Evan Dobelle

Evan Samuel Dobelle, the former president of the New England Board of Higher Education, is known for promoting higher-education investment in the Creative Economy,cite news |url=http://www.chronicle.com/news/article/888/ex-president-dobelle-ranks-em|title=Ex-President Dobelle Ranks ‘Em|publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education |date=2006-08-23|accessdate=2007-06-07] public-private partnerships and the "College Ready" model that helps students graduate from high school and college.cite news |last=Dobelle|first=Evan|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/03/22/selling_new_england/|title=Selling New England|publisher=The Boston Globe |date=2005-03-22|accessdate=2007-06-01] In December 2007, Dobelle [http://www.wsc.mass.edu/About%5FWSC/Presidents_Page/Biography.html was appointed] president of Westfield State College in Westfield, Massachusetts.

Elected mayor of Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1973 and 1975, Dobelle was later Massachusetts State Commissioner of Environmental Management and Natural Resources. He was U.S. Chief of Protocol for the White House in the Carter administration (his wife Kit serving as Chief of Protocol and Chief of Staff to First Lady Rosalyn Carter), was treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and National Chairman of the Carter-Mondale Presidential Committee, and served on California Governor Ronald Reagan's commission for educational reform.

Dobelle was president of Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Massachusetts from 1987 and president and chancellor of City College of San Francisco from 1991. While president of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (1995-2001), neighborhood renewal reversed declining enrollments.cite news |last=Wolfe |first=Fay |url=http://www.umass.edu/umassmag/archives/1998/winter_98/wint98_f_trinity.html |title=The Man to Do It |publisher=UMass Magazine |date=Winter 1998 |accessdate=2007-05-06] As president of the University of Hawaii (2001-2004), he backed unifying the system's campuses, establishing the Academy of Creative Media, building a new medical school, reforming financial and building practices and strengthening Native Hawaiian programs.

On June 15, 2004, after a change of Regent leadership, Dobelle was fired from his post as president of the University of Hawaii system "for cause."cite news |last=Gima |first=Craig |url=http://starbulletin.com/2004/06/16/news/story1.html |title=Dobelle Fired |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=2004-06-16 |accessdate=2007-05-28] University Regents in leadership at that time were said to have cited concerns about Dobelle's spending, and about his failure to communicate clearly with the board.cite news |last=Basinger |first=Julianne |url=http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i46/46a02301.htm |title=Wipeout in Hawaii |publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education |date=2004-07-23 |accessdate=2007-05-06] A few weeks later, as part of a mediated settlement, the university rescinded the firing. Dobelle agreed to resign from the presidency and not to apply for any other University of Hawaii positions, and the university agreed to a two-year non-tenured research position and a settlement of $1.6 million, with no finding of wrongdoing on the part of either Dobelle or the board.cite news |last=Basinger |first=Julianne |url=http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i49/49a02402.htm |title=U. of Hawaii Settles Dispute With President |publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education |date=2004-08-13 |accessdate=2007-05-06]

Trivia

*Dobelle's brother, William H. Dobelle, was a scientist who developed a system of artificial vision for the blind.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.evandobelle.com/ "Evan Dobelle"]
* [http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070828/NEWS01/708280354/1001 "The Honolulu Advertiser", Tuesday, August 28, 2007, "Wikipedia slurs traced to Hawaii state PCs"]
* [http://www.berkshirerecord.com/dobelle1.html "The Berkshire Eagle", January 8, 2005, "A visit with Mayor Dobelle"]
* [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Oct/03/ln/ln09a.html "The Honolulu Advertiser", October 3, 2004, "PR firm consulted on Dobelle"]