Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 6, 1 June 2002 — UH Hilo master's [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

UH Hilo master's

Hiapo Perreira recently became the hua mua , the first graduate of the Master of Arts Degree in Hawaiian Language and Literature at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo — becoming also the first recipient of a graduate degree in any native language in the U,S,

OHA and the University of Hawai'i jointly established and funded the UH-Hilo master's language and literature program in 1996, Commencement keynote speaker OHA Trustee Clayton Hee

praised "this young scholar, kēia pōki'i, (who) has completed his required course work and stands before you today as the first of many future students to achieve such status," Trustee Hee proposed the goal to now establish a Ph,D, program in Hawaiian Language and Literature as "pololei, it is proper," The trustee urged President Evan Dobelle to support "a seamless transition from a Master of Arts Degree to a Doctorate degree in our native language ... to establish the first and

only Ph,D, program in any native language in the United States of America here in Hawai'i,"

History in the making — Hieipo Perreirci receives honors frorn Trustee Clciyton Hee cit UH Hilo's recent grciclucition, Perreirci is the first stuclent in the U,S, to receive ei rncister's c!egree in incligenous lcingucige.