UH Manoa to celebrate spring 2007 commencement

More than 2,500 students eligible for degrees this month

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will hold two spring semester commencement ceremonies this month on Sunday, May 13, 2007. Nearly 1.600 undergraduates are eligible to receive bachelor‘s degrees at the program beginning at 9:00 a.m. Later in the day, beginning at 3:00 p.m., advanced degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates will be awarded. Some 926 master‘s and doctoral candidates have finished their work in two dozen fields, as have 47 students who will receive post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education. Both ceremonies will be held at the lower campus Stan Sheriff Center.

UH Mānoa Interim Chancellor Denise Eby Konan will deliver the commencement address at the undergraduate ceremony. Chancellor Konan is completing a nearly-two year term as interim leader of the campus, returning to her faculty position in the Department of Economics when new Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw begins her appointment on July 1, 2007.

Andrea Stewart, a graduating senior who will receive her bachelor‘s degree in English, will speak on behalf of the spring 2007 graduating class at the 9:00 a.m. program. Mrs. Stewart is a member of Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society and has served as Vice President of Scholarship. Following graduation, she hopes to attend law school or pursue graduate studies in English.

The commencement address for the advanced degree ceremony will be delivered by B.E. (Buzz) Pruitt, Professor of Health Education at Texas A&M University. Professor Pruitt has published widely in the field of health education and a year ago received the AAHE Scholar award from the American Association for Health Education — the most prestigious award for academicians in his field.

Also receiving recognition during the ceremony will be Regents‘ Scholars Mark Cruz DeBlois, Krystle Anne Raras Domingo, Dayna Kiyomi Fujimoto, Richard Sheng Poe Huang, Elayne S.K. Man, John W. Morton, Marsha Sumfeh Ng, Evan Zachary Ota, Margie Fabian Pascua, Rachel Roper and Heather Erika Yanazaki.

Presidential Scholars graduating this month are: Johnathan Zandrew Cheng, Cora Puliatch, Eli Tsukayama and Andrea H. Wong.

The Board of Regents established the Regents‘ and Presidential Scholarships in 1987 as the university‘s first full scholarships based solely on academic excellence and reserved for Hawaiʻi‘s best high school and community college students.

During the university‘s Centennial commemorative period — January 2007-May 2008 — graduating students are eligible to purchase and wear a medallion designed specifically for commencement. The medallion may be viewed at http://www.bookstore.hawaii.edu/uhgrad/ (click on graduation supplies). It will not be available for purchase after the May 2008 commencement ceremony.

Doors to the Stan Sheriff Center will open at 8:00 a.m. for the undergraduate ceremony and at 2:00 p.m. for the advanced degree ceremony. Both events are free and open to the public. No tickets are issued, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Balloons and strollers are not allowed inside the Stan Sheriff Center.

Free parking will be available in the lower campus parking structure, which will open at 6:00 a.m. Friends and family members may greet graduates following the ceremony on the grass soccer practice field and at Les Murakami Stadium. Authorized lei vendors will be located in front of the stadium.

There will be a live Webcast of the ceremony. For information on the Webcast and further details about the commencement ceremony, visit http://manoa.hawaii.edu/commencement.

For more information, visit: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/commencement