1,250 to graduate from UG Saturday

Justice Roxanne George is sched-uled to deliver the feature address at the 44th Convocation of the University of Guyana Turkeyen Campus, on Saturday on campus.Approximately 1,250students from seven fac-ulties and schools and the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education will be grad-uating, the UG said in a release. Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Compton Bourne, will preside over the ceremo-ny. Of the graduating class, 778 are first de-gree graduands, 393 are graduating with di-plomas and associate degrees, 174 with cer-tificates, 35 with post graduate diplomas, and 22 with Master’s de-grees. Worthy of note is the fact that the num-ber of Social Sciences graduands has declined by 189 over the previ-ous year. At the 43rd Convocation last year, the University, for thefirst time in its history, bestowed the honour of Professor Emeritus on three of its outstanding former Professors: Sister Mary Noel Menezes, Dr Winston Mc Gowan, and Doris Rogers. On this occasion, another such award will be made. Serving Professor Joycelynne Loncke will be bestowed with the honour of Professor Emeritus. RegistrarVincent Alexander dis-closed, “This award is normally bestowed on an academic who, byhis or her performance,merits acclamation at the professorial level for his or her work in aca-demia. In that regard,Professor Loncke’s cur-riculum vitae speaks for itself.” Another hallmark of the graduation will be the announcement of ma-jor awards to students of the graduating class, in-cluding the President’s Medal for the Best Graduating Student; the Chancellor’s Medal for the Second Best Graduating Student; and the Council of the University of Guyana Prize for the student who has made the great-est contribution in other areas of university ac-tivity. According to the reg-istrar, “This is all part ofthe University’s award scheme, (which) sees scores of prizes fundedby the university and the private and public sectors being distrib-uted to the graduating and continuing studentsfor their meritorious ac-ademic and extra-cur- ricular performances.” In addition, the uni-versity will be reintro-ducing the Chancellor’sReception, which will be held on November 18, 2010 for graduands and faculty. The Students’ Society has also planned a Graduation Ball, scheduled for the Sky Seven Club on the eve-ning of the graduation exercise. Meanwhile, the University Council will meet for its Annual Business Meeting on Friday, November 19. This meeting will be the second such to be pre-sided over by the cur-rent chancellor. High on the agenda is the Vice-Chancellor’s Reportand the University’s Financial Report and presentation of its au-dited accounts. The Ninth Convocation of the Tain Campus will be held on Saturday, November 27. Over 172 students from the four divi-sions: Agriculture and Forestry, Education and the Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences are ex-pected to graduate. The public is asked to notethat in case of inclement weather, an announce-ment about the change of venue will be made on Saturday at 11:00 h on radio and television.