News Releases

St Augustine Campus names four Valedictorians

For Release Upon Receipt - October 26, 2009

St. Augustine


Four graduands to speak alongside five Honorary Doctorates    

The University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago has announced the names of four valedictorians who will speak at Graduation Ceremonies on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st October, 2009. At these Ceremonies for the Presentation of Graduates, the St Augustine Campus will also confer five honorary degrees.

On Friday 30th October at 10 a.m., in the first of four St. Augustine Campus graduation ceremonies, Kailash Jaikaransingh, Valedictorian of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, will graduate with First Class Honours, having completed an undergraduate B.A. degree in Communication Studies with a minor in Literature. Jaikaransingh sees her future in Communication Studies and intends to pursue an M.A. in Communication Studies abroad before returning to Trinidad to work and complete her Master’s Thesis part time. Theatre artist and poet Mr. Christopher Laird and noted biographer Professor Arnold Rampersad will receive the honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt.) in the Friday morning ceremony where Jaikaransingh will deliver the Valedictory Address.  

In the Friday afternoon ceremony, which starts at 4 p.m., Tennille Auguste, Valedictorian of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, will graduate with a distinction in Veterinary Medicine. Auguste has always loved animals and is determined to pursue further studies in the areas of surgery and diagnostic imaging and ultimately become a surgeon. Dr. Auguste will speak alongside Angela Cropper, Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, who will receive a DLitt from the University for her work relating to issues of the environment and sustainable development.

Ms Chava O’Sullivan, graduating with First Class Honours in her BSc. Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, will deliver the Valedictory Address in a ceremony starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday 31st October. For O’Sullivan, a Jamaican national, life at UWI St. Augustine was no cake walk; her first two years were the most challenging years she spent at UWI. She intends to gain work experience in the telecommunications field, then pursue a postgraduate degree in Communications. O’Sullivan will deliver the Valedictory Address in a ceremony in which the University will honour petroleum industry pioneer, Mr Robert B. Riley with an LLD.   

In the fourth and final graduation ceremony, which starts at 4 p.m. on Saturday 31st October, Ms. Joni Lee-Pow, Valedictorian of the Faculty of Social Sciences will speak alongside celebrated entrepreneur and philanthropist, Mr. Yesu Persaud, who will receive an LLD for his endeavours and accomplishments. Lee-Pow, a wife, mother, marathon runner and former National Scholarship winner, believes life is about loving as much as it is about learning, a belief that drove her to achieve First Class honours in her undergraduate BSc. degree in Psychology. She intends to pursue a Doctorate in Clinical Neuropsychology.

For this and other news stories on UWI, please visit our official news website at http://sta.uwi.edu/news.  

 

About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

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