(Press Release) Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder of the US National Action Network (NAN), has announced that the organisation’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day awards will be conferred on Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and Dr. Anthony Fauci at the annual breakfast event on MLK Day, January 18, 2021.
This is the 30th anniversary for the awards by which the work, and the legacy of Dr. King are celebrated and persons honoured with a view to refocusing and sustaining his dream. Sir Hilary is recognised for his global advocacy, academic scholarship and intellectual leadership in support of social justice, institutional equity, and economic development for marginalised and oppressed ethnicities and nations.
Sir Hilary, Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, President of Universities Caribbean, Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council, Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission and Advisor on Sustainable Development to former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will receive the “Peace and Freedom Award”.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, famous American Physician and renowned Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will receive the “Lifetime Community Service Award”.
Prior awardees include the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton; Berry Gordy, Founder of Motown Music, and the 82nd Attorney General of the USA, Eric Holder. Event speakers have included Vice President-Elect Joe Biden and United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
The Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ceremony and awards will be held in Washington, DC on Monday, January 18, 2021 from 11:00 am EST/Jamaica or 12:00 noon AST/Eastern Caribbean. The event will be streamed live on UWItv’s website www.uwitv.org, cable channels on Flow EVO and Facebook page.
About The UWI
For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies; the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ); The UWI-University of Havana Centre for Sustainable Development; The UWI-Coventry Institute for Industry-Academic Partnership with the University of Coventry and the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research with the University of Glasgow.
The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport.
As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. The world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019 and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018 and 2019, then top 20 in 2020. The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
