WES MOORE, 63rd GOVERNOR, STATE OF MARYLAND, TO RECEIVE UNIVERSITY OF THE COMMONWEALTH CARIBBEAN (UCC) HONORARY DOCTORATE
Kingston, Jamaica, June 7, 2023: The celebrated Wes Moore, distinguished 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland, USA, will be conferred with a Doctor of Laws degree (Honoris Causa) by the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) at its annual Commencement ceremony on July 16, 2023.
In making the announcement, Professor Haldane Davies, President of the UCC said “the Board of Directors of the UCC is elated that Governor Moore has consented to receive the honorary doctorate from our institution and to deliver the Commencement address. He is a most eminent honouree and we are proud to welcome him to the UCC family and his maternal homeland.”
Maryland’s first black Governor in the state’s 246-year history, Wes Moore is just the third African American elected Governor in the history of the United States. He was also the first black Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where he earned a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Economics. As a Rhodes Scholar he received a Master’s in International Relations from Wolfson College at Oxford.
Governor Moore is also a graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy and College, where he was commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He has served as a White House Fellow, advising on issues of national security and international relations, is a decorated Army combat veteran, a best-selling author of inspirational memoirs, former Wall Street banker, social entrepreneur and non-profit CEO.
Born in the USA of a Jamaican mother and American father, Wes Moore has had a commendable history of community-contribution including as Chief Executive Officer from 2017-2021 of the Robin Hood Foundation, the New York City- based organization which helps to fight poverty in the city by funding Food Banks and shelters. During his tenure, the Foundation distributed over US$600M toward lifting families out of poverty.
Prior to that, he built and launched the Baltimore-based business BridgeEdU, which reinvented freshman year of college for underserved students to increase their likelihood of long term success.
Also receiving an honorary degree from the UCC this year will be Jamaican-born US entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, Dr Trisha Bailey.
UCC Honorary Doctorates have been presented previously over the past decade to a number of distinguished professionals including Professor Errol Morrison, Former President, the University of Technology; Mr. Bruce Bowen, former President and CEO, Scotia Bank Group; Dr Henry Lowe, Executive Chairman, Environmental Health Foundation; Mr. Richard Byles, Former President and CEO, Sagicor Group; Mr. Gary Hendrickson, Chairman and CEO Continental Bakery; Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Democratic Member US House of Representatives; Mrs. Dorothy Pine-McLarty, Chair, Electoral Commission of Jamaica; Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest, Managing Director, Jamaica Stock Exchange, Mr. Leighton McKnight, retired Territory Leader, PwC Jamaica and PwC Caribbean Leader for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Mr. Godfrey Dyer, tourism and business titan; Dr. Sandra Reid, Professor, UWI, St. Augustine; and posthumously to the Late Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Founder Sandals Resorts, the Jamaica Observer and ATL Ltd.
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About UCC
The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) is Jamaica’s largest, privately held, premier higher education institution, providing students with world class education programmes and highly trained and qualified local and international faculty. The institution currently offers professional, Certificate, Diploma, Associate Degree and Master's Degree programmes as well as customised corporate programmes across six (6) campuses on the island. It also offers, in partnership with the reputable University of Sunderland in the UK, two doctoral degree programs namely the Doctor of Business Administration, DBA and the Professional Doctorate, DProf. The institution has achieved institutional accreditation by the University Council of Jamaica and is also internationally accredited by the UK based Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges, and Universities. This positions the UCC as one of only five institutions of the eighty public and private tertiary institutions that have been registered by the UCJ, to have achieved this significant and decisive accreditation status.
