Making a lasting contribution
Dame Sandra Mason
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Dame Sandra obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the Cave Hill Campus in 1973, and a Certificate of Legal Education from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad in 1975. The newly minted attorney then went on to blaze a trail in the legal field, achieving several firsts throughout her career. She is the first Barbadian female attorney-at-law to graduate from the Hugh Wooding Law School, the first Barbadian to be appointed as a member of the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, the first female president of that tribunal, and the first female Court of Appeal Judge of the Supreme Court of Barbados. Dame Sandra has held several roles in the administration of justice. She was Magistrate of the Juvenile and Family Court in Barbados and a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. She is also a former Chief Magistrate and Registrar of the Supreme Court of Barbados. Additionally, she has been a member of several organisations including the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Chair of the Community Legal Services Commission, and a member of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission. She is also a former diplomat who served as Ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, Colombia and Brazil. On January 8, 2018, Her Excellency officially took up her appointment as the eighth Governor General of Barbados and was conferred with Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG). Upon assuming office, Dame Sandra became the Chancellor and Principal Dame of St Andrew (DA), under the Order of Barbados. The conferral of the honorary doctorate on October 2 brought her relationship with Cave Hill full circle, having been among the Faculty of Law’s first cohort in 1970. During the special convocation ceremony, she reflected on the early days of the pioneering class of the institution’s first faculty. As Dame Sandra accepted the award, she told her family, friends and campus officials present at
the ceremony that her graduating class owed an immeasurable debt of gratitude to the university. “Our gratitude is more because attendance at The University of the West Indies results in a complete education underpinned by the listed core values which guide the university’s mandate. The values of integrity, intellectual freedom, excellence, civic responsibility, accessibility, diversity, and equity,” she stated. Her Excellency also lauded the Faculty of Law’s “monumental achievement” of reaching its 50 th anniversary. “Since 1948, when it was established as the University College of the West Indies to bring light, liberty and learning to the region, this university has always remained cognizant that it had to justify the dreams of our forefathers that we, sons and daughters of our cruel history, take a bold step into the world of academia. With fervent endeavour, we have reached the stage where we now boast of being a world-class institute of learning. “Some 20 or so years after its inception, The University of the West Indies, in deciding to establish the Faculty of Law, proved yet again that it understood that the formula to success for this region was to unleash the potential of its people. It understood that to continue to fulfil the potential of bringing light, liberty and learning to its people, it needed to definitively proclaim our Caribbeanness,” she said. It was no doubt in the same spirit of liberty and Caribbeanness that when Dame Sandra addressed Barbadians shortly after being sworn in as the island’s first President, she declared: “Today, we set our compass to a new direction, girded by the successes of the last 55 years, buoyed by the confidence garnered from our triumphs and accomplishments, committed to country and to each other, and motivated to press confidently and boldly forward for the sake of our nation and for present and future generations.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES CAVE HILL CAMPUS ANNUAL REPORT TO COUNCIL 2021/2022
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