University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents confers president emeritus title upon David McClain

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Carolyn Tanaka, (808) 956-8109
External Affairs & University Relations
Posted: Jul 30, 2009

HONOLULU — University of Hawaiʻi President David McClain and Wendie McClain attended their last University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) meeting on July 23rd, and were honored by the BOR with a resolution acknowledging their leadership and years of loyal service to the University of Hawaiʻi. The Regents conferred upon McClain the title of president emeritus.

"The Board of Regents is extremely grateful to David and his wife, Wendie, for their contributions and service to the University of Hawaiʻi," said UH BOR Chair Howard Karr. "David has led the university with distinction, setting UH on a stable course towards achieving its mission, and Wendie has been a gracious ambassador in her capacity as community liaison for the university. We offer them our warmest aloha and wish them the best in their future endeavors."

In its resolution, the BOR recognized McClain‘s stewardship of the university, leading it through a sustained period of growth in facilities, programs, enrollment, research funding and endowments and presiding over the Centennial celebration and capital campaign. He was heralded by the Board for his effective leadership and for making strategic planning, innovation and accountability the hallmarks of his tenure. The BOR also recognized Wendie for extending the university‘s presence and outreach to the community, for example through the Slipper Tours, and for being an integral and valued member of the president‘s team.

McClain is expected to return to the faculty of UH Mānoa‘s Shidler College of Business in August 2010.

McClain has served as the system‘s chief executive officer since June 2004. Prior to that, McClain served as vice president for academic affairs for the system from 2003 to 2004 and as dean of the UH Mānoa College of Business and First Hawaiian Bank Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Management from 2000 to 2003.

McClain first joined the Mānoa campus in 1991 as the Henry A. Walker Jr. Distinguished Professor of Business Enterprise and professor of financial economics and institutions. After receiving a BA in economics and mathematics from the University of Kansas, McClain joined the U.S. Army, completing his service as a first lieutenant in Vietnam. He earned a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a tenured faculty member and department chair at Boston University and founding director of its Management Development Program—Japan.

He has taught at MIT‘s Sloan School of Management and at Universidad Gabriela Mistral in Santiago, Chile, and has been a visiting scholar at Keio and Meiji Universities in Japan. He also served as senior staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisors to President Jimmy Carter and as head of global economic information services for Data Resources, Inc.

McClain has headed the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Management Network, is on the board of advisors for the graduate management program at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, and is a member of the board of directors for First Insurance Company of Hawaiʻi, a joint venture of CNA and Tokio Marine Nichido. McClain is the author of Apocalypse on Wall Street (Dow-Jones/Irwin) and numerous scholarly articles and hundreds of columns on economic issues. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.

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