Video game visionary Henk Rogers to serve as Commencement speaker

Henk Rogers

Henk Rogers, computer game designer, entrepreneur and founder and chairman of Blue Planet Foundation, will address graduates at UH Mānoa’s mid-year Commencement ceremony. The program will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, at the Stan Sheriff Center. The student procession will begin at 8:30 a.m.  

Graduates, families, friends, and UH faculty and staff who plan to attend this year’s Commencement should be aware of possible traffic congestion, to approach the campus with caution, and to arrive early to avoid delays.   

About 1,250 students are eligible to receive degrees and certificates to conclude the Fall academic term. Just over 750 students will receive bachelor degrees, and more than 450 will receive master’s and doctorate degrees, and post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education.   

Rogers, credited with introducing the computer game Tetris to U.S. and world markets, attended UH Mānoa from 1973-75. In 2007, he established the Blue Planet Foundation, which has become the frontline organization in the fight for indigenous renewable energy in Hawai‘i. Rogers presently has three new startup software development companies.

Undergraduate Honors Program candidates for this term are Paige Elizabeth Baum, Nicole Cacal, Katlyn M. Daoust, Maria Aurora P. Deguzman, Maxwell Hamermesh, Chris Loeswick, John Cameron McClain, Jenna Leigh Saito and Bonnie A. Sheehey.

The Presidential Scholar graduate for this term is Kristen K. Nishihara. 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 Hawai’i‘s best high school and community college students.     

The Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be awarded to Shinichi Maehara, Senior Managing Director of Okinawa Television, for his contributions in education as an accomplished scholar of Okinawan diaspora and its dynamics including culture preservation which has also inspired and influenced the Okinawan community and its initiatives in Hawai‘i and worldwide.  

Logistics: Doors to the Stan Sheriff Center will open at 7:45 a.m. The event is 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 a.m. Parking shuttle service will also be provided. The shuttle buses are wheelchair accessible and run a continuous route from the Biomedical Science Building to Krauss Circle. The lower campus areas are accessible by crossing Dole Street and proceeding to the elevators on the top floor of the parking structure. All stops along this route will be marked with the RAINBOW SHUTTLE STOP signs. For the return trip, passengers may board the shuttles at Krauss Circle.

Friends and family members may greet graduates following the ceremony on the football grass practice field (surnames A-L) and the soccer practice field (M-Z).

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