The H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) will host the inaugural Millicent Penn Mercer Lecture Series on September 29, 2026. Photo: HLSCC

Rochelle Smith, Director of the Jennie N. Wheatley Institute for Virgin Islands Studies said the HLSCC is working feverishly to organise the inaugural Millicent Penn Mercer Lecture. Photo: Facebook

Rochelle M. Smith, Director of the Jennie N. Wheatley Institute for Virgin Islands Studies, said the lecture series is named in honour of someone amazing.

“An ‘ordinary person’ who, in my mind, did something extraordinary. If you read about who she was, she was a teacher, she was a mother, she was a community advocate, and she said women can be involved in the leadership of this territory too.”

Penn-Mercer challenged the status quo at a time when women were rarely seen in political leadership.

“I don’t think she had any illusions that she was going to win when she first ran, but she knew that it was important for her to be there.”

Penn Mercer made history in 1974 when she became the first woman elected to Parliament and the nation's first female Cabinet Minister.

Women in Politics: Pioneers, Progress & Possibilities

The inaugural Millicent Penn Mercer Lecture will take place on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at 5:30 PM at the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium. 

Smith said the team at HLSCC is working “feverishly” to put the lecture together. 

The lecture will be held under the theme ‘Women in Politics: Pioneers, Progress & Possibilities’.

“She paved the way; she laid that foundation that we talk about,” Smith said.

Currently, there are three women serving in the House of Assembly: Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE (AL), Hon Luce D. Hodge-Smith (R4), and Hon Sharie B. de Castro (AL). 

“We’ve had many women before in elections, and so we want to highlight, for this inaugural event, women in political leadership here in the Virgin Islands. We are so excited about that,” Smith added.