At least 41 percent of Hilo's 3,773 students are Pacific Islander or Asian-American. More than half are first-generation college students and one-third receive federal Pell Grants. About two-thirds come from families on the four islands of Hawaii.
Tseng credits a summer spent in Ethiopia in the 1960s with teaching her empathy for indigenous populations. At the time, her father was a surgeon working for the World Health Organization.
"I saw how unfair the world could be," recalls Tseng, who holds a doctorate in nutritional sciences. "Many people were hungry, had hardly any clothes."
Dr. Leslie Wong, University of Northern Michigan president, says, although he is pleased Tseng will step down with a strong portfolio of accomplishments, her departure marks a substantial loss. "She represents about 15 percent of Asian-American presidents at four-year public schools."
In 2006, Asians made up only 0.9 percent of all college presidents nationally, according to the American Council on Education, which recently hosted Tseng, Wong and their counterparts in Washington, D.C., for the first in a series of meetings aimed at building a bigger pipeline of Asian-Americans into college presidencies.
Tseng was chancellor of the West Valley-Mission Community College District in California for five years before taking the top job in Hilo. A longtime professor at San Jose State University, she also was dean of its College of Applied Sciences and Arts.
She plans to take a one-year sabbatical once she departs the chancellorship. Her future plans remain undetermined.
