University of Hawaiʻi President Wendy Hensel toured the UH Mānoa campus on January 22 and 23, meeting with students, faculty, staff and leadership as part of her tour of UH’s 10 campuses and six education centers in her first 90 days.
“We all have our own special role to fill and certainly the R1 here at UH Mānoa is an enormous part of that,” Hensel said. “If we can work together, we can elevate the entire system for every one of our students to places we can’t go alone. I’m really excited about that.”
The two-day visit began with a meeting with the UH Mānoa Cabinet, led by Provost Michael Bruno, followed by a campus-wide welcome ceremony on the Hawaiʻi Hall lawn, where more than 200 people were in attendance. She also spent the morning touring several culturally significant sites on campus.
“New beginnings and the hope of what’s in front of us and the absolute open arms that people greeted me with,” Hensel said. “More than that, the feeling and the depth of history that’s behind everything on this campus and the culture—I’m just so touched.”
The day continued with a meeting with the Kūaliʻi Council, a lunch with student leaders from the Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi and the Graduate Student Organization, and discussions with the UH Mānoa Staff Senate.
An open forum at the Campus Center Ballroom concluded the day, and more than 200 people attended in person or watched via livestream. Attendees shared their concerns and thoughts and asked Hensel questions on a wide range of topics including graduate student assistance, general education requirements, generative artificial intelligence and more.
On January 23, Hensel went on a campus tour that lasted almost an hour-and-a-half and met with the UH Mānoa Faculty Senate.
Throughout her visit, Hensel highlighted her commitment to fostering connections and understanding the unique characteristics of each campus. Her presence underscored her intent to engage directly with the university community to build relationships and gain insights.
“Here at UH Mānoa, we recognize we have a special kuleana,” Bruno said. “We are the flagship campus—20,000 students, 5,000 employees and almost 100 academic programs. It’s meaningful for us that the importance, [the] role that we play in the system is recognized and that she will be spending two days here on campus, meeting all of our members of our community.”
UH Mānoa was the second campus Hensel visited statewide after starting with UH West Oʻahu on January 14.
President Hensel’s campus/education centers remaining schedule:
President Hensel campus visit recaps
- Monday, January 27 – Kapiʻolani CC
- Monday, February 3 – Leeward CC
- Wednesday, February 5 – Leeward CC Waiʻanae Moku
- Monday, February 10 – Lānaʻi Education Center
- Tuesday, February 11 – Honolulu CC
- Tuesday, February 18 – UH Hilo
- Monday, February 24 – Hawaiʻi CC
- Tuesday February 25 – Kō Education Center and Hawaiʻi CC Pālamanui
- Monday, March 3 – UH Maui College and Maui University Center
- Tuesday, March 4 – Molokaʻi Education Center
- Wednesday, March 5 – Kauaʻi CC and Kauaʻi University Center
- Monday, March 24 – Windward CC
For more information about President Hensel, visit the Meet President Hensel webpage. She is also active on social media and encourages the UH community to connect with her on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.
