Beckles gets Antigua's highest award

The Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Rodney Williams, conferred the Governor General's Faithful and Meritorious Award's highest honour, the Cross and Plaque, on vice-chancellor of UWI, Prof Hilary Beckles. The award recognises Beckles’ 40 years of distinguished service to UWI and the Caribbean.

Williams described Beckles as “a giant of a Caribbean man who has a passion for people, a passion for progress, a passion for productivity and a passion for preserving the past treasures of the region,” a media release said.

At the December 4 ceremony, Williams also said the honour was not only well deserved, but timely since Beckles' 40 years of distinguished service at UWI coincided with the celebration of Antigua and Barbuda's 40th anniversary of political independence.

A lengthy citation, which outlined the many academic accolades and internationally-recognised social contributions of Beckles, also identified his leadership at UWI as a transformational one, as evidenced by the results of his "Triple A" management strategy of Access, Alignment and Agility, the release said. This strategy laid the foundation that led to UWI’s recent ranking among the top universities globally by the Times Higher Education (THE), and its current standing among the top 1.5 per cent of universities in the world.

In his response, Beckles expressed his gratitude to Williams for the honour. He also said divine intervention, the influence of his parents, mentors and his hard-working team at UWI have all contributed to making him the West Indian man he is today.

The ceremony took place in the Investiture Room at Government House in Antigua and Barbuda and among the distinguished guests. Among them were Antigua and Barbuda’s acting Prime Minister Steadroy Benjamin; Minister of Education, Culture and the Creative Industries Daryll Matthew, chair of UWI's Five Islands Campus Council Aziz Hadeed and pro vice-chancellor and campus principal of UWI Five Islands Prof Densil Williams.