UC Davis will hold a special ceremony Dec. 12 to recognize Japanese American students who had their educations derailed by World War II internments.

The four campuses in existence at the time of the internment order—UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Francisco—have scheduled degree-awarding events for December and spring 2010. Meanwhile, UC continues its search for students interned during World War II; the campuses want to honor as many people as possible and are still seeking potential recipients.

During the ceremonies, the campuses also plan to acknowledge former students who were interned but returned to UC to finish their degree.

On July 16, the UC Board of Regents agreed to grant special honorary degrees to Japanese American students who were enrolled at UC and never received a UC degree as a result of the internment. About 700 UC students withdrew from school in 1942 when they and more than 120,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast were detained in internment camps.

Former students who may be eligible, their families or friends are encouraged to contact individual UC campuses about receiving an honorary degree. Campus contacts and ceremony information can be found at http://honorary.universityofcalifornia.edu.

The location of the UC Davis ceremony has not yet been determined. Check Dateline for updates.

Ceremonies and contact information:

UC Davis
When: Dec. 12
Where: TBD
Contact: Louise F. Uota
(530) 754-2007
lfuota@ucdavis.edu

UCSF
When: Dec. 4, 3-6 p.m.
Where: Robertson Auditorium at Mission Bay
Contact: Maria Blandizzi
(415) 476-9063
maria.blandizzi@ucsf.edu

UC Berkeley
When: Dec. 13, 3 p.m.
Where: Haas Pavilion
Contact: Caroline Allum
(510) 642-3805
callum@berkeley.edu

UCLA
When: spring 2010, exact date TBD
Where: TBD
Contact: Patricia Lippert
(310) 894-8604
tricial@ucla.edu

Harry Mok, a principal editor in the UC Office of the President's Integrated Communications group, contributed to this report.