Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, will be conferred with a Doctor of Laws degree (Honoris Causa) by the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) at its annual commencement ceremony on July 16.

In making the announcement, Professor Haldane Davies, president of the UCC said “the board of directors of the UCC is elated that Governor Moore has consented to receive the honorary doctorate from our institution and to deliver the Commencement address.  He is a most eminent honouree and we are proud to welcome him to the UCC family and his maternal homeland.”

Also receiving an honorary degree from the UCC this year will be Jamaica-born US entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, Dr Trisha Bailey.

Maryland’s first black Governor in the state’s 246-year history, Wes Moore is just the third African American elected governor in the history of the United States. He was also the first black Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Economics. As a Rhodes Scholar he received a Master’s in International Relations from Wolfson College at Oxford.

Governor Moore is also a graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy and College, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army.  He has served as a White House fellow, advising on issues of national security and international relations, is a decorated Army combat veteran, a best-selling author of inspirational memoirs, former Wall Street banker, social entrepreneur and non-profit CEO.

Born in the United States of a Jamaican mother and American father, Wes Moore has had a commendable history of community-contribution including as CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, the New York City-based organisation which helps to fight poverty in the city by funding food banks and shelters. During his 2017-2021 tenure, the foundation distributed over US$600 million toward lifting families out of poverty.

Prior to that, he built and launched the Baltimore-based business BridgeEdU, which reinvented freshman year of college for underserved students to increase their likelihood of long term success.