For those of us who work at a university campus, we may have different duties, and various teaching and research topics, but one priority is crystal clear: the students. That’s why this is my favorite time of the year. On Saturday, May 13, 2023, UH Mānoa will hold its 112th Annual Commencement Exercises in the SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. It will be a day filled with lei, balloons, smiling family and friends, and proud graduates in caps and gowns, as they walk to celebrate the culmination of their studies and the beginning of new journeys.
In this College of Social Sciences newsletter, meet our Outstanding Graduating Senior, Tara Sutton, and our graduate student marshal, Anamalia Su‘esu‘e, who both love research in their respective fields while exemplifying how tenacity and hard work win out in the end. Read about our alumni who are excelling in their professions, like Journalism’s Dillon Ancheta and Nicole Tam, who are anchoring TV newscasts just a few years out of school; and Psychology’s Brad Nakamura, who is guiding Clinical Studies’ graduate students on their ways to PhDs. And learn how our CSS alumni are doing great things abroad, like Economics major Koichiro Iwasaki. This successful Japanese businessman is now a generous donor who is encouraging cross-cultural studies and commerce between Kagoshima and Hawai‘i.
CSS faculty, staff and administrators are all on this campus for the same reason, which is to pave successful pathways to learning and research excellence. Congratulations to our graduates – past, present and future!
Denise Eby Konan
Dean, College of Social Sciences
