When Wendy Hensel took the helm of the University of Hawaii system on Jan. 1, 2025, any notion of a gradual “honeymoon phase” was quickly dashed by an accelerating series of national and local disruptions.
Within weeks of her arrival, shifting federal policies — including Trump administration changes affecting diversity, equity and inclusion priorities and research funding — forced Hensel to make decisions that could shape the university for years to come.
At the same time, she inherited a 10-campus system grappling with enrollment pressures, student success gaps, workforce demands and longstanding systemic inefficiencies.
“The decisions we’ve made as we’ve navigated the federal changes have probably been the most consequential,” Hensel said in an interview Tuesday in her Manoa office.
Those early months, she said, were dominated by uncertainty and a sense of urgency.
“It started within three weeks of my presidency with changes in direction, in terms of DEI changes in federal funding priorities. Some of that threatens some pretty consequential values of the institution and the mission of this place, more so than many other places and universities,” Hensel said.
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“Our job was not to ride the roller coaster with the changes but to craft a path that was thoughtful, deliberate and protected the mission of the institution.”
That approach drew early support from the UH Board of Regents. At its October meeting, the board completed its first formal evaluation of Hensel since her appointment.
“We were very pleased with her comprehensive self- evaluation, which highlighted accomplishments, challenges and ongoing initiatives that advance the strategic mission and goals of the 10- campus system,” Board Chair Gabriel Lee said in the evaluation. “President Hensel has demonstrated strong, steady leadership during an unprecedented time for higher education, and we have even greater confidence in her ability to lead today than on the day we hired her.”
High stakes for Hawaii
For Hensel, a civil rights lawyer by training whose academic work has focused on employment and civil rights law, the issues raised by federal policy changes were not new but the stakes for Hawaii were.
“The depth of concern and challenge as it relates to Native Hawaiians and this place in this context is very weighty and very significant,” she explained.
As a newcomer, Hensel said she made a conscious effort to understand the university’s obligations as a Native Hawaiian place of learning.
She met with Native Hawaiian groups across all 10 campuses, visited Mauna Kea on Hawaii island, participated in Native Hawaiian law training and joined a UH Manoa retreat focused on the university’s responsibility to Native Hawaiian communities.
Within her first 90 days, Hensel visited all 10 campuses and five education centers, holding town halls and meeting students, faculty, staff and community members in an open series of listening sessions, which reinforced for her the complexity of leading a geographically dispersed system.
“It’s not one institution,” she said. “It’s how to work together as a whole at scale to really ensure that every student has an equal opportunity across the islands.”
Beyond campus, Hensel has boosted UH’s visibility through more than 40 presentations to community groups and the news media, attendance at student events and sports competitions, and meetings with donors and alumni across the islands and in Japan.
She also has increased the president’s online presence, using social media to highlight university programs and achievements while sharing informal posts, including about her dog, Phoebe, making the office more accessible to students and the community.
Reducing barriers
If Hensel’s first year has a defining theme, she said it would be her emphasis on reducing barriers that delay or derail student progress.
One of her most visible initiatives was the launch of Direct to UH, which allows seniors in Hawaii’s public high schools to apply to the university with a single click and begin receiving guidance early — part of a broader effort to streamline pathways from the state Department of Education into UH programs and coordinate systemwide outreach and marketing.
Hensel also pushed long-stalled reforms in general education and credit transfers. Faculty from across the system produced recommendations in under six months to ensure courses transfer cleanly between associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs — changes expected to be implemented by the end of the current academic year.
“If it helps the students, we need to execute. We need to get it done,” Hensel said. “A lot of times we’re in our own way.”
Hensel has overseen a systemwide rollout of student success technology, including EAB Navigate and Edify, alongside shared customer relationship management and Banner software integration.
EAB Navigate uses predictive analytics to flag students at risk and trigger early outreach from faculty or advisers, while UH is also evaluating systemwide barriers to retention and graduation through the National Institute for Student Success, beginning at Honolulu Community College and UH Hilo in the just-ended fall semester and expanding to UH Maui College and potentially Leeward Community College in the coming spring term.
“The entire philosophy behind the changes we’re making is proactive engagement,” she said. “Our old models really are reactive.”
Evolving technologies
Hensel has emphasized that technological change — particularly artificial intelligence — could prove more disruptive to higher education than shifts in federal funding. She said Hawaii traditionally has been hesitant to embrace major change and that progress often requires trust in new approaches.
“Higher education is a surprisingly conservative institution resistant to change. We are in a moment that will not allow that to be true. It demands change,” Hensel said. “’Business as usual’ will not keep us where we are. The world is moving, and we have to move with it.”
She emphasized that adapting to evolving technologies and workforce needs is essential for the university to continue advancing and remain competitive, even if such shifts may feel unfamiliar or challenging to the community.
“I’m extremely excited about taking the university into the next decade with artificial intelligence. It will change everything that we do, how we teach, what we teach, what employers expect from our students,” Hensel said. “There were pockets of excellence all around the university, but no concerted effort at the system level to ensure that all our professors and all of our students are receiving the training that they need, and, frankly, that we’re meeting the workforce needs of Hawaii within the next decade.”
UH has established a systemwide AI strategy under the university’s first chief technology and innovation officer, all chancellors and system officers have received AI training, and a task force is developing recommendations.
Despite the pace of activity during her first year at UH, Hensel acknowledged that not every priority advanced as quickly or as fully as she might have hoped. She said the scale of the UH system and the capacity of its workforce required careful pacing.
Several efforts, including deeper engagement with employers and expanded experiential learning opportunities for students remain in development.
Hensel also pointed to workforce alignment as an area where the university has yet to reach its potential. While curriculum gap analyses and program reviews are underway, she said the system is still building the infrastructure needed to ensure sustained, statewide partnerships with employers and to align academic offerings with emerging areas of economic development.
Those efforts, she said, are expected to move forward in the coming year as leadership roles and structures take shape.
A curriculum gap analysis aligning associate’s-to- bachelor’s degree pathways with workforce demand has been completed and is now being implemented, while a Google-supported technology platform integrating degree milestones is expected to launch this year or in early 2027.
To strengthen employer engagement, the creation of a position for a vice president for workforce development has been proposed to the Board of Regents and is expected to advance in 2026.
Leadership changes
Hensel’s first year also included major governance decisions, including the separation of system leadership from day-to-day oversight of UH Manoa.
“There were holes in the structure created by having one person responsible for both of those things,” she said.
The Board of Regents has approved a search for a permanent UH Manoa chancellor, with a full reorganization plan expected within 18 months.
Leadership changes also extended to athletics. UH completed a national search and hired Athletic Director Matt Elliott on schedule last summer.
Despite uncertainty surrounding federal funding and Title III programs that support funding for Alaska native- and Native Hawaiian- serving institutions, UH entered the 2025 legislative session with a coordinated advocacy strategy.
The university secured budget increases of $9.3 million in fiscal year 2026 and $9.7 million in fiscal year 2027 and successfully advocated for legislation increasing funding for the UH Cancer Center from the state’s cigarette tax — a breakthrough after five years of unsuccessful attempts.
Higher education leaders often promise transformation but struggle to deliver — a reality Hensel acknowledged.
“My focus is never simply what are the best ideas,” she said. “It’s what is the timeline, what is the deliverable, and what is the accountability that will bring it to fruition.”
Asked how she would grade herself, Hensel declined to answer.
“I don’t think it’s for me to grade myself,” she said. “But I’m extremely proud of the efforts I’ve made. I’ve given more than 100% because it’s important to me, and I wanted to demonstrate clearly my commitment to this place and this community.”