On Campus
Honorary degrees go out again
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ah, the close of the school year.
It's the time when graduates don their caps and gowns and parents get misty-eyed to see their sons and daughters grow up.
And it's also the time when many colleges pass out honorary degrees to important folks. This summer, it seems, everyone is doing it.
Incoming University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle, who starts work in July, received an honorary degree from Trinity College in May. Trinity is the small, private liberal arts college in Hartford, Conn., that Dobelle has led for six years.
He is widely credited with turning the area around Trinity from a haven for drug dealers and prostitutes into the "Learning Corridor," with several new schools, outreach programs, job training centers and $175 million in public and private funding.
Dobelle, known for his politician's style and powerful connections, is already proving his savvy at being the new UH president. Trinity also gave an honorary degree to U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, in May. Inouye was recognized for his longtime leadership in the Senate and his military service in World War II. Inouye, Hawai'i's senior statesman, is a Medal of Honor recipient.
Inouye and Dobelle were in good company: Other honorary degrees from Trinity went to U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, last year's Democratic vice presidential nominee, media mogul Ted Turner, Robert Daly, chairman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Mario Molina, a scientist and Nobel laureate, among others.
At UH, outgoing President Kenneth Mortimer, who will leave this month for a semi-retirement of consulting and writing, will receive an honorary degree from The University of the Ryukyu, in Okinawa.
Mortimer has visited and spoken at the university before, and officials from Okinawa will come to the Manoa campus June 29, Mortimer's last day on the job, to award him the honorary doctorate degree. It will likely be Mortimer's final university event before his move to Bellingham, Wash., where he is president emeritus of Western Washington University.
UH, however, doesn't pass out honorary degrees with the same gusto of other universities. The Board of Regents in 1999 gave an honorary doctorate degree to Lech Walesa when he visited Hawai'i. Walesa is the former head of the Polish shipyard movement Solidarity who became president of Poland and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Continuing with the trend of honoring world leaders, last month the board voted to give an honorary doctorate to South Korea president Kim Dae-jung.
But only if he comes to UH to receive it.
And although it's not quite the same as an honorary degree, the University of California at Los Angeles is trying to establish an endowed chair in Asian-American studies named after Gov. Ben Cayetano.
Although the prospect irked some professors who clashed with Cayetano during Hawai'i's statewide faculty and public teachers strike in April, UCLA isn't likely to give up a chance to honor one of its best-known and most successful former students.
Cayetano, a UCLA graduate, is the first from the school to become a governor, said Marisa Osorio, a media relations representative with the university.
Call Jennifer Hiller at 525-8084 or e-mail her at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.
