4
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER, 2014
Vice-Chancellor Awards for 5
A Cuban
Perspective
The UWI will recognise
an entire department as well as
four faculty members at its Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for
Excellence Ceremony this October.
The Department of Life Sciences in the Faculty of
Science and Technology at the St. Augustine Campus in
Trinidad and Tobago is the first recipient of the newly
implemented Vice-Chancellor’s Departmental Award for
Excellence. Professor Jonas Addae from the Department
of Preclinical Sciences at the St. Augustine Campus will be
recognised for his accomplishments in teaching.
Professor Simon Mitchell, Head of the Department
of Geography & Geology, and Professor Marvin Reid,
Director of the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, will
receive the honour for their research accomplishments
while Professor Hopeton Dunn, Director of the Caribbean
Institute of Media & Communication, will be honoured for
his contributions to public service. All three are at theMona
Campus in Jamaica.
Thehistoryof theDepartment of Life Sciences dates back
to 1922. Among its exemplary accomplishments, the Award
recognises its well managed processes and procedures, data
driven decision-making, student and stakeholder centred
development, innovation and demonstration of a results-
oriented focus. In the last four years, the Department of
Life Sciences has earned external funding in excess of 4.3
millionUS dollars, wonThe University’s 2012 Award for the
OUR CAMPUS
Professor Dr Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart,
son
of former president of the Republic of Cuba,
Fidel Castro, delivered the feature address at a
lecture held at The UWI, St Augustine in July.
During the lecture, “Global Challenges in Science
and Innovation for Sustainable Development:
Remarks from a Cuban Perspective,” Castro Diaz-
Balart noted that “oil and gas will be depleted
within the next century or two, depending on
the rate of extraction,” and the challenge to
produce enough food will also become greater,
making science and technology even more crucial.
He identified Cuba as an important example of
scientific and technological achievement in the
region, pointing out that it has one of the highest
medical doctor ratios in the region, with an
estimated 60,000 doctors. Cuba has 68 universities
and 2.5 million people enrolled in schools across
the country.
most productive research department and a campus award
for the most successful project for its work on the Caroni
Swamp Research and Development Impact Fund. In the last
decade, its teaching accomplishments have been reflected in
an estimated 46% increase in the year-one student pass rate
and transition to the advance part of the degree.
Professor Addae, Professor of Physiology in the
Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical
Sciences at the St. Augustine Campus, has made a stellar
contribution to teaching at The University. He has served
as the Head and Principal of the Preclinical Sciences
Department and, since 2008, has occasionally acted as Dean
of the Faculty. He was one of the winners of the first UWI/
Guardian Life Premium Teaching Awards held in 2000.
Professor Addae describes his teaching methodology as
intended to generate in students the passion to learn new
information using an inquiry based teaching method, in
which students generate most of the relevant questions
rather than being given the questions by the lecturer. He
is an advocate of contextual learning as well as learning
outside of the classroom and believes in the importance of
students understanding their learning skills. As such, for
more than a decade, Professor Addae has been conducting
learning skills sessions for first-year students in all schools
of the Faculty.
Since 1994, The UWI’s Vice-Chancellor
has been recognising and rewarding outstanding performance by academic and senior administrative staff. In the 2012
to 2013 academic year, a departmental award for excellence was added, allowing for one annual award valued at US$10,000 to be made to any department, institute,
section, site, research unit, or centre that clearly demonstrates the highest commitment to quality, to service and operational excellence.
The 2014 Vice-Chancellor’s
Awards for Excellence will take place on October 27 at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference Centre at The UWI in Jamaica.
From left, Professors Andy Knight, Director of the Institute of International Relations at St Augustine,
Dr Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart and St Augustine Principal Clement Sankat.
Jonas Addae, Professor of Physiology, encourages his
students to ask questions rather than wait for them.
