U. of Hawaii Regents Choose M.R.C. Greenwood as Next President

The University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents selected M.R.C. Greenwood as the university’s next president today, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported. A somewhat controversial choice, she had become the sole finalist last week after the other remaining candidate withdrew.

The regents’ unanimous vote today — 12 to 0, with three members absent — decisively rejected criticism from some politicians and a faculty leader who wanted the board to reopen the search, in part because of Ms. Greenwood’s connection to controversies in California.

A former provost of the University of California, she had received an undisclosed housing allowance that figured in an executive-compensation scandal that rocked that system. Questions were also raised about whether she had improperly influenced hiring decisions involving her son and a former business partner and friend of hers. Members of the search committee in Hawaii told the Star Bulletin last week that they were satisfied that her participation in the friend’s hiring was “an inadvertent mistake” and that investigations had cleared her of wrongdoing in the other cases. They have also emphasized her strong academic and management credentials.

A scientist who studies obesity and diabetes, Ms. Greenwood is currently a professor at the University of California at Davis. She is also a former chancellor of the university’s Santa Cruz campus. If she accepts the job in Hawaii, she will become the first woman to lead that 10-campus system.