More than 2,500 graduates participate in University of Hawaii commencement
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Graduates move their tassels over during today’s ceremony.
More than 2,500 University of Hawaii graduates participated in the 2025 Spring Commencement ceremonies held Saturday morning and afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center.
There were a little over 2,538 graduates, including 2,319 undergraduates and 538 graduate students, who received their master’s and doctoral degrees.
Thousands of relatives, friends and UH Manoa faculty, staff and administrators joined in celebrating their achievements at the Stan Sheriff Center and lei-giving at the Ching Athletic Complex and Les Murakami Stadium fields.
Carissa Moore, Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion surfer, addressed the graduates as commencement speaker.
This marked the first UH Manoa commencement for UH President Wendy Hensel, who took office Jan. 1.
“It is such a special time of year, always, but really so this year since it’s my first as president of the system,” Hensel said. “And seeing the joy on the faces of our graduates and the excitement about the future is just unmatched.”
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It was also the last as provost for Michael Bruno, who began in 2019 as provost. He will return to the faculty July 1.
UH Manoa’s fall enrollment surpassed the 20,000 mark for the first time since 2013. A record 3,123 freshmen enrolled at UH Manoa.
UH Manoa says it is ranked among the top 2% universities globally, and one of only 146 R1 (Research 1: Doctoral Universities) institutions in the U.S., with very high research activity, out of more than 2,800 universities and colleges.
It also holds the distinction of being among a select few with sun-, land-, sea- and space-grant designations.
UH Manoa, founded in 1907, is the flagship campus of the 10-campus UH system. Spring commencements began May 10 and concluded today.
