Education and Career
Evan Samuel Dobelle holds bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University. 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 with the rank of Ambassador. His wife Kit served as Chief of Protocol and Chief of Staff to First Lady Rosalynn Carter. He 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 to 1990, where the library is named after him, and president and chancellor of City College of San Francisco from 1990 to 1995. While president of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (1995–2001), neighborhood renewal reversed declining enrollments.
As president of the University of Hawaii from 2001 to 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 by gubernatorial appointment, Dobelle was let go from his post as president of the University of Hawaii system "for cause." Dobelle had 5 Chairman of the Board in 2½ years and 24 members rotating through 12 seats ultimately having no Regents left who selected him as President. 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.
After Dobelle was about to file a lawsuit a few weeks later, the university rescinded the firing as part of a mediated settlement. 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 in cash, a state pension for life, and a fully paid $2 million life insurance policy, and assumed all legal costs of $1.2 million, with no finding of wrongdoing on the part of either Dobelle or the board.
The ensuing controversy caused a statewide referendum to be passed by 63% that changed the way Regents were appointed by the Governor and was upheld unanimously by the Hawaii Supreme Court.
In 2004, he became president of the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE). A few weeks later he was unanimously chosen to be President of NEBHE by the 48 delegates representing the six New England governors. Dobelle reorganized and focused the organization on core issues of access and affordability, significantly heightening NEBHE’s visibility and increasing external funding. Dobelle also energized participation of the six states in the region for the College Ready initiative and engaged all New England Governors, SHEEOS, and K–12 Education Commissioners in a single cooperative effort to address high school graduation rates and college access.
In December 2007, Dobelle was appointed president of Westfield State University in Westfield, Massachusetts.
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