This year’s theme, “Ready, Set, Click: Navigating Quality in the Blended/Online Teaching and Learning Environment,” underscores our campus’s capacity to excel in blended/online teaching and learning, emphasizing successful engagement. The event was held at The UWI’s Learning Resource Centre on September 22, 2022.

(From Left-Right) Dr. LeRoy Hill, Director Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) The UWI, St. Augustine, Dr. Suzanne Burke, Head of Department Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies Faculty of Humanities and Education, Mr. Marcos Reyberg, Vice-President -Finance, Guardian Life of The Caribbean,  Dr. Amy Deacon Lecturer, Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, The UWI St. Augustine Campus and Dr. Bephyer Parey Post-Doctoral, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies

2022 Awardees

Dr. Bephyer Parey, a Junior Research Fellow at the SALISES, has been teaching at The UWI since 2008 and currently lectures on research design and statistical analysis. She has a track record of high-quality international publications and regularly disseminates her research to various audiences. Dr. Parey serves on departmental, faculty, and One-UWI committees. Dr. Parey chairs the SALISES Disability Studies Research Cluster, which is responsible for operationalising a Memorandum of Understanding between The UWI and the Equal Opportunity Commission of Trinidad and Tobago.

Dr. Amy Deacon joined the Faculty of Science and Technology in 2016. She is a graduate of the Universities of Oxford (BA), Bangor (MSc), and St Andrews (PhD), and earned her Certificate in University Teaching and Learning at The UWI in 2017. Dr. Deacon’s research centres on aquatic biodiversity, invasive species and Trinidad’s most famous fish: the guppy. She is passionate about all the courses she teaches, spanning level 1 to MSc. Alongside publishing in biology, Dr. Deacon has contributed to pedagogical research, applying reflective practice to ecological fieldwork and examining the role of tertiary institutions in building conservation capacity in the Caribbean. She is also a proud co-organiser of T&T’s annual Bioblitz, which engages both students and communities in valuable biodiversity surveys.

Dr. Suzanne Burke was formally trained in the areas of Psychology (B.A. – York University, Canada), Development Studies (M.A.: Magna Cum Laude – ISS, The Netherlands), Sociology (Ph.D. – Essex University, UK) and Education Practice (Essex University, UK). Her main academic concern is exploring the domain of culture as a vehicle for social and economic insight and transformation. Her research focuses on Caribbean industries in culture, creative entrepreneurship, cultural policy formulation and cultural practice-based pedagogies. She has worked extensively with a wide cross-section of public sector enterprises, civil society organisations and private agencies in the areas of strategic planning, human resource development, policy analysis, cultural sector mapping and planning, and audience research within and outside of the Caribbean. This research was the focus of her award of a Commonwealth Fellowship that was completed at City University, London in 2016. Between 2017-18, she was part of the Technical Working Group that assisted in the formulation of the only cabinet-approved National Cultural Policy of Trinidad and Tobago.

Feature Speaker

 

Dr. Camille Dickson-Deane is a Senior Lecturer Higher Education at the University of Technology, Sydney Australia.  She is a Fulbright and Organisation of American States (OAS) scholar with expertise in three diverse geographies. Her research focuses on the sociotechnical spaces in field of learning, teaching and performance and has demonstrated this expertise by publishing journal articles, book chapters and media pieces whilst also producing artefacts, completing expert reviews and conducting evaluations on learning designs for face to face, blended and online environments

Dr. Dickson-Deane serves on two Q1 editorial boards Educational Technology Research and Development and Journal of Computing in Higher Education as well as serving in leadership positions with the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) and the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (IBSTPI). Most recently she was selected as one of the 2022 panelists to represent Australia on EDUCAUSE’s Horizon Report.

E: camille.dickson-deane@uts.edu.au

T: @camille_dd

The  UWI / Guardian Group Premium Teaching Awards 2018 under the theme, Innovative Strategies for Teaching Excellence in Lean Times took place on Friday September 28th 2018.

This year’s outstanding awardees were as follows:

Dr. Paul Balwant has been lecturing at the Department of Management Studies at The UWI for seven years.

He lectures graduate and postgraduate courses on leadership, organizational behaviour and human resource management. Paul holds a PhD in Management from The Institute of Work Psychology at The University of Sheffield, and has been the recipient of prestigious scholarships for his undergraduate and doctoral studies.

His studies on instructor-leadership and student engagement have been published in internationally recognized educational journals. In the 2014 Academy of Management Meeting, Paul was awarded the Best Paper in Management Education Award for the paper that offers the most significant contribution to management education.

 

Dr. Jovanca Smith joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine as a Lecturer in October of 2015.

Dr. Smith is a graduate of Morgan State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Northwestern University with a BSc., MSc., and Ph.D. respectively in Civil Engineering. She also earned a Pg. Cert. in University Teaching and Learning from The UWI.

Her research focuses on numerical modeling of concrete, fracture mechanics of conrete and concrete forensics. She was a GK-12 fellow of the National Science Foundation, and a graduate fellow of National GEM Consortium in the USA. Dr. Smith’s core belief as an educator is to empower students for a world beyond the degree.

 

Dr. Elaine Monica Davis boasts a career at The UWI that spans more than a quarter century and with but few years to retirement, she considers one of her most significant personal achievements to be the conceptualisation, organisation and conduction of the first ‘high-stakes’ OSCEs which were required for Phase I students to progress to Phase II in 1996 March (FMS, St. Augustine) and 1997 May (Manipal, India).

An inextricable part of this medical education component of her career, was the creation and publication of booklets to assist students to prepare for the examination, viz. History Taking Skills Manual for First Year Medical Science Students (1995) EM Davis & SA West and Guidelines for Skills training for the School of Basic Health Sciences (1996 & 1997).

 

 

Feature Speaker 

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Dr. Branday completed his undergraduate medical training at The University of the West Indies, Mona in 1973 and on completion of internship, entered The UWI Surgery Training Programme at Mona graduating in 1979. After obtaining his Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, he returned to a lecturer’s post in the Department of Surgery at Mona in 1980. During his tenure, he spent short periods as Surgeon in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands and has been a PAHO Consultant to the Belize Medical Council and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

In 1993-1994, he spent sabbatical leave in Wales on a Commonwealth Academic Scholarship where he pursued his interest in teaching and in 1995, was awarded the MSc in Medical Education from the University of Wales in Cardiff. In 2005, he received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching. He chaired the Faculty Curriculum Committee from 1998-2006 and led a major curriculum reform that replaced the traditional, discipline-based model with an integrated, system based structure in 2001. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1988 and to Professor in 2001 and during these years, served the University Hospital as surgical consultant and Director of the Jamaica Burn Unit.

In 2010, he was transferred to Barbados as Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Cave Hill until 2015 when he returned to Mona as Director of Medical Education. He has served on The UWI academic staff for some 38 years and has been closely involved with The UWI quality assurance systems and the process of regional accreditation. He has participated in several UWI cross-campus internal quality reviews and led visiting teams for accreditation site visits on behalf of the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP).

Awardees

 

 

 

Awardees

 

Dr. Jacqueline Bridge joined the Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at UWI in January 2002.  She holds a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University, New York.

She teaches courses in the Applied Mechanics stream including Mechanics of Machines and Finite Element Methods.  Her main areas of research are vibrations and nonlinear dynamical systems theory.

In 2004, she received a World Renewable Energy Network Award for contributions to research and public awareness of energy issues in the Caribbean and in 2006, she received a Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers award for contributions to tribology education in Trinidad.

 

Dr. Geeta A. Kurhade, Senior Lecturer, Department of Pre-Clinical Sciences (since 2009) and former Professor of Physiology Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, India, has been a teacher for 29 years.

She is a proud graduate (1981) from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences at Sewagram, affiliated with the ONLY hospital started by Mahatma Gandhi in 1944.  She earned her Diploma in Gynecology and Obstetrics in 1984 and MD Physiology in 1992 from Nagpur University, India.  She earned The UWI Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (CUTL) in 2012 / 2013.

Always keen on using the latest technology to engage her students in learning, she uses social media (Facebook and WhatsApp) as teaching tools.  She is the Chairman of the Committee of Undergraduate Studies, Pre-Clinical Sciences, and a member of the Faculty of Medical Sciences’ timetable committee.  A WHO Fellow in Physiology (1998), She has published about 20 research articles in Journals of International repute.  Dr. Kurhade is also a social activist, an elected member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Violence and Injury Prevention (ISVIP), and an active member of IANSA, the International Action Network on Small Arms.

 

Mr. Jason Matthew, Instructor, Department of Life Sciences (2008 to present) is the creator of the BiochemJM Facebook page, BiochemJM blog and BiochemJM YouTube channel, which have 240,204 views from 190 countries, 1,873 subscribers, and 1,418,152 minutes watched respectively.

His students are encouraged to imagine create and innovate by creating their own 15-minute videos on topics from the syllabus.  He has delivered Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) seminars on using screencasts in teaching and student video assessments.

Mr. Matthew’s research Biochemians Got Talent: Student Assessment Through YouTube Video Presentations was presented at the 2013 MIT LINC conference.  His current research includes the impact of blended learning and new technologies in higher education.

 

Dr. Michelle Mycoo has served 17 years as a Senior Lecture in the Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management in the Faculty of Engineering. In 2008, Dr. Mycoo was recognised as one of 20 lecturers under 60 years of age at the St. Augustine Campus for excellence in teaching, research and outreach.

In October 2014, she will be the recipient of the UWI-NGC award for the Most Outstanding Researcher in the Faculty of Engineering over the last three years.  Dr. Mycoo’s passion for teaching in the discipline of Urban and Regional Planning is resolute.

 

For the past 15 years Dr. Farid Youssef has served as a Lecturer in Human Physiology in the Department of Pre-Clinical Sciences at the Faculty of Medical Sciences.  He first completed a medical degree in 1995, but shortly afterwards chose a career in teaching and research over clinical medicine.

Dr. Youssef completed his PhD in 2000, and most recently, completed a Master in Applied Psychology with a Mental Health Specialization at the University of Liverpool.  Over the years, he has taught a diverse group of persons including medical, veterinary, optometry, psychology, nursing and pharmacy students both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

 

 

Feature Speaker: Professor Yearwood

Topic: FOCUSING THE FRENZY: Student Engagement and Technology

Dave Yearwood, Ph.D., CSTM, is a Professor, Department Chair, and Graduate Director in the Technology Department at the University of North Dakota (UND).  He has been teaching in higher education for 25 years and his experience reaches across two academic tracks— ePedagogy in Higher Education and Electronic Control Systems.  Professor Yearwood studies the topic of instructional technology in Higher Education and his work on electronic control systems examines the use of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), microcontrollers, and Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) in commercial and consumer applications.

He has an extensive background in electronic simulation systems—the US Air Force where he worked on various military flight simulators; he taught simulation maintenance at a community college; and he also uses simulation software extensively in his work with students at UND. Professor Yearwood’s study/research and publications include a book chapter on Podcasts and publications on instructional technology.  One of his areas of focus is “Electronic Pedagogy”—how faculty infuse presentation or other technologies into their practice to connect and engage students, enhance their understanding of course content, and promote dialogue that leads to a critical examination of a topic/subject under examination.

Professor Yearwood also has extensive experience designing and developing instructional multimedia modules as stand-alone units or as supplements for use in blended classrooms. His study of electronic controls is focused primarily on the creation of “smart systems” aided by computers. He was presented with the outstanding teacher award in the College of Business and Public Administration (CoBPA) on two occasions where he earned the coveted teaching, service, and scholarship award (CoBPA). He was nominated at the university level for outstanding graduate and undergraduate teaching awards, and was listed several times in the Who’s Who Among America’s College Teachers.

In 2009, he was one of four professors recognized nationally by the Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering (ATMAE), a professional association for technology and technology management professionals and students, as an Outstanding Professor in teaching, research, and service.

Awardees

 

Professor Surendra Arjoon. Professor of Business and Professional Ethics. Head, Department of Management Studies (2011-present, 2002-2005) and Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences (1996-2002). Internationally recognized as one of the Leading Authors in Business Ethics Research with over 250 citations of his work including the New York Times and the Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics.

 

Dr. Gelien Matthews has been a member of the academic staff of the University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus from August of 2006 to the present. She read her PhD in Economic and Social History at the University of Hull, England having been the recipient of The Black Diaspora Scholarship in 1999.

She has two major publications; Caribbean Slave Revolts and the British Abolitionist Movement published in 2006 by the Louisiana State University Press and History of the Church of the Nazarene Trinidad and Tobago published in 2008. She currently lectures in Caribbean, American and Gender History

Dr. Chalapathi Rao A. V., Senior Lecturer and Unit Coordinator, Department of Para-Clinical Sciences and former Associate Professor, Manipal University, India has been involved in teaching medical students and other health professionals for over twenty-five years. He pioneered the pathology museum and clerkship manual, Faculty of Medical Sciences, which has served as a teaching-learning and assessment resource for over a decade.

While holding several leadership positions at the FMS, he has made significant impact on course design and assessments in the Year III MBBS programme. Dr. Rao recently earned the professional development certificate from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Sandra Reid is Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medical Sciences with seventeen years service at UWI. A Hubert H. Humphrey fellow and member of the Delta Omega Alpha Society in Public Health (Johns Hopkins), she has distinguished ehrself as psychiatrist, researcher and teacher.

Dr. Reid has received several international grants for research in substance abuse and HIV, gender sexuality and HIV, and addiction education, resulting in peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She pioneered the Caribbean Regional Certificate Programme in Addiction Studies, and is Director of the Caribbean Institute on Alcoholism and other Drug Problems, the region’s foremost addiction certification programmes.

Dr. Geraldine Elizabeth Skeete has been a lecturer, tutor and coordinator in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the UWI, St. Augustine since 1999.  She holds a BA (First Class Honours) and PhD (with High Commendation) in Literatures in English, and a Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (with Distinction).  She received a Most Outstanding PhD Thesis Award 2006/2007, is the co-editor of The Child and the Caribbean Imagination, and has published in the Caribbean Review of Gender Studies and The Caribbean Teaching Scholar. Her areas of interest are Caribbean literature, literary linguistics, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

 

 

 

Feature Speaker: Dr. Baldev Singh

Dr. Singh currently heads Strategic ICT Developments at Imagine Education Limited.  He was the head of ICT in a large secondary school in Bristol (UK) and was the recipient of the 2004 National Teaching Award for Innovation in Education.  He was involved in teacher training (both in the UK and overseas) and completed an ICT teacher training programme on behalf of the British Council in six countries in the Middle East region (NENA project) and more recently in India.

Dr. Singh is also a national judge for the Teaching Awards (UK) and is on the panel for the BETT (UK) and Education Awards, which promote technology in education. He has a strong background in research and has been involved in teaching at the University level.

Awardees

 

Dr. Shivananda Nayak teaches Biochemistry to Medical, Dental, Veterinary and Pharmacy students at The UWI’s Faculty of Medical Sciences, St. Augustine Campus.  Before joining The UWI, he held several academic positions at Kasturba Medical College of Manipal University, India.  He received his Master’s degree in Medical Biochemistry at Kasturba Medical College of Mangalore University, India, and PhD in Biochemistry at the Kasturba Medical College of Manipal University.

He has authored four textbooks and is actively involved in research in the area of type-2 diabetes and wound healing activity of medicinal plants.  As a researcher he has published more than 50 articles in national and international peer reviewed journals.  The recipient of several honours and awards for his service in the discipline of Clinical Biochemistry, research and teaching.  His biography was included in the Marquies Who’s Who in 2009.  Dr. Nayak is a member of the Timetable and Ethics Committee, Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI, St. Augustine.

 

Dr. Charlene M. L. Roach is a Lecturer at the Department of Behavioural Sciences, UWI, St. Augustine Campus.  She holds a BA in History and a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from The UWI and a Master’s and Doctorate in Public Administration from Arizona State University, U.S.A.

Her areas of research and teaching are in Public Management/Public Human Resources Management, Organizational Behaviour/Organizational Studies for the Public Sector, E-Government and Public Policy and in the scholarship of teaching and learning.  She is a foreign correspondent for an international teaching and learning journal, The Journal of Public Affairs Education, U.S.A. and a reviewer for a Caribbean teaching and learning journal.  Dr. Roach is a graduate of the first cohort of The UWI Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching and Learning.

 

Dr. Grace Sirju-Charran currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer and Subject Leader in Biochemistry in the Department of Life Sciences.  Her research interests include not just anatomical, biochemical and molecular studies on tuberisation in the tropical root crops: cassava, sweet potato and yam bean but, interestingly, also gender and ethical issues in Science and Science Education.  She has authored and co-authored over 45 peer-reviewed publications and delivered several conference and workshop presentations.

The recipient of a number of Fellowships and Awards, she has served the University as Subject Leader of Botany; Head of the Department of Life Sciences; Head of the Institute of Gender and Development Studies, St. Augustine; and Coordinator of the Women and Development Studies Group, St. Augustine Campus.  She has also served on several Boards nationally and regionally

 

Feature Speaker: Dr. Brian Croxall

Topic: Five Reasons to Use Social Media in the Classroom

Dr. Brian Croxall, is Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Postdoctoral Fellow and Emerging Technologies Librarian, Woodruff Library, Emory University.  He received his M.A. in English Literature, Emory University, his B.A. magna cum laude in Humanities: English Literature emphasis and Music, Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in English Literature and Certificate in Psychoanalytic Studies, Emory University.

He has authored two articles and reviews and developed several digital projects.  He has had the opportunity to present at over 22 conferences and is the recipient of several honors and awards.  He has designed and taught many courses, some of which are: Reading Media and Technology in Contemporary Literature and Theory, English, American Literature, Critical Writing about Literature, Poetry and World Literature.  Some of his research projects and teaching interests are: Twentieth and Twenty-first century American fiction, American literature after 1865, technology, trauma theory and psychoanalysis, media theory, social media, electronic literature and new media, critical theory, and war fiction.

Dr. Croxall’s presentation has been posted to his blog http://www.briancroxall.net/2010/10/05/five-reasons-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom.

Dr. Croxall’s extensive bio can be found on his website www.briancroxall.net.

The year 2008 marked the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking collaboration between The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited.  This year we looked back to rediscover our achievements and chart the way forward.  To mark the occasion, we had a specially selected Feature Speaker, one of our very own, the renowned Prof. Bridget Brereton.  Prof. Brereton is the first local speaker to grace the UWI/Guardian Life series of events.  The theme was Ten Years On: Making SoTL Real.  While our focus was on honouring the 2008 winners, our retrospective included narratives from past awardees whose viewpoints are a rich resource that can only advance teaching and learning on campus.  This was directly in keeping with the 2007-2012 Strategic Plan which has teaching and learning as one of the pillars of the UWI.

 

Awardees

Greer Jones-Woodham, B.F.A (Hons.) Pratt Institute N.Y., M.Ed, Framingham State College, Certificate SoTL in Higher Education, University of British Columbia. Greer has been an educator for may years and most recently an Assistant Lecturer at the UWI in the Department of Creative and Festival Arts in Textile Design and in 2002-2008 taught Art Studio drawing and painting; Exhibited in four one woman shows and several group shows in St. Lucia, New York, England, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago.

Curator of the national exhibition for Carifesta XI in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana’s Carifesta XII (2008); began her professional career with Republic Bank as design consultant implementing their brand Identity system, authored, designed and produced the Bank’s Corporate Identity manual. This design won an award from the International Centre for Superior Standards in Design, Brussels Belgium.  Her work in the theatre includes designing of set/costumes for Derek Walcott’s “Dream on Monkey Mountain”, Branch of the Blue “Nile,” “Steel’’, Errol Hills “Dance Bongo” Earl Lovelace’s “Jestina’s Calypso” and “Three Women” written by Belinda Barnes-Durity, Eunice Allen and Anne Louise -Tam. Greer’s recent presentation of her paper entitled “Using E-learning portfolio technology to support visual art learning” at the technology and teaching session in the IMSCI conference in Orlando (June 2008) won her best paper in the session.

Her research looked at the maker as the intuitive and reflective practitioner, the making as the process in which the e-learning portfolios/journals communicate the process of learning and the eventual product, the made as evidence of that learning in light of progress made while revealing learning in action and reflecting in and on action as a self–directed learning process rooted in theories of reflection, collaboration and documentation.  She has been the recipient of the Eugene O’Neal award for theatre design (1982), Ford Foundation award New York (1982) and the Trinidad and Tobago Art Society award for painting (1984).  Recognised by the College Board Advance Placement Programme in the USA for exemplary teaching of Art/design curriculum. Her student’s design portfolio won over 22.000 submissions (2003).

Celia M. Poon-King, MPH, MBBS, MFPH joined the Public Health and Primary Care Unit in the Department of Paraclinical Sciences of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FMS) at the University of the West Indies St Augustine in 2001. Celia lectures in epidemiology and public health and coordinates the undergraduate year 2 medical students’ research programme.

As coordinator, she has provided the epidemiological support and guidance for 146 research projects since 2002, as well as supervising 7 individual projects and hosting an annual medical student’s research day. A public health trained medical epidemiologist, Celia completed the Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at UWI in Trinidad, and the Masters in Public Health (specializing in Epidemiology) at the University of Wales College of Medicine Cardiff. Dr Poon-King completed her postgraduate medical training in public health in the UK and as a Member of the Faculty of Public Health (MFPH), London now serves as the regional adviser to that Faculty for the region of the Americas.

With interests in Chronic disease and Syndrome Surveillance, Geographic Information Systems and Ethics in Research, she has completed consultancies in Surveillance and International Health Regulations (2005), and is coordinating the implementation of Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) in the FMS, UWI St Augustine.

 

Feature Speaker and Judge: Prof. Bridget Brereton

Topic: Ten Years On: Making SoTL Real

Bridget Brereton is Professor of History at UWI St. Augustine.  She is the author or editor of several books about the history of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean, as well as many articles, papers, and chapters in books.  She has served as Deputy Principal and as Principal of the St. Augustine Campus.  She was the first woman to win the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence (for Teaching, Research and Administration).

She has served as President of the Association of Caribbean Historians, as Chair of the Board of NALIS, and as Chair of the Committee to review all aspects of the Trinity Cross and other National Symbols and Observances.  Professor Brereton is the first local Feature Speaker at the UWI/Guardian Life ‘Premium’ Teaching Awards programme.

Awardees

John F. Campbell, Ph.D., Lecturer in the Department of History, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and his Masters of Philosophy at The UWI, St. Augustine, majoring in History. He received his second Masters of Philosophy as well as his Ph.D from Cambridge University, England. Since 2001, John has lectured at The UWI where he specializes on aspects of contemporary Caribbean civilisation and culture. John has received several awards and has written one book and co-authored another, he has written also numerous journal articles, resource reviews, and newsletters dealing with issues of Caribbean affairs and development.

 

A Nigerian by birth and Trinidadian by naturalization, Dr. Edwin Ikenna Ekwue is a Senior Lecturer in the Biosystems Programme of the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at The UWI, St. Augustine, and has acted as Head of that department on four previous occasions.  Before joining UWI in January 1992, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Nigeria.  Dr. Ekwue is a member of the Editorial Board of the West Indian Journal of Engineering and was an Associate Editor of the Journal of Arid Agriculture in Nigeria.  He has completed a number of research projects both at UNIMAID and UWI.  He has written 59 academic papers,  34 of which have so far appeared in refereed journals and has also been involved in a number of consultancy and professional activities.

 

Kit Fai Pun, MSc, MEd, MPhil, PhD, CEng, Eur Ing, CPEng,  RPE, REng, joined The UWI, St. Augustine as a Senior Lecturer in 2001 and became a Professor of Industrial Engineering (IE) in 2004. He has been serving as the coordinator of IE research group and programmes in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering since 2001, and is presently the Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Student Affairs of the Faculty of Engineering. Before joining UWI, Professor Pun held several academic positions at City University of Hong Kong, and worked in industry as operations executive, researcher, engineer and consultant in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom (UK) for 15 years. Professor Pun is a Chartered Engineer in the UK, and a Registered Professional Engineer in Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He is a member of Caribbean Academy of Science, and is currently the Chairperson of both the Engineering Management Society Chapter of the IEEE Trinidad and Tobago Section and the Mechanical Engineering Division of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago. Professor Pun had completed 13 research projects funded by UWI and other overseas universities and governments, and is presently supervising four MPhil/PhD students at UWI. Professor Pun published more than 180 journal articles and technical papers. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the West Indian Journal of Engineering and the Asian Journal on Quality, and is also an ad hoc reviewer of many refereed journals. His biography has been selected for inclusion in The Marquis Who’s Who in the World in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (i.e. 22nd, 23rd and 24th Editions), and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering 2006 (i.e. 9th Edition), respectively.

 

Dr. Laura Roberts-Nkrumah, B. Sc. Agriculture (First Class Hons.), Ph. D. Agriculture, Diploma (Postgraduate) in Management, M. Ed., started her professional career at the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute and worked for six years as a Project Analyst/Agronomist with the Food and Agriculture Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago. During her postgraduate years, she was a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Crop Science and to which she returned in 1988. She is currently a Lecturer in Crop Production, in the Department of Food Production, with teaching responsibilities for horticulture courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. She has also written courses for distance education and is the tutor for one of the courses in the distance-taught M.Sc. Agricultural and Rural Development. Dr. Roberts-Nkrumah’s major areas of research are fruit tree growth and development, germplasm evaluation, cropping systems and horticulture education. She is a member of the management committee of the Horticultural Society Trinidad and Tobago and of the Citrus Industry Task Force

 

Feature Speaker and Judge: Prof. Stuart Bunt

Topic: Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness at The UWI, St. Augustine

Professor Stuart Bunt, MA, DPhil (Oxon), Professiorial Fellow, Teaching and Learning, University of Western Austrailia (UWA), is a trained Zoologist and was the photographer for a number of expeditions to the Andes, the Seychelles and the far-flung corners of Europe.  Settling down to research in the U.S.A, Prof. Bunt started unique work on the regeneration of the spinal cord, work that continues to this day.  Never one to settle long, or resist a good gadget, Prof. Bunt returned to Scotland to pioneer early studies in the use of CAD software for anatomical simulations. Always a polymath, Prof. Bunt’s research has covered areas from the distribution of moths at height altitude, to vision in fish and human cadavers, to art in science, and the use of computer wafers as a substrate for nerve cell growth, to fulfill his ultimate aim of melding his love of zoology with computers.

He is Co-founder with Prof. Miranda Grounds, of the Image Acquisition and Analysis Facility, a biomedical imaging centre and web design unit supporting both research and teaching at the UWA and the state, also of SymbioticA, the first art and biology lab situated in a science department.  Secretary of the UWA branch of the NTEU, and an elected Senator, he has been a participant on two successive CUTSD grants for teaching and hosted both the state HERDSA website and the national site for communication skills in teaching – “Skill City”.  In 2002 he founded the UWA spin-off company “Paradigm Diagnostics” financed by venture capital, specialising in the production of biomedical software.

 

Awardees

Dr. Innette Cambridge is Coordinator of the Minor in Social Policy, Social Work Unit, UWI. She is a graduate of Minnesota State University, Moorhead (USA) with a BA in Political Science and Sociology, a Maîtrise in Sociology (mention très bien) from the University of Paris (France) and a doctorate from Bristol University (England). Dr. Cambridge also won an Overseas Research Scholarship of the Vice Chancellors of British Universities and a Bristol University postgraduate scholarship to do a doctorate in Social Work at the School of Policy Studies. Her research activities include international refereed publications on social work education, children with HIV, and Beetham Gardens. Some of these are used to supplement international reading for classes. She has served on various national committees and has been advisor to the UNESCO project on “Living 18 and Beyond”.  Caribbean context life experiences and a belief that education serves to promote peace, inform Dr. Cambridge’s teaching philosophy. She believes Caribbean relevance, praxis, responsiveness to diverse learning needs and the use of university and community supports are important for improving student life at The UWI.

 

Dr. Tennyson Jagai is Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. He is a graduate of The UWI, St. Augustine, with a BSc in Mathematics, Physics and Environmental Physics and later completed his MPhil in Petroleum Engineering and a PhD in Petroleum Engineering. At The UWI, he has taught courses in the MSc Petroleum Engineering Programme and in the BSc Petroleum Geoscience Programme. He is a member of the prestigious SPE International Cedrick K. Ferguson Medal Award Committee, which assesses all technical papers submitted by SPE members and selects one per year for the award. Dr. Jagai has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) for the past 22 years, during which time he has served on the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Section. He was the recipient in 2004 of the Kermitt Walrond award for dedicated service to the Trinidad and Tobago Section of the SPE. He also received a Regional Service Award at SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Houston, Texas and was the only individual in this region and Latin America, so to do in 2004.

 

Dr. Vena Jules is a Senior Lecturer in the teaching of Geography and Social Sciences Department at the School of Education. A CIDA scholar and graduate of Queens University, Canada (BSc Hons. Geography and Master of Education), she later obtained her doctorate at The UWI. Hers is an extensive career of commitment, spanning some 42 years at all levels of the education system in Trinidad and Tobago. She has issued many publications, and with the help of other faculty, has initiated and developed a new Bachelor of Education programme for primary level teachers at the School of Education. Dr. Jules has served on many national committees, and is a member of the UNDP’s National Human Development Report advisory team.

 

Dr. Winston G. Lewis, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering has lectured in the areas of Manufacturing, Ergonomics and Faciltiies Design at The UWI, St. Augustine for the past 16 years. He earned his BSc and MPhil in Mechanical Engineering from The UWI, St. Augustine in 1984 and 1987 respectively, and eight years later received his PhD from the Technical University of Nova Scotia.  Dr. Lewis is a former Deputy Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs and Outreach in the Faculty of Engineering and Programme Coordinator in the MSc Programmes in Production Engineering and Management. He has served the Engineering Fraternity in many capacities over the past decade and was elected President of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago for the 2003-2004 period.  He was a member of the Cabinet appointed Steering Committee to establish the new University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) which opened in September 2004.

 

Feature Speaker: Prof. Graham Gibbs

Topic: Assessment

Graham Gibbs is Director of the Institute for the Advancement of University Learning at Oxford University. He was previously Professor and Director of the Centre for Higher Education Practice at the Open University and Professor and Director of the Oxford Centre for Staff Development at Oxford Brookes University. He is the founder of the International Improving Student learning Symposium and the International Consortium for Educational Development in Higher Education. He has published widely and been involved in many national and international scale teaching improvement initiatives. He is best known for his work on study skills, teaching large classes, training of university teachers and the development of university strategies to improve teaching. His current work concerns the way assessment dominates students’ study lives and how to change assessment so as to support learning well.

Awardees

Dr. Brian Copeland is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Copeland graduated with a First Class Honours BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from The UWI, an MSc in Control Systems from the University of Toronto and a PhD in Control Systems from the University of Southern California. Dr. Copeland’s academic research activity has been in the design of robust control systems for commercial and industrial applications. He is Chairman of the Real Time Systems Group, a unit in the Faculty of Engineering to explore strategies for increasing levels of technical innovation locally and regionally. He is also involved in steelpan research, focusing on the amplification problem that threatens the marketability of the instrument in its homeland. He is joint researcher with Dr. Derek Gay, on an IDB sponsored study of the vibration characteristics of the instrument, and convener of The UWI Steelpan Development Centre.

Dr. Shirin Haque-Copilah, Lecturer in the Department of Physics, graduated with a First Class Honours Bsc degree in Physics and later an MPhil (1993) in Astronomy, both from The University of the West Indies. Her PhD (1998) was obtained from the University of Virginia, where she won the “Most Outstanding Thesis Award” in the 1997/1998 year.  Dr. Haque-Copilah’s main areas of research include teaching methods, theoretical and observational astronomy. She has started studying psychology to strengthen her teaching and communicating skills. A founding member and past president of the first ever physics society – Society for Physics Advancement, Research and Collaboration (SPARC), Dr. Haque-Copilah is President of the recently established non-profit educational organization – Caribbean Institute of Astronomy (CARINA).

 

Dr. Paula E. Morgan is a Lecturer in the Department of Liberal Arts. Dr. Morgan’s primary areas of research, teaching and publication are in women’s literatures of the African and Indian Diasporas. She has spearheaded the Faculty of Humanities and Education’s mid-year programme and contributed to the University’s distance teaching and programme planning initiatives in several capacities as Deputy Dean Distance and Outreach and as Curriculum Development Consultant for postgraduate programmes in Natural Resource Management, Agricultural Diversification and Gender and Development. Dr. Morgan contributes to national and regional public dialogue on gender, ethnic and family life issues, through mass media and public-speaking fora.

 

Dr. Pathmanathan Umaharan is Senior Lecturer in Genetics, Faculty of Science and Agriculture. He holds a BSc from the University of Peradenlya, Sri Lanka and PhD in Genetics from The UWI St. Augustine.  Dr. Umaharan was a postdoctoral Fellow (1995) at the International Laboratory for Tropical Agriculture in Califronia, USA. He has catapulted the students of Life Sciences into the age of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology which he developed and introduced. He is presently involved in the development of a University-wide MSc in Biotechnology and an MSc course in Plant Genetic Resource Management. He is the leader of the Campus Biotechnology Research Group.

 

Feature Speaker: Dr. Arshad Ahmad

Topic: Technology and Educational Practice

Dr. Arshad Ahmad is an Associate Professor and Director of the Finance Cooperative Programme at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. He has led his faculty with numerous pedagogical projects and innovations and has been recognized as a distinguished teacher. The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education has also recognized him as a 3M Teaching Fellow, a programme that he now coordinates. In 2001 his thesis won the George L. Geis best dissertation award in higher education. Dr. Ahmad has authored three textbooks and numerous study guides, case studies, video series and CD-ROMS and web-based programmes. His research interests are cognitive and instructional psychology and the design of open-learning environments.

Awardees

 

Dr. Jonas Innies Addae is a Senior Lecturer in Human Physiology at the Department of Pre-Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences. He is a graduate of the University of Ghana Medical School and the university of London, where he obtained the MB ChB (1981) and PhD (1986) respectively. Attracted to the Problem Based Learning (PBL) Curriculum at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, he joined the academic staff there for his first appointment in 1986. He has since then been involved in the design, organisation, teaching, and examination of courses in the Basic Medical Sciences, a Systems Approach: Organism and Health, Cardiovascular and Renal, Neuroscience and Behaviour, and Musculo-Skeletal. He organises seminars in Neurophysiology for the Doctor of Medicine in Psychiatry.

 

Dr. Dennis Brown is a Lecturer in the Department of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences. He is a graduate of The UWI, Mona Campus where he received the BSc (1975) in Sociology, the Diploma in Population Studies (1986), the MSc (1987) in Sociology – specialising in Demography, and the PhD (1994) which incorporated one year of study at the London School of Economics. He lectures in Development Studies, a popular area, to class sizes of just under 100 students, and in Industrial Sociology, the latter to postgraduate students only. Dr. Brown has developed an Internet website for all the courses that he teaches. Through this technology, he monitors student attendance and participation, provides students with lecture notes, tutorials and assessment, remaining constantly in contact with them. He also conducts a development course through distance education to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in St. Lucia.

 

 

Dr. David Dolly is a Lecturer in Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Science and Agriculture. He has fulfilled his early ambition to be an ardent Tropical Agriculturist. He obtained the BSc (1973) in Agriculture at The UWI, the MSc (1978) in Continuing and Vocational Education at the University of Wisconsin, and the PhD (1983) in Agricultural Extension back home at The UWI, St. Augustine. In between studies, he taught in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, pioneering the teaching of Agricultural Sciences in secondary schools there. He also worked as a Training Consultant, and initiated a training department for the maintenance and landscape agency that upkeeps government buildings and institutions in Trinidad. At The UWI, he has taught at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has organized with training institutions in Canada and Costa Rica to mount training in software applications and video production for use in Extension. He pioneered provocative electives and courses on Gender Issues in Agriculture.

 

Dr. Kim Mallalieu is a tenured Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering where she leads the academic, commercial and outreach programmes in Communication Systems. She is a Fulbright Fellow and a graduate of UCL and MIT.  Kim is the developer and coordinator of the Master’s degree in Telecommunications Regulation and Policy, MRP (Telecommunications), the first online programme to be delivered from UWI, St. Augustine. She has been described as a trail-blazing pioneer in engineering education and is the recipient of local, regional and international teaching awards as well as other awards of recognition.  She has authored many academic papers and book chapters and has been invited to deliver a number of keynote addresses at home and abroad. She has served on various boards, including the Board of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago and has also sat on the advisory council to the Boards of academic journals, including the International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education.  Kim is an active member of a Latin American and Caribbean academic network, Diálogo Regional sobre Sociedad de la Información (DIRSI), engaged in research on ICT regulatory intervention for poverty alleviation.

 

Dr. Godfrey Steele, Lecturer and Coordinator of the Communication Studies Section in the Department of Liberal Arts of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, is the holder of a Teachers Diploma (1981) from the Valsayn Teachers College, the BA (1982) in English, the Diploma in Education (1987), the MA (1995) in Education, all from The UWI. In 1999, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled The Teaching of English for Communication Purposes in a Medical Context here at The UWI. His teaching experience includes 19 years in the secondary school system. In 1993, he developed and taught the first Business Communication course for the Department of Management Studies, UWI. He also introduced and taught Communication Skills for Health Personnel and Communication Skills for the Health Professions (1995-2004) – courses that he designed for prospective medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and pharmacists of the Faculty of Medical Sciences. He was awarded a Salzburg Seminar Fellowship in 2002 on the basis of his work in medical education. In addition, he also delivers courses in the Communication Studies programme in the Department of Liberal Arts. He is known for his multimedia presentations, the high level of structure and comprehensiveness that accompany his course delivery, and has a keen interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Steele’s teaching experiences are documented in his research and peer-reviewed publications. His research interests include health communication, communication studies education, and communication and conflict management. He has supervised over 70 communication research theses between 2001 and 2006, taught a graduate course in oral communication for mediation students since 2003, introduced a major in Communication Studies (2004), and is developing a graduate programme in Human Communication Studies and completing a book on health communication

 

Feature Speaker and Chief Judge: Prof. Reynold Macpherson

Topic: Olympiad

Prof. Reynold Macpherson qualified as a primary school teacher in New Zealand before serving overseas for thirty years. In his travels he gained a BA in Mathematics and Management, taught at secondary level, completed an MED Admin by research in secondary school leadership, and when teaching at tertiary level, did his PhD in system management and leadership. Major consultancies and international invitations followed. He was contracted to provide advice to the Picot Committee that reconstructed educational administration in New Zealand, and was a member of Brian Scott’s core team that restructured the New South Wales school and technical education systems. In 1997 he was appointed Director of the centre for Professional Development at the University of Auckland. In this role he was primarily concerned with the helping of staff to improve their research, teaching and leadership, and with developing organizational learning. He has published extensively and has been awarded a number of fellowships. Among his books are Educative Leadership, Falmer Press, and Educative Accountability: Research, Theory, Policies and Practice, Elsevier Sciences – Pergamon Press. His research has also focused on how information and communication technology impact on higher education, particularly web-enhanced teaching, flexible learning and supervising research online.