Professor the Hon. Rex Nettleford, a Vice Chancellor emeritus of the University of the West Indies last week received a “Docteur Honoris Causa” degree from the Universite des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG) at its Guadelope campus along with three other Caribbean awardees in what was the inaugural presentation of such doctorates by the French West Indian University.

A release from the University states that “since its inception in 1918, the title Docteur Honoris Causa has been one of the most prestigious distinctions ever devised by French universities. It is a means of honouring personalities of foreign nationality for outstanding services rendered to Science, Letters or the Arts, to France or to the university”. This solemn expression still current today underscores the importance of the conferral ceremony which took place for the first time at UAG on January 30, 2007. Guadelope, Martinique and Guyane are departments of France.

The release further states that “the selection of Professor Nettleford and three other awardees re-affirms on the one hand the openness to international accomplishments of the UAG as well as its grounding within the wider Caribbean region and the depth of its scientific and cultural collaboration”. The UAG and the UWI have had collaborative contacts for many years.

The conferral of the honorary degree was to four professors hailing from the Caribbean region – Jose Carlos Chaves da Cunha from the Federal University of Para in Brazil, Radhames Mejia from the Pontificia Catolica University of Madre Maestra of Santo Domingo, Rita Gonzales-Delgado from the University of Havana in Cuba and Rex Nettleford of the UWI.

Professor Nettleford, a former president of UNICA (Association of Caribbean Universities and Research Institutions) of which the French Antillean University is a member, was himself made an officer in 2004 with the Ordre des Arts et Lettres from the French government and is the recipient of several honorary doctorates from universities on both sides of the Atlantic. The citation from the UAG alluded to his academic work in arts and culture in development recognized both regionally and internationally.
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June V. Degia (Mrs.)
Acting Public Relations Officer
UWI, Mona Campus
Phone: 977-5941/935-8348
February 7, 2007