  {"id":91195,"date":"2019-02-25T08:18:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T18:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=91195"},"modified":"2019-02-26T16:25:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T02:25:20","slug":"john-morton-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/02\/25\/john-morton-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"After half-century of service, <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> <abbr title=\"Vice President\">VP<\/abbr> John Morton to retire"},"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\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_91210\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91210\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-group-shot.jpg\" alt=\"group shot of people smiling\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-91210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-group-shot.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-group-shot-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-group-shot-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-91210\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Colleges were honored by the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> State Senate on March 17, 2014 in commemoration of their 50th anniversary and the leadership role it performs in meeting the diverse educational needs of our community.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_91211\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91211\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-morton.jpg\" alt=\"man smiling\" width=\"250\" height=\"350\" class=\"size-full wp-image-91211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-morton.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-morton-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-morton-214x300.jpg 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-91211\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Morton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After almost 50 years at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a>, Vice President for Community Colleges <strong>John Morton<\/strong> has announced plans to retire on June 1, 2019.<\/p>\n<p>In his current position, Morton has been responsible for executive leadership, policy decision-making, resource allocation and development of support services for the <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span>&#8216;s seven community colleges<\/a>. He previously served as chancellor at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu\/\"><span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> Community College<\/a> for 21 years. He started his <abbr>UH<\/abbr> career at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leeward.hawaii.edu\/\">Leeward Community College<\/a> as a faculty member in chemistry and political science in 1970.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;My attraction to a community college career in large part rests on the social justice principles embedded in the foundation of community colleges,&rdquo; Morton wrote in a message announcing his retirement to the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> <span aria-label=\"ohana\">&#699;ohana<\/span>. &ldquo;The idea that the benefits of higher education should accrue to all <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> citizens was a radical notion when we were created in 1964, but we have demonstrated that given the opportunity and the right support, our students, who historically had been largely excluded, both desired to attend college and could succeed when given the chance.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Under Morton\u2019s tenure, the <a href=\"http:\/\/hawaii.hawaii.edu\/palamanui\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> <abbr title=\"Community College\">CC<\/abbr> P&#257;lamanui campus<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/culinary\/\">Culinary Institute of the Pacific<\/a> were designed and constructed. More recently, the <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Community Colleges<\/a> launched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/tag\/hawaii-promise\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> Promise<\/a>, a need-based &ldquo;last dollar&rdquo; scholarship for qualified students enrolled at any <abbr>UH<\/abbr> community college campus, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/02\/10\/hinet-helps-hungry-students-succeed\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> Nutrition Employment and Training (<abbr title=\"Hawaii Nutrition Employment and Training\">HINET<\/abbr>) program<\/a>, which provides assistance that can total more than $4,700 a year for food, transportation, books and other expenses.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_91212\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91212\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-willow-morton-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"two people smiling\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-91212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-willow-morton-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-willow-morton-130x86.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/community-colleges-john-willow-morton.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-91212\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">John and Willow Morton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> President <strong>David Lassner<\/strong> will be making a recommendation to the Board of Regents for an interim vice president to serve while an open search is conducted. A search advisory committee will be appointed soon and will be asked to work on an aggressive timeframe to provide recommendations to Lassner so that a new vice president can be appointed for the spring 2020 semester.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The university and the entire state owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to John Morton for a remarkable career spent entirely in public service to the people of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span>,&rdquo; said Lassner. &ldquo;The <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Community Colleges are widely recognized nationally and internationally as among the best in the world, and John elevated all of us around him with his thoughtful and inspirational leadership. We wish John and his wife Willow all the best for a glorious retirement.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After almost 50 years at the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Âé¶¹´«Ã½<\/span> Vice President for Community Colleges John Morton has announced plans to retire on June 1, 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193],"tags":[61,62,63,64,65,71,60,947,66],"class_list":["post-91195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-maui-college","tag-uh-system","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91195","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=91195"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91335,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91195\/revisions\/91335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}