Honorary doctorate for Dominica Prime Minister

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is to receive an honorary doctorate from the privately owned US-based Duquesne University in recognition of his leadership and advocacy on climate change.

The conferment of the Degree of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa will take place on Tuesday during a ceremony and will be conferred by the President of the University, Dr. Ken Gormley.

The university said that its honorary degrees are awarded to individuals “in recognition of distinguished service and commitment to the institution, humanity and academia”

The university which was established in 1878 and is regarded and is ranked among the country’s top Catholic universities, said that honorary degrees are also conferred on individuals who have made valuable intellectual contributions to society and the world.

Skerrit announced shortly after the passage of Hurricane Maria last year that he would move to make Dominica, the first climate resilient country in the world and has since established the Climate Resilient Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD), a task force designed to execute this vision.

The university said that immediately following the conferment ceremony, Skerrit will deliver a lecture on “Building Climate Resilient Countries” as part of the University’s ‘Integrity Creation of Leadership’ series.

“Prime Minister Skerrit will discuss how you rebuild and reconstruct in a manner that makes a country resilient to these catastrophes and these natural disasters,” said Dr. Gerald Boodoo, Director of the Center for African Studies.

“And that is more than simply physical buildings. It’s also in terms of education, how people go about thinking about their relationship to the environment and to the land. It’s also about political governance, what structures are going to be put into place and how people are going to get access to, as well as the financial means to, what’s creating these new contexts and Skerrit in two years. In 2016, he received a Doctor of Letters degree from Lovely Professional University of India “in recognition of his desire to build international harmony among nations and for his outstanding public services and excellent governance.”

Skerrit has been in Government for the past 18 years after being first elected to parliament in 2000. He served as a government minister for three years and as Prime Minister for the last 15 years.