{"id":228328,"date":"2026-01-15T11:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=228328"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:27:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:27:56","slug":"january-2026-presidents-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/15\/january-2026-presidents-report\/","title":{"rendered":"January President\u2019s Report: Inaugural Address, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Chancellor, <abbr>AI<\/abbr> Chatbots"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_36887\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SMuu7pvpyVM?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"January President\u2019s Report: Inaugural Address, Â鶹´«Ã½M\u0101noa Chancellor, AI Chatbots\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> President Wendy Hensel provided updates to the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Board of Regents (<abbr>BOR<\/abbr>) on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/15\/uh-president-hensel-delivers-inaugural-address\/\">Inaugural President\u2019s 10-Campus Address<\/a>, the start of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/23\/legislative-budget-request-whats-next\/\">2026 Legislative session<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/09\/syrmos-interim-provost-uh-manoa\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa chancellor search<\/a> during her President\u2019s Report at the board\u2019s first meeting of 2026 held at Windward Community College on Thursday, January 15.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-uh-ai-chatbots-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"10 chatbot characters\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-228083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-uh-ai-chatbots-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-uh-ai-chatbots-2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/system-uh-ai-chatbots-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hensel also highlighted the launch of a strategic exploration of a unified vision for <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span lang=\"haw\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> and Leeward Community College; the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/11\/uh-ai-chatbots-transforming-student-support\/\">success of the <abbr>AI<\/abbr> chatbots<\/a>, now available across all <abbr>UH<\/abbr> campuses; and increase in applications attributed to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/13\/direct2uh-streamlines-admission-to-uh\/\">Direct2<abbr>UH<\/abbr> initiative<\/a>, which aims to give <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> public high school students a more seamless transition from high school to higher education.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/15\/uh-president-hensel-delivers-inaugural-address\/\">Inaugural 10-campus Address<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=19s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/23\/legislative-budget-request-whats-next\/\">2026 Legislative season underway<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=54s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/19\/update-federal-funding-native-hawaiian-minority-serving-programs\/\">Federal update<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=1m29s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/07\/uh-students-prepare-for-new-dashboard\/\">New student information system<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=5m\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/09\/syrmos-interim-provost-uh-manoa\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa chancellor search<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=6m22s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/08\/penaloza-new-era-for-west-oahu\/\">Leeward <abbr>CC<\/abbr>\/<abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span lang=\"haw\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> exploration<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=7m6s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/11\/uh-ai-chatbots-transforming-student-support\/\"><abbr>AI<\/abbr> chatbots success<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=8m43s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/13\/direct2uh-streamlines-admission-to-uh\/\">Direct2<abbr>UH<\/abbr> update<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=10m5s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/12\/rank-gps-scholars\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa recognition<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SMuu7pvpyVM?t=11m2s\">video<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hensel also highlighted exploration of a unified <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span lang=\"haw\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> and Leeward Community College; the success of the AI chatbots; and the Direct2Â鶹´«Ã½initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":218843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193,12],"tags":[1602,72,61,62,63,64,65,394,1120,71,14,9,60,947,59,56,1664,66],"class_list":["post-228328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","category-video","tag-ai","tag-board-of-regents","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-presidents-office","tag-presidents-report","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-video-2","tag-hensel","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/system-president-message-gnrc.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228328","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=228328"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228343,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228328\/revisions\/228343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}