Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

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.