NORTHERN Caribbean University (NCU) will confer the prestigious Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, on Robert E Levy, chairman, Jamaica Broilers Group. The conferral will take place on the final day of the university’s graduation exercises at the main campus in Mandeville on August 9.

Instrumental in establishing the Jamaica Broilers Group as one of the Caribbean’s leading agro-industrial organisations, Levy is lauded for the group’s substantial increase in profit and in the more recent past, its expansion into ethanol production.

A philanthropist, Levy believes his organisation is blessed and it is upon this that his desire to give back to society is built. Possessing an unconditional love for people and God, Levy serves in several capacities, some of which include director of the board of Kings House Foundation, director of the Back to the Bible Broadcast (Jamaica) and a long-standing member of the Jamaica Agricultural Society. He is also a past president of the American Chamber of Commerce and has served in the past as a director of the board of the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, as well as a director of the Rotary Club.

In October 2002, Levy was awarded the national honour of the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD), for his contribution to the development of the livestock industry in Jamaica. On March 29, 2008, he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts, honoris causa, from the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in recognition of his exemplary life as a family man, in business, in church and in the society.

Each year NCU identifies persons who have contributed significantly to the development of their country and people, and recognises this contribution by conferring on them the institution’s honorary doctoral degrees. Levy is one of two such persons being honoured this year. The university will also confer the honorary Doctor of Laws degree on NCU alumnus Dr Milton D Morris, who is the president of MDN Office Systems Inc based in Maryland, USA. Dr Morris is the initiator of the Morris Entrepreneurship Centre, a business outreach arm of the university based in the Cobblestone Professional Centre in Mandeville.

Graduation at NCU occurs three days culminating in the commencement on the final day. The Graduation 2009 exercise will run from August 7-9, after which some 1,000 new professionals and entrepreneurs will enter the workforce with bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.