The University of Hawai'i is getting a new president and nobody is throwing blows in the hall. What a change from a few years back, huh?

Instead of polarized opinions and vicious power struggles, the transition is starting out, well, healthy and calmly procedural.

Thank the guy who's leaving for that.

Outgoing President David McClain, who is stepping down after five years when his term ends in July, has accomplished many notable things during his leadership, but above all, he has brought stability, civility and sensibility to an educational institution that was teetering on mutiny. He has been the calm captain who steadied the ship in turbulent waters.

McClain certainly had his share of challenges, from the Manoa flood in 2004, to the Sugar Bowl highs and lows, the hand-wringing over June Jones' departure and the bloodletting over Herman Frazier's firing. He navigated the protests over the University Affiliated Research Center, even welcoming protesters at a centennial celebration by saying, "I will defend to the last their right to make their statement and to engage dialogue on this issue."

When he took the job as the emergency replacement after Evan Dobelle was fired ("interim president" was the official term) the university system was in trouble. Several of the community college campuses were dangerously close to losing accreditation, so close they were on warning. Manoa had accreditation worries as well. All of that has been resolved under McClain's leadership.

One image of McClain seemed iconic. The morning after the flood, McClain was in shorts and a work shirt slogging through the mud calmly surveying what he had to deal with. It seemed to speak to the kind of leader he would be — unafraid to get dirty, but able to see beyond the clean-up to something better ahead.

He hasn't been just the clean-up guy, he has also built for the future.

McClain secured the hefty donation from Jay Shidler to establish the Shidler College of Business, a testament to how his leadership and vision was trusted.

He managed to balance being a strong leader with a kind of easy humility. At the same time, it's not like he was hard to reach when something was going on.

Finalists for UH president will be visiting campuses this month, and the prevailing attitude is more, "Well, let's go meet them and see what they're like" rather than "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Imagine, in a change-averse institution like the university, and in a change-resistant community like Hawai'i, that things could change so much in a relatively short time.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.