Virginia Hinshaw, who has served as provost and executive vice chancellor of UC Davis for the past six years, was expected to be appointed today as chancellor of the University of Hawaii's flagship campus in Manoa.

At Dateline press time, the University of Hawaii regents were scheduled to vote on Hinshaw's appointment, with a formal announcement planned on the Oahu Manoa campus this afternoon. Hinshaw's name was forwarded to the regents last Friday by University of Hawaii President David McClain. She was one of four finalists interviewed for the position, including former UC Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey.

As the second-in-command at UC Davis, Hinshaw has had responsibility for overseeing UC Davis' $2.3 billion budget, academic planning and the UC Davis Health System. Hinshaw arrived at UC Davis in 2001 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"I'm very happy for Virginia — but sad for us — that her name is going forward to the University of Hawaii's Board of Regents as the proposed next chancellor of the UH Manoa campus," UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef wrote in a note to campus administrators. "The University of Hawaii would be so fortunate to have Virginia as the chancellor of its flagship campus, just as UC Davis and the UC system have been the fortunate beneficiaries of her leadership these past six years."

Vanderhoef said that after the University of Hawaii considers Hinshaw's candidacy, he would begin steps to appoint an interim provost and launch a national search for Hinshaw's successor.

Hinshaw thanked campus colleagues for their "good thoughts and support" of her UH candidacy, but reserved comment on her Hawaii appointment pending the vote of the University of Hawaii regents. She is expected to start her new job on July 1 under a five-year contract, according to the agenda for the UH regents meeting Thursday and today in Hilo.

An internationally noted virologist and expert on influenza, Hinshaw is also to receive a tenured appointment as a professor in the College of Natural Sciences and at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Before she joined UC Davis in 2001, Hinshaw was vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

'Intriguing opportunities'

At the time of her UH interview March 1 and 2, Hinshaw told Dateline, "UC Davis is an exceptional university. I surely find my position here highly satisfying and rewarding, especially because I work with great folks. But exploring intriguing opportunities when they arise is a normal part of life, and that is what I am doing."

The University of Hawaii at Manoa is a major public doctoral research university with 20,600 students and professional programs in law, medicine and architecture. Hinshaw would replace interim UH Chancellor Denise Konan, who has been serving since August 2005, after former Chancellor Peter Englert's contract was not renewed.