David Lassner

Why Would a University President Care about Conservation?

by David Lassner, President of the University of Hawaiʻi

Speaker Biography

David Lassner is the 15th president of the University of Hawaiʻi, the state’s sole provider of public higher education. In that capacity he leads the UH 10-campus system as well as its flagship research university, UH Mānoa. Lassner’s current focus is on advancing the post-pandemic recovery of the state by helping more Hawaiʻi residents earn post-secondary credentials, addressing Hawaiʻi’s workforce shortage areas, and diversifying the state’s economy while creating more high-quality jobs. He is also strengthening UH’s commitments to sustainability and becoming a model indigenous-serving university.

Lassner began working at UH in information technology in 1977, eventually becoming UH’s first vice president for IT and chief information officer. He assumed the UH presidency in 2013. Lassner has served as a principal investigator for more than $480 million in extramural funding leading major projects in high performance computing, disaster resilience and management, and high-speed data networking for research and education throughout the Hawaiian islands, Oceania and the Asia-Pacific region. He has taught online and in-person in computer science, communications, business and education.

Lassner is the current Chair of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) and a member of the Board of Governors of the East-West Center. He also serves on the boards of the Mountain West and Big West athletic conferences. Lassner earned an AB in economics summa cum laude and an MS in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his PhD in communication and information sciences from the University of Hawaiʻi.