The University of the Virgin Islands will graduate 303 students at its 36th annual commencement exercises this month. The commencement for the St. Thomas campus will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, at the Reichhold Center for the Arts.
The St. Croix campus commencement will be held on Sunday, May 21, at 4:30 p.m. at the Island Center. Tickets are required for both ceremonies.
"I congratulate the members of the Class of 2000, who exemplify the very best that the University of the Virgin Islands has to offer –– sound academic achievement, vision and the technical expertise to shape the next century," said UVI president Orville Kean.
The commencement speaker for the St. Thomas campus is Emmit McHenry, president and chief executive officer of NetCom Solutions International Inc., an international telecommunications, engineering, consulting and technical services firm that has been honored with numerous awards from customers and industry for performance excellence. McHenry is an active member of the State Department's Advisory Committee for International Communications and Information Policy.
He has held management positions with IBM, Connecticut General, Union Mutual and Allstate Insurance Company, where he served in several positions including regional vice president for the five northwestern states (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii).
The commencement speaker for the St. Croix campus is Michael S. Fields, chairman and chief executive officer of the Fields Group, a management consulting firm. The Fields Group provides operational, marketing and financial consulting services to emerging companies in the information technology industry.
Prior to founding the Fields Group, Fields founded and served as CEO and chairman of the board of Open Vision, a leading supplier of systems management applications for open client/server computing environment. Fields and his wife Sandra, a St. Croix native, maintain a home on St. Croix.
The St. Thomas student commencement speaker is Leandra Lailow. The St. Croix student commencement speaker is Shakira Wilson.
"As we embark on a new century, members of the Class of 2000 are poised to set the pace in their respective fields of endeavor with eagerness and determination — traits that are prized at the University of the Virgin Islands," Kean said.
