THE Northern Caribbean University (NCU) will confer its first ever doctoral degrees at this year’s graduation exercise.

The candidates, Daniel Fider and George Dawkins, both of whom pursued doctorates in education, will be the first ever PhD graduates since the institution received charter to operate as a university in 1999.

Fider is currently vice-president for admissions and university relations, while Dawkins, a noted mathematician, is an assistant professor in the College of Graduate Education and Leadership.

The university’s PhD programme in education began in 2000, just one year after the institution, which operated as West Indies College for decades, blossomed into Jamaica’s third national university.

The two doctoral students are among the 904 graduates who will be receiving their degrees today, August 14, in what will be a new-look commencement, or degree conferral, exercise.

This year’s commencement will be broken into two services, to accommodate the large number of graduates from the institution.

This year the institution will also be awarding the President’s Medallion to Director of Health Services at NCU, Charmaine Holness.

Holness, who is also the institution’s Chief Nurse and an NCU alumnus, will be awarded for outstanding contribution to the field of health, to the university, the Mandeville community and Jamaica.

The president’s medallion is awarded each year by university president Dr Herbert Thompson to individuals who have contributed to the growth of the university.

NCU also to confer honorary doctorates on:

Lenice Barnett, executive director of the Students Loan Bureau, is being recognised for her work at the loan agency and her years of experience in commercial and central banking, and for having served on various boards. Barnett will be the featured speaker at the afternoon session of NCU’s commencement exercise.

Dr Lloyd Dayes, Professor of Neurology at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, is an alumnus of West Indies College. He has served in the medical field for over 45 years. Dayes has authored more than 60 scientific articles and publications and is doing research on brain tumors.

Novelette Tai, from Bird’s Hill, Clarendon, consistently gives financial assistance to Seventh-day Adventist institutions, and has contributed to the development of the Andrews Hospital, West Indies College and Bird’s Hill Preparatory School, among others. She will similarly receive a Doctor of Laws. The Tais have also contributed the ‘Tai Centre’ the commercial hub of the university.

Aston Tai will be conferred with the Doctor of Laws for “unswerving” community service. Originally from Glengoffe, St Catherine, is a businessman who sits on several boards, including Love FM, the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, Master Printers Association, and Andrews Memorial Hospital.