For Release Upon Receipt - April 7, 2015
St. Augustine
The University is pleased to welcome Judge Laura D. Blackburne, host of NAACP Crisis Today (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), as the featured guest speaker. Justice Blackburne has been devoted to public and community service in the local, national and international arena for more than 45 years. She has been a sensitive jurist with solid judicial skills; a dynamic law professor; a gifted mediator, a creative conflict manager; an innovative and energetic administrator; a fearless Chair of the New York City Housing Authority; a tireless and effective civil rights advocate, and a vibrant public speaker. Justice Blackburne is a member of New York State Bar Association, the United States District Courts of the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the Supreme Court of the United States. She earned her undergraduate degree from the Ohio State University and her Law Degree from the St. John’s University, School of Law. She has also received Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from St. John’s University and Niagara University. Before she retired from the bench, Justice Blackburne and her daughter, Judge Anna Blackburne Rigsby were the only mother and daughter judges of courts of general jurisdiction in the United States. Her daughter is now the youngest judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, their highest court.
Interested persons can confirm their participation by contacting to Ms. Mekai Pujadas via email to Mekai.Pujadas@sta.uwi.edu or call @ 662-2002 ext. 82032. Keep up with the latest information on social media by tagging #COMunity2015
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About The UWI
Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu
(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
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