Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and
Principal. Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - The
University of the West Indies (The UWI) Open Campus will confer an
honorary degree on Sir
Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton, current Governor-General of St. Kitts
and Nevis at its 2019 graduation ceremony slated for Antigua and
Barbuda on Saturday, October 12 at 10:00 am at the St
John’s Pentecostal Church, St John’s.

The St
Kitts and Nevis national
will receive the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) for outstanding
public service to his country.

Sir
Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton has an enviable record of public as
well as private sector service. An alumnus of The UWI and an attorney
by profession, Sir Tapley has made his mark as a regional pioneer in
the field. His career is dotted with trail-blazing accomplishments.

Admitted to practice
Law in 1975 from among the first group of graduates of the Faculty of
Law at The UWI Cave Hill Campus, he went on to become the first of
the cohort to be appointed Attorney General in 1980 at the age of 29.
This made him the youngest Attorney General in the Commonwealth. He
served as Attorney General of St Kitts and Nevis for 15 years,
becoming the longest serving Attorney General in the region. With
his tenure spanning both the pre and post-independent Federation of
St Kitts and Nevis, Sir Tapley also became the first Attorney General
of the independent state having earlier served as Crown Counsel,
Acting Registrar and Magistrate.

In
1985, Sir Tapley was awarded the rank of Commander of the Royal
Victorian Order by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during a Royal
Visit to St Kitts and Nevis. In 1988, he was elevated to the rank of
Silk (Queen’s Counsel) becoming the first graduate of the West
Indian Law School to achieve the honour.

After
his public service as Attorney General ended in 1995, Sir Tapley
spent 20 years in private practice, during which time he served as a
Director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, a member of the
Tripartite Committee (Government/Chamber/Trade Union) and a member of
the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. Other prominent positions he
has held include: President of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Bar
Association; President of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean
States (OECS) Bar Association; first President of the Saint
Christopher National Trust; Vice President of the Brimstone Hill
Fortress National Park Society; and Chairman of The UWI Territorial
Advisory Committee.

In
September of 2015, Sir Tapley was appointed Governor-General of St
Kitts and Nevis and later that year Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
conferred a Knighthood on him. He continues to share his passion for
law, history and conservation to enhance citizen patriotism.

Each year, The UWI recognizes individuals
for making significant contributions to the region and the wider
world in their respective fields of expertise.

Photo caption:
Sir Samuel
Weymouth Tapley Seaton

About
The UWI

For
the past 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, Asia, and
Africa such as the State
University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and
Sustainable Development,
the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of
Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the
Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of
Johannesburg (UJ).
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. Times Higher Education (THE) has ranked The UWI among the
top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best
universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018. It was the only
Caribbean-based University to make the prestigious lists. For more,
visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please
note that the proper name of the university is The University of the
West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)