Palau’s president to deliver La Sierra graduation address, receive honorary doctorate

Surangel S. Whipps, Jr., Palau’s president, will deliver a commencement address titled “Navigating the Future, Knowing God is in Control” for the Class of 2025 Conferring of Degrees ceremony. The culminating graduation event will take place at 8 a.m. on Founders’ Green on the university’s campus, completing a weekend of commencement events.

In recognition of his leadership and commitment to public service, Whipps will also receive an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the university, presented by President Christon Arthur who is overseeing his first commencement since taking the leading role at La Sierra on July 1 of last year.

"It will be my privilege to welcome to campus and to present an honorary doctorate to an individual who has dedicated so much of his life to lifting up his people, striving to better their lives, and working to strengthen his country," Arthur said. "He exemplifies the ideals we strive to instill in our students, of seeking truth, knowing God and serving others."

Whipps’ daughter, Moded Samantha Surangel, is graduating magna cum laude with a degree in political economy and accounting from the Zapara School of Business. She received an award from the school on June 3 for 2025 Outstanding Senior for Accounting, Economics and Finance.

Whipps, a Seventh-day Adventist, is the 10^th president of the Republic of Palau, a country of about 340 islands, islets and atolls. Until 1994, Palau operated under the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) previously administered by the United States on behalf of the United Nations. Whipps is a former two-term senator who served in the 8^th and 9th Palau National Congress before running for the presidency in 2016. He currently serves in the 12^th Constitutional Government after being re-elected for a second term in the general election held on November 5, 2024. He first assumed the presidency in January 2021.

Prior to his presidency, Whipps served as chief executive officer of Surangel & Sons Company, transforming it from a small retail store into a diversified enterprise employing more than 600 people. He operates from a platform that envisions an improved quality of life for Palauans, with efforts aligned under the slogan “Palauan People First” which focuses on a commitment to bring the welfare of Palauan peoples to the forefront. He has prioritized public health and economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and has focused on restoring the tourism sector, protecting the environment, and bringing international attention to the existential threats posed by climate change and ocean pollution. He also led efforts to diversify Palau’s economy through technology and negotiated key provisions of the economic assistance component of the Compact of Free Association with the United States.

Whipps' administration is expanding Palau’s tourism markets and major capital improvement projects include the construction and renovation of educational facilities, the development of a new national hospital, completion of a modern Division of Corrections facility, construction of a new fishing port, and enhancements to Palau’s solar energy storage capacity to provide more reliable clean energy.

Whipps holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on economics from Andrews University in Michigan, a Seventh-day Adventist institution, and an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He and his wife, Valerie Esang Remengesau, have four children.

Sunday’s Conferring of Degrees will include the following awards:

• Distinguished Scholarship Award, Kent Bramlett, chair of the H.M.S. Richards Divinity School’s Department of Biblical Studies and Archaeology, curator and director of the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology, and co-director of the Baluʿa Regional Archaeological Project in Jordan.

• President’s Award for Outstanding University Undergraduate Student, Nyla Provost, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and History. Provost is an Honors program member and president of the Student Association of La Sierra University. Through the association, she launched the “Building Better Community” initiative which sought to unite students, faculty and staff. Her off-campus contributions include the production of curricula for an incarceration re-entry program for Goodwill of Southern California.

• President’s Award for Outstanding University Graduate Student, Vy Cao, Ph.D. in Leadership from the School of Education. She earned an MBA from California State University, East Bay in 2018, and a BA in Business Administration from Sai Gon University in Vietnam in 2012. During her time at La Sierra, she has served as a mentor to international students, providing invaluable academic, social, and emotional guidance, and helping many navigate the challenges of cross-cultural transition and higher education.

Recipients of awards from the deans of the three schools and the College of Arts & Sciences and from the Office of Alumni Relations will also be recognized.

Graduation weekend begins Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. with a consecration service at the La Sierra University Church and continues Saturday, June 14 at 11:15 a.m. with a baccalaureate service at the church. Weekend information and livestreams of the consecration and baccalaureate services and of the June 15 Conferring of Degrees ceremony are available at https://lasierra.edu/graduation/