The Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies (UWI) has said that it will wel­come 16 out­stand­ing glob­al cit­i­zens to its grad­u­a­tion stage this year.

Among them are lo­cal cul­tur­al icons Lord Nel­son and Ros­alind Gabriel.

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, UWI said that in keep­ing with an­nu­al tra­di­tion across the five cam­pus­es, the Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil has ap­proved the con­fer­ral of the 16 at UWI’s 2022 Grad­u­a­tion Cer­e­monies.

The hon­orary grad­uands, recog­nised for their con­tri­bu­tions to sev­er­al ar­eas in­clud­ing Sport, Cul­ture, Law, Busi­ness, and Sci­ence will join the 2022 grad­u­at­ing class in-per­son this year, as a ma­jor­i­ty of cam­pus­es re­turn to face-to-face cer­e­monies.

How­ev­er, UWI's Open Cam­pus will re­tain the host­ing of a vir­tu­al grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny.

The 2022 Grad­u­a­tion Cer­e­monies take place be­tween Oc­to­ber 8 and No­vem­ber 5.

This year’s hon­orary grad­uands join the ranks of a pres­ti­gious list of few­er than 500 per­sons who have been award­ed since 1985.

The sched­ule for the 2022 cer­e­monies and the list of hon­orary grad­uands fol­low.

Five Is­lands Cam­pus – Sat­ur­day 8 Oc­to­ber, 2022

· Sir Richard Ben­jamin Richard­son of An­tigua and Bar­bu­da for his con­tri­bu­tion to Sport – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

· Al­ston Beck­et Cyrus of St. Vin­cent and the Grenadines for his work as a So­ca Artiste/Com­pos­er – Doc­tor of Let­ters (DLitt)

Open Cam­pus – Sat­ur­day 15 Oc­to­ber, 2022 (Vir­tu­al)

· Dr. Cleopa­tra Doumbia-Hen­ry, PhD, LLM of Do­mini­ca for her work in In­ter­na­tion­al Labour and Mar­itime Law – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

· Sir Hugh An­tho­ny Rawl­ins of St. Kitts and Nevis for con­tri­bu­tions to the Ju­di­cial are­na – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

Cave Hill Cam­pus – Sat­ur­day 22 Oc­to­ber, 2022

· Dr. Joy St. John of Bar­ba­dos for her work in Med­i­cine and Pub­lic Health lead­er­ship – Doc­tor of Sci­ence (DSc)

· His Ex­cel­len­cy Am­bas­sador Gabriel Abed of Bar­ba­dos/UAE for En­tre­pre­neur­ship and pi­o­neer­ing Dig­i­tal Cur­ren­cy – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

· Mr. E. Neville Is­dell of Ire­land for con­tri­bu­tions to Busi­ness and Phil­an­thropy – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

St. Au­gus­tine Cam­pus – Thurs­day 27 Oc­to­ber, Fri­day 28 Oc­to­ber and Sat­ur­day 29 Oc­to­ber, 2022.

· Dr. Shakun­ta­la Haraks­ingh Thilst­ed of Trinidad and To­ba­go for con­tri­bu­tions to Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ence and Nu­tri­tion – Doc­tor of Sci­ence (DSc)

· Ms. In­grid L-A Lash­ley of Trinidad and To­ba­go for her work in Cor­po­rate Bank­ing/Fi­nance – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

· Ms. Ros­alind Gabriel of Trinidad and To­ba­go for her work as a Band Leader/En­ter­tain­er – Doc­tor of Let­ters (DLitt)

· Dr. Wayne A. I. Fred­er­ick of Trinidad and To­ba­go for con­tri­bu­tions to Sur­gi­cal Sci­ence – Doc­tor of Sci­ence (DSc)

· Lord Robert Nel­son of Trinidad and To­ba­go for con­tri­bu­tions to cul­ture and Ca­lyp­so – Doc­tor of Let­ters (DLitt)

Mona Cam­pus – Thurs­day 3 No­vem­ber, Fri­day 4 No­vem­ber and Sat­ur­day 5 No­vem­ber, 2022

· Pro­fes­sor The Ho­n­ourable Or­lan­do Pat­ter­son of Ja­maica for his work as a His­tor­i­cal and Cul­tur­al So­ci­ol­o­gist – Doc­tor of Let­ters (DLitt)

· Sen­a­tor The Ho­n­ourable Dr. Rose­mary Mood­ie of Ja­maica/Cana­da for Pae­di­atric Med­i­cine and Phil­an­thropy – Doc­tor of Sci­ence (DSc)

· Mr. Adam Stew­art of Ja­maica for his work as an En­tre­pre­neur/Phil­an­thropist – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD)

· Ms. Di­ane Jaf­fee of The USA for her work in Fi­nance – Doc­tor of Laws (LLD