Institute for Gender and Development Studies

in Gender and Development Studies

The Institute for Gender and Development Studies, across the three main campuses of The University of the West Indies, at Cave Hill, Mona and St. Augustine, announced the inaugural IGDS Louraine Emanuel Graduate Prize in 2016, to be given annually to a student for excellence in gender studies or gender and development studies.

It will be awarded to a registered full-time or part-time IGDS graduate student (PG Diploma, MSc, MPhil or PhD) on or near the completion of his/her programme. Academic excellence in written English and oral expression is the basis on which this award will be granted.

Each participating Unit will present this award annually subject to availability of funds and identification of a suitable candidate who meets the prescribed GPA or average grade equivalent as determined by the selection committee established by each Unit.

This award will be presented by the Nita Barrow Unit, St. Augustine Unit and Regional Coordinating Office. *

• This award consists of a book prize and a monetary gift of US$500 (converted into local currency).
• It is the aim, that the award be included in the annual student award ceremonies on each Campus.
• Deadline for submission of nominations by units: June 1 each calendar year

This award honours Louraine Emmanuel a beloved stalwart of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (now Institute for Gender and Development Studies). In 1986, Louraine Emmanuel left the Main Library of the Mona campus to partner with Lucille Mathurin-Mair on an ISS project1. In her more than twenty-one years as the Administrator, Emmanuel made a significant contribution to the development and growth of the programmes associated with the ISS project and, ultimately, to the establishment and institutionalisation of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies in 1993 on the academic landscape of The University of the West Indies. In this regard, Louraine Emmanuel brought her creative sensibilities, her facility with languages and a high level of professionalism to bear on the creation of the Centre as well as the execution of its teaching, research and outreach activities.

As Administrative Officer in the Regional Coordinating Unit (now called Office) of the CGDS, Louraine Emmanuel provided unwavering and invaluable support to the Units on all three campuses and was not only the administrative manager but also the collective memory: churning out reports, keeping immaculate records of meetings, managing projects, tracking budgets, interfacing with funding agencies, relating to regional and international development agencies, planning regional initiatives – and the list could go on. In essence, Louraine Emmanuel was the institutional archive of the CGDS, a function that seems incomparable in any single individual.

On Emmanuel’s passing on April 22, 2007, Professor Eudine Barriteau, in paying tribute to her life and work, noted that ‘Louraine worked faithfully in the CGDS, was proud of our collective accomplishments and played a significant role in keeping the Campus Units integrated into the regional structure’. Professor Barriteau noted that Emmanuel was part of the path-breaking work that created and sustained the CGDS and that her passing marked a turning point in the development of the Centre and its work. Barriteau poignantly suggested that ‘We are beyond our age of innocence when as a UWI institution we celebrate the life of one of our founding mothers’.

* These NBU, SAU and RCO host graduate programmes. The Mona Campus Unit will not offer this award, as it does not currently register graduate students, and has been offering the Dorian Powell Prize to its undergraduate students.

1 Financial support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs under its International Education Programme, supported a two phase Project of Cooperation in Teaching, Research and Outreach in Women and Development Studies between the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague and the University of the West Indies.

Inaugural celebration of the IGDS Louraine Emmanuel Graduate Prize

Regional Coordinating Unit, November 2014 

Celebrating a Founding Mother of the IGDS

At the Inaugural distribution of the "IGDS Louraine Emmanuel Award" for academic excellence in Gender and Development Studies, recent IGDS graduates, Ms. Jannet McIntosh and Dr. Winsome Townsend, received awards. The Award celebrates the life and contribution of Mrs. Louraine Emmanuel to the CGDS/IGDS, which she joined in 1986, working under the leadership of Dr. Lucille Mathurin Mair on the first project of cooperation between the Netherlands government and the UWI which eventually led to the establishment of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS). As Administrative Officer in the Regional Coordinating Unit of the CGDS, from 1986 until her death in 2007, she provided significant and unwavering support to the units on all three campuses. On the tenth anniversary of the then Centre for Gender and Development Studies (now the IGDS) she was honoured for her commitment, loyalty and contribution to the growth and development of the Centre. On hand for the celebration were the awardees and the Staff of the IGDS, RCU.
– RCU