DOVER, Del. - Delaware State University's 2024 graduate commencement ceremony will feature its first prime minister keynote speaker. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, will take the stage in Dover at 1 p.m. May 10.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. Courtesy of Delaware State University.
According to DSU, in Oct. 2011, Prime Minister Holness became the youngest person, at age 39, to serve as the Prime Minister of Jamaica. Before becoming Prime Minister and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, he became a Member of the Jamaican Parliament in 1997. He served as Opposition Spokesperson on Education and Land and Development and worked on housing issues. He would later serve as a Minister of Education from 2007 to 2012.
DSU President, Tony Allen said, “Prime Minister Holness has led Jamaica’s remarkable economic turnaround that has attracted global attention. We could not be more pleased to have a distinguished leader offer his words of wisdom to the 2024 graduating class. We are all looking forward to hearing his perspectives on sustainable development as he shares his vision of a shared prosperity for all.”
This year's undergraduate commencement ceremony keynote speaker will be Exelon President and CEO, Calvin Butler at 8 a.m. Prime Minister Holness will in the William B. DeLauder Education & Humanities Theatre on campus.
At the time, Vice President Joe Biden gives a speech to the graduating class of Delaware State University.
Other past notable DSU commencement speakers include then-past President John Kofi Agyekum of Ghana in 2015, then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in 2016, and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester in 2023.