The University of Hawaiʻi System’s Executive Vice President/Provost for Academic Affairs Linda Johnsrud will be stepping down effective December 31, 2013, and will be assuming a senior leadership position with the University of Texas System in Austin.
Johnsrud first arrived at the UH in 1988 as an assistant professor in higher education administration at UH Mānoa. She has served in a variety of roles during her 25 years at the university, including chair of the UH Mānoa Faculty Senate, associate dean for the UH Mānoa College of Education, interim chancellor at UH West Oʻahu, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs at UH Mānoa, and associate vice president for planning and policy at the UH System. Johnsrud has served as chief academic officer for the UH System since 2005.
Under Johnsrud’s leadership, the university established the public agenda for higher education in Hawaiʻi that served as the basis for the strategic directions and performance measures established in 2008 for the UH system. Johnsrud also leads the Hawaiʻi Graduation Initiative, which has produced significant increases in the number of degrees and certificates awarded across the 10 campuses. She also spearheaded the expansion of the university’s mission in the Board of Regents policy to embrace institutional responsibility to Hawaiʻi’s indigenous people, language and culture. Johnsrud may be best known for the creation of the President’s Emerging Leaders Program (PELP), the 15 to Finish campaign and her strong advocacy of P–20: Partners in Education.
“I love Hawaiʻi, I love the university and I cannot believe that it has been 25 years. The University of Hawaiʻi has been very good to me. I work with so many top-notch professionals. I’m not sure which makes it more difficult to leave—the place or the people. But it came down to family—my daughter and granddaughters live in Texas,” Johnsrud said.
“Linda and I have been colleagues and friends for 25 years, ever since she arrived at UH” said UH Interim President David Lassner. “We are grateful for her dedicated service to the university and her invaluable work on projects ranging from tuition-setting to performance measures to the recent community forum on cost. UH could always count on Linda to bring integrity, intelligence, diligence, collegiality, humor and graciousness to the hardest projects anywhere in the system. She brought UH and Hawaiʻi into prominence on the national stage with the policies and practices she initiated here, and we will miss her deeply. But we wish Linda and her family the very best.”
Johnsrud will serve as the associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Texas System, which includes nine universities and six health institutions. Her first day on the job will be January 1, 2014.
UH will be making an interim appointment to serve while an open search is conducted for Johnsrud’s successor.
