Mary Bitterman, President of the Bernard Osher Foundation, will address graduates at the UH Manoa mid-year commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20. Commencement has been held on Sundays in the past, but all ceremonies will now be held on Saturday beginning with this one.

Nearly 1,800 students are eligible to receive degrees and certificates to conclude the fall academic term. Just over 1,100 students will receive bachelor's degrees, and more than 600 will receive master's and doctor's degrees, and post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education.

As President of the Osher Foundation, Bitterman leads the San Francisco-based organization's programs that support higher education and the arts, especially a growing network of lifelong learning institutes for older adults at more than 120 colleges and universities nationwide, including the University of Hawai`i at Manoa.

Before joining the Osher Foundation, Bitterman served as President and CEO of KQED, one of the leading public broadcasting centers in the nation. She has also served as Executive Director of the Hawai`i Public Broadcasting Authority, Director of the Voice of America, Director of the Hawai`i State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Director of the East-West Center's Institute of Culture and Communication.

Undergraduate Honors Program candidates for this term are Carleila Carl, Christopher D. Damitio, Abraham Flores Jr., Ka Yee Leung (also a Presidential Scholar), Sharaya L. Llanes, Leah Ricker, Soo Huey Teh, Rachel V. Vaisman, Yubin Wu and Lourena Yco. Regents' Scholars Aaron Fujimoto, Jillian E. Haraguchi, Justin Kong and Iris E. Teruya are also graduating this semester.

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.

Doors to the Stan Sheriff Center will open at 8 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. Friends and family members may greet graduates following the ceremony on the football practice field (A-L), the soccer practice field (M-T) and at the softball stadium (U-Z). 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.