With the retirement of Brian Taylor as dean of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Charles “Chip” Fletcher has been selected by UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno as interim dean, effective January 1, 2022.
Fletcher joined SOEST’s Department of Earth Sciences (formerly the Department of Geology and Geophysics) in 1991, was promoted to professor in 1998, and served two terms as department chair before becoming the SOEST associate dean for academic affairs in 2010. He is chair of the Honolulu Climate Change Commission, a prominent public speaker, and frequent contributor to local and national media.
His research and teaching focus on climate change, coastal community resiliency and natural coastal systems (PDF). He has been principal advisor in funding and awarding more than 30 graduate research degrees in Earth and planetary sciences, and has received a number of teaching, research and community service awards.
Fletcher and his students have published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles as well as three textbooks. The results of their research are used locally for administering coastal policy, designing resilient communities and planning infrastructure projects that are adapted to sea-level rise. Geospatial data produced by his research team is used by Kauaʻi and Maui counties in setback ordinances, and, with passage of SB474 in July 2021, is the basis for the first sea-level rise real estate disclosure law in the nation.
“SOEST is widely recognized as a world-class research and academic institution that is responsive to the needs of Hawaiʻi and engaged in finding solutions to our most pressing socio-environmental problems,” Fletcher said. “Climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, pollution and injustice are overlapping global crises that demand our full and immediate attention.”
Fletcher is steadfast in grounding SOEST in aloha ʻāina as UH Mānoa continues to strive to become a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning.
“SOEST is grounded in aloha ʻāina, we value diverse voices, and we are dedicated to the idea that future generations have a right to a world that is just, sustainable and resilient,” Fletcher added. “I am honored and humbled to serve this community as we search for a permanent dean.”
The search for a permanent SOEST dean is underway.
