Dr. John Pezzuto, founding dean of the University of Hawaii at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, will be the keynote speaker at the university’s spring commencement at 9 a.m. Saturday at Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium.
Students have petitioned for a total of 821 degrees and/or certificates from the colleges of Arts and Sciences (472), Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management (29), Business and Economics (41), Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikõlani College of Hawaiian Language (33) and Pharmacy (181), while others are candidates for various post graduate honors (65).
Pezzuto arrived at UH-Hilo in 2006 from Purdue University, where he served as professor and dean of its college of pharmacy, nursing and health sciences. He was tasked with creating a college from the ground up to serve Hawaii and the Pacific region as envisioned by the late U.S. senator for whom the institution is named.
Despite having no offices, staff or students, he assembled a team of world-renowned faculty, which enabled the then UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy to seat an inaugural class of 90 students in 2007 and award its first degrees in 2011.
Today, the college is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, on track to become one of the nation’s top 25 institutions and can look forward to moving into new, modern facilities following last year’s groundbreaking on a permanent home.
Pezzuto believes the successful journey that took the College of Pharmacy from a concept to its current status illustrates what can be accomplished through inspiration, focus and hard work — the same qualities required to earn a degree.
“Many people predicted the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy would fail. But it will not fail,” Pezzuto said. “And I hope our graduates can view this as an example of how they, too, can be part of something that improves society while at the same time generating pride and self-contentment.”
His address also marks the final UH-Hilo commencement for Pezzuto, who leaves in August to assume his new duties as professor and dean of the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Alyssa Loving, a mathematics major with a minor in computer science, will represent the class of 2015 as student speaker.
Born on Hawaii Island and raised in Honomu, she has earned numerous academic honors and awards locally and abroad.
At UH-Hilo, Loving has maintained a 3.97 GPA and received the UH Presidential Scholarship, the Pearson Mathematics Underclassman and Graduating Senior Awards, the Pearson Book Award For Outstanding Computer Science Freshman and the UH Centennial Scholarship.
Loving will enter a mathematics graduate program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this fall, where she will continue to pursue her passion in mathematics research.
