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Four to Receive Honorary Degrees

October 25, 2007

The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill continues to fulfil its commitment toward increasing the number of university graduates in households across Barbados and the wider Caribbean.

Over 1 500 students have met requirements to graduate from the Cave Hill campus this year, 89 of them with First Class Honours Degrees. This 2006/2007 graduating class of 1 526 students surpasses the 1 422 graduates in the last academic year, 79 of which gained First Class Honours.

Joining the students of the Cave Hill campus’ four Faculties and the School of Clinical Medicine and Research on the podium during the two graduation ceremonies this Saturday will be four of the Eastern Caribbean’s leading lights in the fields of business enterprise, economics and law.

The Cave Hill Campus will confer honourary doctoral degrees -  Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa – on Barbadian economist and international business consultant, Sir Courtney Blackman; Barbadian entrepreneur extraordinaire, Geoffrey Cave; Anguillan attorney-at-law Dame Bernice Lake; and Dominican jurist and current President of The Commonwealth of Dominica Dr Nicholas Liverpool.

The conferral of these degrees represents the bestowal of the university’s highest honours on persons who have achieved eminence in their chosen fields and are widely recognised for the excellence of their endeavours.

Sir Courtney, the feature speaker at the 10 a.m. graduation ceremony on Saturday, is an alumnus of the university, and of Columbia University where he earned his PhD. He is the founding Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, and has served as Barbados’ Ambassador to the United States of America, and as Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States. He has also undertaken several consultancies for governments across the world as well as with various international institutions and private corporations.

Also being bestowed with the honorary degree at the 10 a.m. graduation will be Cave, head of Bridgetown’s flagship retail enterprise – Cave Shepherd & Company Ltd. Cave, who is also chairman of Duty Free Caribbean Holdings is a graduate of McGill University, and has been the recipient of numerous honours and accolades, including the Barbados Centennial Honour and Commander of the British Empire. Also a Justice of the Peace, Cave has served with distinction on the boards of various government and non-governmental organisations in Barbados. 

Dr Liverpool, who will deliver the feature address at the 5 p.m graduation ceremony, has also attained eminence in the legal profession. A former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Cave Hill Campus, he has made a number of outstanding contributions to the Caribbean Community as a jurist and  been widely recognised and lauded for his work in the Commonwealth of Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, Grenada, Belize and in the Bahamas. Among his many signal achievements have been his role as conceptualiser and director of the Caribbean Justice Improvement Project.

Dame Bernice, a Queen’s Counsel throughout the Eastern Caribbean, is founding senior partner in the law firm Lake & Kentish of Antigua and Barbuda, and Anguilla. Also an alumna, Dame Bernice has given more than 35 years’ service to the legal profession and the West Indian community. She is a passionate human rights advocate who has worked hard to secure a climate of constitutionalism in the region.