Professor Sir Hilary Beckles honoured

Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has been selected by the American Historical Association as its Honorary Foreign Scholar for 2023.

The Association has annually recognised a foreign scholar since 1885, and with the honour, Sir Hilary joins a distinguished group which includes George Trevelyan (1944) and Sir Winston Churchill (1963).

A release from UWI notes the Honorary Foreign Scholar award was presented at the Association’s 2023 ceremony in Philadelphia on January 5, 2023.

Commenting on the honour, Professor Beckles noted, “This award by my American peers is among the greatest of academic honours, which I accept on behalf of The UWI that gave me the opportunity as a young historian to develop and contribute at the global level.”

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles is the second Caribbean scholar to receive the award. In 1998 the award went to Cuban historian Manuel M. Fraginals.

The 2023 honour also follows Professor Beckles’ 2022 appointment as the President’s Honorary Visiting Distinguished Scholar at Cornell University, for six years.