The University of the Virgin Islands conferred 287 degrees during commencement exercises held Saturday, May 18th, on the St. Thomas Campus, and Sunday, May 19th, on the St. Croix campus.

Marie V. McDemmond, Ed.D., president of Norfolk State University, was the keynote speaker on both campuses. She was joined at the podium by local government representatives led by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, and UVI's executives, led by President Orville Kean and Chair of the Board of Directors Dr. Auguste E. Rimpel, Jr.

Martha Joseph, Student Government Association president on the St. Thomas campus, a summa cum laude graduate in English/Secondary Education, was the student speaker on St. Thomas. On St. Croix, Zahra O'Reilly, a magna cum laude graduate in Elementary Education, was the student speaker.

UVI granted 29 master's degrees in the fields of education, business administration and public administration. A total of 211 bachelor's degrees were awarded, including 168 bachelor of arts and 43 bachelor of science. Another 45 associate's degrees were conferred, 46 associate in arts and one associate in science.