UMass Dartmouth will honor Nishita Roy-Pope, Indian American CEO of Courage Builder and two other regional leaders in business, healthcare, and workforce development with honorary degrees at its 2026 Commencement.
Besides Roy-Pope, UMass Dartmouth will award honorary degrees to Richard Lafrance and Jacqueline G. Somerville, in recognition of their impact and service during the May 21 Doctoral Commencement ceremonies, according to a university release.
The honorary degree is the University’s highest distinction and recognizes individuals whose professional achievements, leadership, and service reflect the values of UMass Dartmouth and inspire its graduating students.
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Roy-Pope is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, and former Fortune 50 corporate leader who now serves as CEO of Courage Builder, a workforce development company focused on leadership, innovation, and emerging industries such as technology, life sciences, entrepreneurship, and the blue economy.
At Dell Technologies, she launched a global innovation program, built an industry-recognized early-career talent initiative, and helped lead a $150 million global sales-leads program. She has engaged over 500 UMass Dartmouth students through conferences, internships, and experiential learning, with more than 40 of them hired by Dell.
As leader of Courage Builder, Roy-Pope has impacted thousands of students and professionals and connected them with opportunities at leading companies, such as Nike, Amazon, Fidelity, IGT and more.
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She facilitates professional development and leadership training for early and mid-career professionals, managers and Executive leaders and creates access and exposure programs for K-12 and college populations in high growth and emerging fields, including tech, entrepreneurship and the blue economy.
Roy-Pope is also the visionary and founder of Rhode Island’s annual Innovation & Impact Conference, which has brought together 350+ leaders and professionals from across startups, corporate, non-profit and higher education.
Recognized with several leadership awards, she also serves on many nonprofit boards, including Rhode Island organizations Social Enterprise Greenhouse (SEG) and Times2 Academy and on the Technology Advisory Board for the Boston-based UP Education Network.