Graduation

Honorary Graduands

Mrs Therese Mills – D Litt

Mrs Therese Mills became the first female editor of a national newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago when she was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Trinidad Guardian in 1989. After decades as a journalist—from reporter to senior feature writer to editor—she retired from that newspaper and began another chapter in her career.
In the paper she founded in 1993, Newsday, Mrs Mills injected not only formidable energy, but her considerable experience and almost 20 years later, the paper’s phenomenal success is a tribute to her.

Mrs Mills was a founding member of the Commonwealth Journalists Association, and has won many regional awards during her pioneering career. Her service to journalism was recognised with the national award of the Humming Bird medal in 1987, and a Long Service to Journalism Award in 1997 from the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago. She has published several books for children and young readers. She is the executive chairman, editor-in-chief and director of Daily News Ltd, publishers of Newsday.

Mr Deokinanan Sharma – LLD

The recipient of a Humming Bird Gold medal for his cultural contribution, Mr Deokinanan Sharma, was a founder of the Divali Nagar and was a major force in the birth of the National Council of Indian Culture, where he has served as President since 2000.

His contribution to cultural development spans a number of activities, such as the funding of an Indian orchestra in Debe in 1955. He has been an executive member of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha and the National Hindu Youth Organisation and was co-founder of the St Patrick Lions Club.
Mr Sharma was trained as a civil engineer and worked for nearly 40 years in that capacity.

Mr. Sharma will be honored on the afternoon of Thursday October 25th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Engineering & Law. Mr. Sharma will be a guest speaker at this event.

Mr Davan Maharaj – D Litt

Mr Davan Maharaj began his career in journalism at the Trinidad Express in 1980. After tertiary studies in the US in Political Studies, followed by a Masters’ Programme for Studies in Law at Yale Law School, he settled at the LA Times, where he had begun in 1989 as a staff writer for the Metro and Business sections. Two years later, he was promoted to Africa Bureau Chief, where he ran the Nairobi and Johannesburg bureaus, and wrote the award-winning series: “Living on Pennies” about life in poverty for hundreds of millions of Africans. He then spent a year as Assistant Foreign Editor, where he edited stories about Russia that won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. For two years, he was Deputy Business Editor before taking over as Business Editor in 2007.

From 2008 to 2011, he was Managing Editor of the paper, a news operation with a newsroom of more than 700 people and a budget of US$100 million. He oversaw the coverage of two wars, the global financial crisis and the historic presidential election in the US. In 2011, he was made Editor of the Los Angeles Times, one of the world’s largest newspapers.

Mr. Maharaj will be honored on the afternoon of Saturday October 27th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Medical Sciences. Mr. Maharaj will be a guest speaker at this event.

Mr Ronald Harford – LLD

Mr Ronald Harford is chairman of Republic Bank Ltd, where he has worked for 47 years. Apart from being a career banker, for which his contribution was recognised in 2010 with the Chaconia Medal (Gold), Mr Harford has been an exemplar in terms of mobilising corporate support for national development programmes.

The first phase of the Brian Lara Promenade was funded from the country’s five commercial banks with his encouragement. He was also the driving force in the formation of the Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago and Infolink Services Company Ltd, which saw all commercial banks cooperating to provide shared services.

A Fellow of the UK Chartered Institute of Bankers, the Institute of Banking of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Association of Banking and Finance, Mr Harford is also Chairman of the Barbados National Bank Inc, Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago (Barbados) Ltd, Republic Bank (Grenada) Ltd and The University of the West Indies Development and Endowment Fund.

Mr. Harford will be honored on the morning of Friday October 26th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Mr. Harford will be a guest speaker at this event.

Father Clyde Harvey – LLD

Father Clyde Harvey steps out of the pulpit often as he crusades to bring a voice of wisdom and reason to a society that often needs it. A vocal man, known at St Mary’s where he represented the college in basketball and public speaking, as one of “the last Greeks,” he entered the Seminary at St John Vianney in 1967. His undergraduate work at The UWI was in Politics and Sociology and his Master’s degree in Theology came from the Catholic University of Louvain. His post graduate work was in comparative religion, and in June 1976 he was ordained as a priest by Archbishop Anthony Pantin.

He is deeply involved in community services and issues. In 1979, he co-founded LIFELINE, now a hotline for suicidal and distressed people. He founded two HIV support organisations, Community Action Resource (CARe) and South AIDS Support. He chairs the Morris Marshall Development Fund, which provides educational and personal development opportunities to the Laventille Community, as well as Community Intervention for Transformation and Empowerment, a partner in the Pride in Gonzales Initiative. As parish priest in East Port of Spain, he works tirelessly to help communities in the fight against crime and violence. He is well known for his powerful social commentaries.

Father Harvey will be honored on the morning of Saturday October 27th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Humanities & Education. Father Harvey will be a guest speaker at this event.

Mr Alloy Lequay – LLD

Mr Alloy Lequay has been a sports administrator since the 1940s, and has given political service to this country for many years. He has documented these periods in the genres of autobiography, sport history and political narrative, leaving useful and informative accounts for posterity.

He has contributed towards the organisational structure of table tennis and cricket, being one of the founders of the Table Tennis Association, a member of the West Indies Cricket Board of Control and head of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control. His remarkable administrative skills pushed him as a natural choice for the many bodies he supported: he was a member of the National Sports Council, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Best Village Olympics, and a member of the Task Force appointed to draft a national sports policy in 1998.

He has served as a Member of Parliament (South Naparima 1966), and was twice nominated to the Senate.

Mr. Lequay will be honored on the morning of Friday October 26th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Mrs Maureen Manchouck – LLD

Mrs Maureen Manchouck is the current president of NIHERST (the National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology), a post she has held since 1994, when she moved from being acting president from 1990. She has been a driving force behind the popularisation of science and non-formal science education, overseeing such ventures as Yapollo, the mobile hands-on science exhibit, and the Caribbean Youth Science Forum which has become an annual event for sixth-form science students, and Sci-TechKnoFest, a science fair for all ages.

At NIHERST, Mrs Manchouck was key in developing national statistics on science, technology and innovation, which feed international and hemispheric databases, and which had not been done before in the English-speaking Caribbean.
In 2003, as vice-chair of Trinidad and Tobago’s Vision 2020 Sub Committee for Science and Technology, she was instrumental in reshaping the national development of science, technology and innovation. In tertiary education, she was part of the management team that oversaw the establishment of COSTAATT (College of Science, Technology and the Arts of Trinidad and Tobago, the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago and the Association of Caribbean Tertiary Institutions.

Mrs. Manchouck will be honored on the morning of Thursday October 25th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture. Mrs. Manchouck will be a guest speaker at this event.

Mr Michael Mansoor – LLD

Mr Michael Mansoor, a former Chairman of the Campus Council at UWI St. Augustine, is a banker by profession. He is currently the Executive Chairman of CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Ltd, and is based in Barbados.

Trained as a chartered accountant, Mr Mansoor has worked in very senior positions at Ernst & Young and ANSA McAl Ltd, as well as CIBC West Indies Holdings, where he was President and CEO, before moving to his current position.

Mr Mansoor has done national service in various capacities. He was an Independent Senator from 1987 to 1995, where his main area of concern was legislation relating to economics, financial and business matters. From 1996 to 1998, he was chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission and then at Powergen.

Mr. Mansoor will be honored on the afternoon of Friday October 26th during the Graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Mr. Mansoor will be a guest speaker at this event.