THREE outstanding Caribbean professionals who have distinguished themselves in the fields of accounting, hospitality and tourism, and in medicine were on Sunday presented with honorary doctorates by University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) at its graduation ceremony in Kingston.

The three are Leighton McKnight, who last month retired as territory leader, PwC Jamaica; Godfrey Dyer, tourism and business titan and a distinguished governor of the Kiwanis Movement in Eastern Canada and the Caribbean; and Sandra Reid, deputy dean for clinical programmes and senior lecturer in psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad.

The Joan Duncan Foundation and the Veronica Campbell Brown Foundation received this year’s humanitarian awards in recognition of their outstanding philanthropic work.

McKnight delivered the guest address at the graduation while the valedictorian was Marlon Gooden.

This year is particularly significant for UCC as the university celebrates two important milestones — its 30th year in higher education and the 10th year since making the awards of honorary doctorates.

A record 700 graduands of undergraduate, graduate and masters degree programmes were eligible to participate at this year’s graduation.