{"id":217289,"date":"2025-06-09T10:02:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T20:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=217289"},"modified":"2025-06-16T16:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T02:20:21","slug":"syrmos-interim-provost-uh-manoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/09\/syrmos-interim-provost-uh-manoa\/","title":{"rendered":"Vassilis Syrmos appointed interim provost of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Four
From left: Gabriel Lee, Michael Bruno, Vassilis Syrmos, Wendy Hensel at the Â鶹´«Ã½BOR<\/abbr> meeting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> President Wendy Hensel has appointed Vassilis Syrmos to serve as interim provost of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, effective July 1, 2025, pending Board of Regents approval. Syrmos will succeed Michael Bruno, who announced on May 5 that he will return to the faculty on July 1 after serving as provost since 2019. (Editor’s note<\/strong>: Syrmos’ appointment was approved by the BOR<\/abbr> on June 16.)<\/p>\n

\"Syrmos
Vassilis Syrmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Syrmos brings more than three decades of experience in higher education leadership, including roles as associate vice chancellor for research at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and, for the past 12 years, vice president for research and innovation for the UH<\/abbr> System. He has been a faculty member in the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa College of Engineering for 34 years, including 22 years in administrative roles.<\/p>\n

“I want to thank Vassilis for stepping up to serve UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa during this time of transition,” said Hensel. “He will continue to be a vital member of the leadership team as we navigate the many challenges and opportunities facing higher education today.”<\/p>\n

Hensel outlined three criteria for the interim appointment: demonstrated administrative leadership in higher education, a deep understanding of both UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and the UH<\/abbr> System, and a preference to not pursue the permanent role.<\/p>\n

“I am humbled by this opportunity to serve UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, one of the nation\u2019s premier public universities,” said Syrmos. “These are difficult times for higher education, but also a moment to reshape and strengthen how we serve the people of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. I believe in President Hensel\u2019s vision and look forward to supporting her leadership.”<\/p>\n

Syrmos will serve as interim provost while UH<\/abbr> leadership reviews the campus\u2019 leadership structure and conducts a national search for the permanent position. Once a new provost is appointed, Syrmos will return to his current role as vice president for research and innovation.<\/p>\n

Under his leadership as vice president for research and innovation, Syrmos oversaw record-breaking growth in extramural funding, including a new high of $615.7 million in fiscal year 2024, the third consecutive year UH<\/abbr> exceeded half a billion dollars. In that role, he led the design, planning, development and coordination of systemwide research and innovation programs and initiatives. A prolific scholar, Syrmos is the author or coauthor of more than 100 journal and conference papers, as well as the book Optimal Control, 2nd edition<\/em> (John Wiley, 1995).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syrmos will succeed Michael Bruno, who announced on May 5 that he will return to the faculty on July 1 after serving as provost since 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":217295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193],"tags":[626,9],"class_list":["post-217289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-executive-search","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/manoa-syrmos-hawaii-hall.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217289"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217515,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217289\/revisions\/217515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}