PRESS RELEASE 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 9, 2026

Contacts: 

Lydia Sermons or Carol Wilkerson

Email: mediarelations@howard.edu 

Phone: 202-288-7071

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Howard University will formally confer the Eric Eustace Williams, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Caribbean Studies upon distinguished scholar and Howard University professor Carole Boyce-Davies, Ph.D. The investiture ceremony will take place on Thursday, Sept. 17, 1 p.m., at Howard University’s the Oliver, 2715 Georgia Ave.

The investiture will honor the extraordinary legacy of Eric Eustace Williams, Ph.D., the historian, scholar and former Howard University professor who became the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, while recognizing Boyce-Davies’ distinguished international scholarship and contributions to Caribbean and African diaspora studies.

The endowed chair represents a continuation of Howard University’s historic intellectual relationship with Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean, and will provide a platform for scholarship, teaching, research and dialogue focused on the Caribbean and its global influence.

“Eric Williams understood that scholarship carries its greatest power when it moves beyond the academy and is put into service to people, communities and nations,” said Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA, president emeritus and interim president of Howard University. “His years at Howard were an important chapter in a remarkable journey that ultimately helped shape the future of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. Dr. Carole Boyce-Davies represents that same tradition of rigorous scholarship, global engagement and service. Through this endowed chair, Howard University is ensuring that Dr. Williams’ intellectual legacy will continue through new scholarship, new ideas and generations of students who will deepen the connections between Howard, the Caribbean and the broader African diaspora.”

For Dr. Frederick, who was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago before coming to Howard as a student, the occasion also carries personal significance. His own journey reflects the longstanding relationship between Howard University and the Caribbean that the endowed chair seeks to preserve and strengthen.

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