University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	November 14, 1997
Contact: Cheryl Ernst, (808) 956-5941

BOARD OF REGENTS REPORT UH Regents Approves Development of Moloka'i Education Center The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents today authorized a real estate transaction agreement to develop the Moloka'i Educational Center and approved provisions that will make it easier to recruit faculty in certain high demand disciplines. Under the real estate agreement, Moloka'i Ranch will donate 2 acres of land mauka of Kamehameha Highway near Kaunakakai Regional Park and plan, design, construct and convey an educational center to the University of Hawai'i under a $4.125 million turn-key agreement similar to that used successfully by the Department of Education to establish a new elementary school in Kihei, Maui. The agreement also provides the University with a 10-year agreement to purchase the adjoining 3.21 acre parcel at fair market value. Should the University not purchase the property during that period, it will retain first right of refusal for the following 10 years. Earlier studies had identified the current rented quarters on Moloka'i as the UH system's "most inadequate" for meeting community educational needs. The board designated as high demand disciplines health sciences in the University's Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i, Pacific Biomedical Research Center and John A. Burns School of Medicine, allowing the UH president to authorize salary adjustments needed for recruiting and retaining top-notch faculty. All three units have seen faculty resign or candidates withdraw in favor of more lucrative offers elsewhere. The high demand designation allows salaries to be set up to six steps above the prevailing schedule for faculty in neuroscience; molecular, cell, developmental or evolutionary biology; genetics; epidemiology; oncology; microbiology; anatomy; physiology; pharmacology; biochemistry; or tropical medicine. Higher salaries paid under the high demand designation must be accommodated within the unit's existing budget. In fiscal matters, regents accepted $16 million in extramural research and training grants and contracts, authorized the University to enter into a facilities use agreement to install a Japanese telescope at Haleakala and approved a $10 million supplemental budget request for 1998­99. In other business, the board named an interim executive vice chancellor for the Mo(a,)noa campus and authorized in principle extended contracts for athletics directors and head coaches at UH Manoa and UH Hilo (see separate releases).

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