SUNDAY 3RD JULY, 2016 – UWI TODAY
9
Rebecca Robinson is a writer and editor.
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL: PROFESSOR RHODA REDDOCK
Professor Rhoda Reddock
has been the
architect of improvements in several key areas, many
related to student life at The UWI, St. Augustine:
Teaching, Learning and Student Development
(under which fall Academic Quality and Student
Engagement and Experience); the establishment
of the Student’s Request for Deputy Principal’s
Intervention Online System; revitalising and
expanding co-curricular programmes; enhancing
and synchronizing the student orientation processes;
establishing the Student Academic Support Unit
within the then ASDLU which, among other things,
provides peer tutoring for students with academic
challenges, the integration and expansion of
Student Services into the new Division of Student
Services and Development which introduces a
number of new services and programmes such
as – Financial Advisory Services, Off-Campus and
Commuting Students Services and International,
Graduate and Mature Student Support; The
Student Services Seminar Series; the Biennial
Conference on Sport Studies and Higher Education;
facilitation of the Safe Space Initiative within the
CAPS for sex/gender diverse students; Halls of
Residence – Transformation into Living and Learning
Communities by establishing Residence Assistants,
Halls Code of Conduct and Zero-Tolerance to ‘hazing
and grubbing;’ Expanding Access to the Student
Health Insurance; institutionalising Service-Learning
and Community Engagement; establishment of
the Campus Museum Committee which is working
towards a Campus Museum and Art Gallery and
support to the UWI After-School Care Centre.
Crafting Today’s Millennials
B Y R E B E C C A R O B I N S O N
“In addition to her general responsibilities
related
to the overall management of the campus, the work of
the Deputy Principal focuses primarily on academic
quality and students. I have takenmy lead from the first
strategic aim of The UWI’s Strategic Plan 2007-2012,
which speaks of preparing a distinctive UWI graduate
for the 21st Century.”
So says Deputy Principal Professor Rhoda
Reddock as she launches into the final year in her
position, after eight years in that office.
Professor Reddock welcomes the extended term
(until July 2017) as an opportunity to work with the
incoming campus principal, Professor BrianCopeland.
In addition to her wide and packed portfolio,
Professor Reddock has initiated or contributed to
a number of university-level and campus policies.
Some have been implemented while others are still in
development. Among them are policies on Alcohol;
Student-Athletes; Health andWellness; and a revision
of the one on Sexual Harassment.
Her overarching goal remains to support the
University’s Strategic Plan in producing graduates
who have a regional frame of reference and exemplify
the following attributes: “a critical and creative
thinker; a problem solver; an effective communicator;
knowledgeable and informed; competent; a leader; a
team player; skilled and information literate; socially
and culturally responsive; ethical; innovative and
entrepreneurial; and a lifelong, self-motivated learner.”
“The UWI is responsible for the holistic
development of its graduates – where our programmes
and degree tracks cultivate academic excellence,
intellectual freedom, technical competence, creativity,
ethics and integrity, civic responsibility, diversity and
equity,” she said.
With this output driven agenda, Professor
Reddock will be engaging in “a year of consolidation.”
She will be seeking to fully institutionalise or ensure
these systematic adjustments are integrated and
adopted by staff and students alike. It’s one challenge
to make changes, and another to have them accepted
and sustained.
Professor Reddock credits her qualities of
persistence and perseverance for having been able to
make progress with her portfolio. Her understanding
of the university system also helps – she was head of
the Institute for Gender and Development Studies
for 14 years, since it was a Centre. She thinks that
her ability to see the big picture while simultaneously
attending to details has been instrumental in getting
the job done right.
Her goals are to structure a programme of
mutually beneficial UWI services to at least one of
the communities surrounding the campus involving
faculty, staff and students working together; to work
with the Director, DSSD and the Guild of Students
on strengthening the Guild’s administrative systems;
to progress the Campus Museum and Art Gallery
project, as well as The UWI’s After School Centre;
implementation of the Student-Athlete Policy and
to work with the DSSD director and staff and other
faculty to develop strategies for expanding diversity
and inclusion awareness, for instance, sexual rights.
She admits that none of this could be achieved without
the support and commitment of staff and faculty.
Her schedule has limited some of her professional
pursuits. Since becomingDeputy Principal, she has had
to limit her local and international engagement with
academic and activist causes. She has put the writing of
three books on hold. These include publications from
her collaborative research on youth sexual cultures and
the Break the Silence project, from which emanated
a successful campaign against child sexual abuse.
Her book on race/ethnicity, identity and citizenship
in T&T has also been on hold. She looks forward
to completing these. During this period, she has still
managed to publish seven peer-reviewed articles, four
book chapters and seven encyclopedia entries.
Professor Reddock’s work demonstrates her deeply
rooted belief thatThe UWI graduate, and by extension
the Caribbean people, must be equipped to transform
the trajectory of development and commit to social
justice in this region and the world.
Professor Reddock credits
her qualities of persistence
and perseverance for
having been able to make
progress with her portfolio.
PHOTO: ARTHUR SUKHBIR
