NEWS EVENT

Lieutenant Governor Aiona Speaks at Worldwide Commencement in Honolulu

Daytona Beach, FL, June 15, 2009 – Lieutenant Governor James R. “Duke” Aiona, Jr. was the guest speaker at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus graduation, Saturday, June 13. The ceremony for 37 students was held at the Hickam AFB Officer’s Club on Hickam Air Force Base.

The Lieutenant Governor was born in Honolulu. After graduating from St. Louis School, he went on to attend the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. In 1977, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. After graduating from the University of Hawaii School of Law in 1981, Lieutenant Governor Aiona started his legal career with the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. In 1990, Lieutenant Governor Aiona was appointed to the State Judiciary. He first served as a District Family Court judge. In 1993, he was elevated to the Criminal Division of the First Circuit Court. In 1996, he was appointed Administrative Judge of the newly created Hawaii Drug Court. Serving as the first judge of the highly praised, innovated Drug Court remains as one of Lieutenant Governor Aiona’s most fulfilling achievements. “It is an exceptional honor for Embry-Riddle to have Lt. Gov. Aiona, a prominent leader in Hawaii state government, as our guest speaker for the Hawaii graduation. His judicial background and his role as a leader in Hawaii’s government will give our graduates a unique perspective as they become leaders in their own right in aviation and aerospace.” said, John Watret, Ph.D., associate vice president and chief academic officer, Worldwide Campus.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in aeronautical science, professional aeronautics, aviation business administration and technical management in Hawaii at the Honolulu, Kaneohe and Schofield Barracks locations.

For more information, contact April Brown at the Honolulu Campus at 808-422-0835 or honolulu.center@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering, educating more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs. Doctoral programs in aviation and in engineering physics are pending approval by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for the University to offer programs at the doctoral level. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Arizona, and Daytona Beach, Florida, through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.