part in that. And I think we’re embracing that now.

If I were staying, I would work on economic development. Coming from a tech background, we’re always trying to get Microsoft to come here – Google, Apple, Cisco or whoever. And we have to invest in our own residents, especially the young people who come to this university, and help them figure out not just how to get a job, but how to create a job, start a small business.

We have homegrown businesses. People I know have 100 to 200 employees and multiple locations around the country. That’s all possible if we help educate and inspire students. Some will start three companies, not all of which will succeed, and that’s OK.

Hawai‘i has to be better at accepting failure. Our innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem across the state is much stronger now than it has ever been.

Q: What’s next for David Lassner?

This is the only place I’ve ever had a real job. I started with a one-year, half-time contract in the late 1970s and never left. I kind of worked my way up to this job unexpectedly.

I’m now working as hard as ever because I have miscellaneous projects that I want to either finish off or leave in really good shape for the next president.

Left: Lassner’s first job at uh was in 1977. Right: Personal treasures line his office shelves. | Photo courtesy: University of Hawai’i

One of the contentious aspects of presidents at the end of their time is they go into what are considered golden parachutes or cushy jobs. The Board of Regents asked me about it, and I just said, “Either I’m gonna say, I’m done, or you’re gonna say, I’m done. And I don’t want us to be fighting over that. Because if you say I’m done, nobody wants to see me collecting a salary and hanging around in this place.”

So I’m going to be president emeritus for no money with a little office in the IT building, which was one of my babies in my last job. I never got to move in there; I was there for the groundbreaking but by the time we opened it, I was already president.

I have some of my old projects that I still have passion for that I’ll be able to help with, and an assortment of things that people think I’ll add value to them.

Lassner says he’ll have more time in retirement to work with the Polynesian Voyaging Society. | Photo courtesy: University of Hawai’i

I plan to travel a lot. I’ll do volunteer work. I’ve been asked about serving on a couple of boards. To those requests, I just said call me back in 2025. I don’t want to make any commitments now.

I’m really interested in conservation, hiking, the environment. I’ll be able to engage more with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

It’s been a wonderful 47 years, but I’m ready to enjoy a little more of my time.

Q: What advice would you give to the next president?

Have a team you can trust. The people I’m around and trust the most, it’s not that they agree with me about things – it’s that I value their opinions. When I hear those things, they help.

You have to care about Hawai‘i. If you’re not from here, work really hard to learn about this place, what makes it so special, and who are the people who really care about the place, and the university and its role in the place.

The vice presidents and leaders we have are really good people. I hope whoever’s next will really try to mesh with them.

I hope people will really appreciate and support the university. This is just such a treasure for the state. And I think a lot of people realize it and take it for granted. It can really help you when the community, and especially the business community, not only appreciates you but also stands up and says that publicly.