As part of its 60th Anniversary celebrations, the University of Guyana will be conferring on a number of Guyanese the Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy degree on November 9, 2023.
The university in a press release yesterday said that the awardees are Baroness Valerie Amos, actress CCH Pounder, cricketer Rohan Kanhai, Keith Waite, Bernadette Persaud, Frank Woon-A-Tai, Jeanette and the late Richard Allsopp, Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, Abdool Sattaur Gafoor, and Kenneth Singh. Baroness Amos will address the graduation on November 10th at 10 am at the University’s 3rd graduation ceremony.
Baroness Amos, born in Guyana and of Brondesbury, London, is a British politician, and is the first woman of African Caribbean descent to serve in a British Cabinet and as Leader of the House of Lords (2003–07).
Pounder, the award-winning actress can currently be seen as “Mo’at” in James Cameron’s AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER and in the limited series, FULL CIRCLE on Max. Pounder portrayed “Dr. Loretta Wade” on the CBS series, NCIS: NEW ORLEANS for seven seasons and other notable projects including; Smithsonian Channel’s 100 YEARS OF SLAVERY as well as the television shows THE GOOD FIGHT, WAREHOUSE 13, SONS OF ANARCHY, REVENGE, BROTHERS, LAW & ORDER: SVU and HBO’s THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY, which garnered Pounder her fourth Emmy nomination.
For seven years, Pounder portrayed “Claudette Wyms” on the critically acclaimed FX series, THE SHIELD, which earned her many accolades including an Emmy nomination, the MIB Prism Award,” two Golden Satellite Awards and the “Genii Excellence in TV Award.”
Pounder will receive the University of Guyana’s distinguished Honorary Doctorate for Excellence in Arts along with Guyana-based visual artist Bernadette Persaud on Saturday, November 11th at 10 am at the University’s 5th graduation ceremony.
The other conferees include Flautist and folklorist, Keith Waite, who could not receive his award in 2022, as well as renowned Caribbean linguist duo – Jeanette and the late Richard Allsopp. Internationally-acclaimed Karateka Shotokan Frank Woon-A-Tai, Legendary Test Cricketer and former West Indies cricket captain, Rohan Kanhai, of Port Mourant, Berbice; two icons of business – international shipping magnate and UG alumnus, Kenneth Singh and manufacturing and construction tsar and philanthropist, Mr. Abdool Sattaur Gafoor complete the list of conferees.
The University’s Selection Committee for Special Awards said that selections were made over a year-long process and expanded to ten for this 60th anniversary year only. The university said that nominations for honorary doctorates must be made through a faculty in the University at least one year in advance of the award to allow for the various approval steps and background research to be robustly conducted. Other categories of awards are expected to be made during the course of anniversary year 2023-2024. The University extends congratulations to this year’s awardees.
Additionally, the University is set to graduate close to three thousand graduands, the largest in the sixty-year history of the University. The university said preparations are in high gear as it hosts its 57th Convocation Ceremonies from November 9 to 11 2023 for the Turkeyen Campus and November 18, 2023, for the Berbice Campus. Six ceremonies, two each day, for graduands of the Turkeyen Campus will be held at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) in Georgetown from Thursday November 9th to Saturday November 11th. The ceremony for the UGBC graduands will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 15:00 h (3:00 P.M.) on the University Lawns, Berbice Campus, Tain Settlement.
The ceremonies will be blended with the large majority of the graduands attending face-to-face and the remaining participating virtually. The public is invited to celebrate with the University of Guyana at this year’s very special 60th anniversary graduation events which will be streamed live on the University’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/uniofguyana and UG Broadcasting Service at https://broadcasting.uog.edu.gy/.
