"Sir Arthur Lewis: A Man of His Time, and Ahead of His Time" was the theme of a distinguished lecture in honour of Sir Arthur Lewis, delivered by Professor Norman Girvan on February 20, 2008 at the Learning Resource Centre of the University of the West Indies. This was the first in a series of distinguished lectures being organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the St Augustine Campus, in collaboration with the Department of Economics and the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, to commemorate the Year of Sir Arthur Lewis at the University of the West Indies.

Sir Arthur Lewis was the first son of the Caribbean to be awarded a Nobel prize, in the field of Economics. He was also the first Vice Chancellor of a fully independent University of the West Indies. The University is celebrating the achievements of this outstanding Caribbean scholar in the year 2008.

Norman Girvan was a good choice to open the lecture series. He is currently Professorial Research Fellow at the UWI Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago and has served as Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States, Professor of Development Studies and Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies, and head of the National Planning Agency of Jamaica. He received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University College of the West Indies and his PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics. He has published extensively on the political economy of development in the Caribbean and the Global South. He is the recipient of several honours and awards.