HONOLULU - Kamehameha Schools CEO Dee Jay Mailer and Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation, will be featured speakers at University of Hawaii-Manoa's spring 2008 commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 18.

More than 1,800 students are eligible to receive bachelor's degrees at the undergraduate ceremony, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. (student procession begins at 8:30 a.m.). Later, beginning at 3 p.m., master's and doctor's degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education will be awarded to nearly 1,200 graduate degree candidates. Both ceremonies will be held at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Undergraduate Honors Program candidates are: Austin M. Bunag, Christina M. Carvalho, Siyuan Chen, Spencer Kealamakia, Katie M. Kinkade, Deanne S. Lee, Sheela Jane Menon, Janna C. Plant, Jessica L. Picone, Mark L. Pilar, Janessa E. Ruckle, Patricia Wilson and Hirosato Yoshida.

Also receiving recognition during the ceremony will be Regents' Scholars Carlo Barbasa, Heidi Fink, Jaime Lee Hongo, Sheela Jane Menon, Takashi Miura, Jacob Anthony Miyasato, Hunter Morrison, Kimberly Emi Ikuma Naguwa, Stacie Nakamura, Jaclyn Palola, Carol Pham, Tyler Tamashiro, Michelle Tsang Mui Chung and Ariel Zane.

Presidential Scholars graduating this month are: Shuangfeng Cai, Lisa Miller, Sean Mosier, Jessica Shelton, Daniel Sugai and Carlos Tome.

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.

Speaker for the morning ceremony will be Kamehameha Schools CEO Dee Jay Mailer. Mailer earned a BS in Professional Nursing and an MBA at UH Manoa. Before joining the Kamehameha Schools in January 2004, she served as chief operating officer of the United Nations-supported Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria based in Geneva. She has also served in senior management positions in international and US health care organizations, including Kaiser Permanente in Hawai`i.

Jordan Savusa, a graduating senior who will receive his degree in Journalism, with a minor in Theatre, will speak on behalf of the spring 2008 graduating class at the morning program.

The commencement address for the afternoon ceremony will be delivered by Rita L. Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation. During her tenure at NSF from 1998-2004, Colwell spearheaded the agency's emphases in K-12 science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education/training and the increased participation of women and minorities in science and engineering. Dr. Colwell is currently Chair of Canon US Life Sciences, Inc., and Distinguished University Professor both at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

During the university's Centennial commemorative period, graduating students have been 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). This is the last commencement ceremony for which the medallion will be available. This is also the final ceremony during which specially imprinted UH Centennial diploma covers will be issued.

Doors to the Stan Sheriff Center will open at 8 a.m. for the undergraduate ceremony and at 2 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 a.m. Friends and family members may greet graduates following the ceremony on the football practice field, the soccer practice field and at the softball stadium. Authorized lei vendors will be located in this area.

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.