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Noel Burnett
an officer and a gentleman
Jacqueline Huggins
advocate for students and the disabled
For students, life at university
can
be overwhelming. Imagine how much more
difficult it can be for students with a greater
than average need for academic support or with
disabilities. As Coordinator of the Academic
Support/Disabilities Liaison Unit (ASDLU), Ms
Jacqueline Huggins has become a champion
for students in this vulnerable demographic.
Her performance has been so outstanding that
she is the award winner for Service Excellence
in the Senior Administrative/Professional Staff
category.
“I have a passion for what I do,”
Jacqueline, hailing from Pleasantville, San
Fernando says.
Established in 2006, the ASDLU’s core
services include providing academic support
for students at all levels and ensuring equal
access to the university’s infrastructure and
academic offerings to students with disabilities.
As Coordinator, Jacqueline’s duties entail
managing the activities of the unit, working with
students, developing programmes for students,
and advocacy and awareness building for
students with disabilities.
“When they hand you lemons,
make
lemonade. When they hand you limes – oh
man you make a cocktail,” says Noel Burnett,
member of the UWI Estate Police Service and
winner of the Service Excellence Award for
Administrative, Technical and Service Staff.
Since joining the UWI Police five years ago,
Noel’s positive outlook, friendly manner and
dedication to service have made him one of the
campus’s most popular personalities.
“My motto is ‘above and beyond’. I want to
help people,” he says in his distinctive accent,
a product of his upbringing in both Canada and
T&T. “I’m here to give back to the UWI family for
giving me this opportunity to work here.”
Raised by a single mother in Canada, Noel
says his ethic came from her strong parenting,
even in the face of the alienation he sometimes
felt because of his distance from his father in
Trinidad and his own identity as a “Canadian
Trini” with an admittedly eccentric personality.
Today, Noel, a 37-year-old Morvant resident, is
“I have many responsibilities,” she says,
“but the thing I enjoy most is working one on
one with students, seeing them move from one
level to the next, and seeing them develop and
ultimately graduate.”
Jacqueline, the mother of a 14-year-
old, high-achieving son (academics, Young
Leaders’ programme and pannist), knows how
to encourage young people to strive to do better.
This ethos guides her career performance:
“I am a stickler for high quality. Whatever
we (at ASDLU) do we must do it to the best of
our ability. I think that we have made the ASDLU
a unit that the students want to use, that they
feel comfortable coming to and spending time.
Service is what we give and it must be of a high
level.”
Jacqueline says the ASDLU has its
challenges but they are able to overcome them
because of their recognition of the importance
of their work.
“We succeed because the staff comes
together and gets things done when we have
to,” she says.
EMPLOYEE AWARDS
UWI COMMUNITY NEWS
FROM THE ST. AUGUSTINE CAMPUS
married and has five children of his own.
Noel describes his feelings about the
university: “UWI to me is paradise. I’ve worked
in places where security is looked down upon.
That does not happen here. I really love being
a campus police. It makes me feel like a
superhero without the mask and costume.”
During his five-year career Noel has
helped many students, including possibly saving
a student’s life by performing the Heimlich
maneuver on her when she was choking.
“I looked the other day and saw that she
had graduated and it made me feel really good
inside,” he says.
Officer Burnett is also eager to point out
that he is a member of the UWI Estate Police
team and could not do his job without the
support of his fellow officers.
“It’s a team effort. I actually donated the
trophy to the campus police so they know that I
represent all of us.”
My motto is ‘above and beyond’. I want to help people...
I’m here to give back to the UWI family for giving me this
opportunity to work here.”
