Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has received numerous awards in recognition of his contributions to academic research into transatlantic slavery, popular culture, and sport.
The UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia has extended its regards to Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, who assumed the office of Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies on May 1.
Sir Hilary is a distinguished university administrator, economic historian and specialist in higher education and development thinking and practice; and an internationally reputed historian.
He is the principal author of The Brain Train: Tertiary Education Thinking and Planning in the Caribbean (2002). He is Vice President of the International Task Force for the UNESCO Slave Route Project; a consultant for the UNESCO Cities for Peace Global Programme; an advisor to the UN World Culture Report; and member of Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon’s, Science Advisory Board on sustainable development.
Sir Hilary received his higher education in the United Kingdom, graduating with a BA (Hons) degree in Economic and Social History from Hull University in 1976, and a PhD from the same university in 1980. He has received numerous awards including Honorary Doctor of Letters from Brock University, the University of Glasgow, University of Hull, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, in recognition of his major contribution to academic research into transatlantic slavery, popular culture, and sport. He is an editor of the UNESCO General History of Africa series. Sir Hilary was made a Commander Knight of St Andrew (KA), Barbados’s highest honor, in recognition of his distinguished service in the field of education in particular, at university level and his dedication to the furtherance of the arts and sports in particular, cricket.
He has lectured extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas and has published more than ten academic books.
Sir Hilary was most recently honored by the Borough of Brooklyn, New York, on April 10, 2015 for "extraordinary achievements, outstanding leadership and his contribution to the community.
For additional details on Sir Hilary Beckles, please download the attached PDF.