News Releases

Renowned sports scholar to receive inaugural sports award from The UWI

For Release Upon Receipt - January 15, 2014

St. Augustine


 

ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – The University of the West Indies (UWI) continues to make history as the Opening Ceremony of its first conference on sport and higher education kicks off today, Wednesday 15 January, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain. 

Titled “Science, Higher Education and Business: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sport Studies, Research and Development”, the conference is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, and brings to the stage a host of different panels, showcasing the range and complexity of sport studies. Panels include: Psychology, Sociology and Sport: Inplications for the Caribbean; Sports Medicine, Health and Athletics; Sport Science and High Performance; and Women, Gender and Sport.  

Another notable aspect of the conference is the inaugural UWI Award for Excellence in the Scholarship of Sport, being conferred upon Dr Basil Andre Ince, renowned personality in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. A Senior Lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Dr Ince has made profound contributions to the nation’s development in the field of Caribbean sport. 

Known for his athletic prowess, he has won gold and silver medals in the 400m and 4x400m relays respectively at the Pan American Games in 1959, and has displayed willingness to make a difference in the athletic realm by assuming the elected post of President of the National Association of Amateur Athletes of Trinidad and Tobago in 1976. In that year, he also served as the Manager of the Trinidad and Tobago Track Team for the Olympic Games in Montreal, the team for which Hasely Crawford won gold in the 100m race.  

He has served as Minister of Sport, Culture and Youth Affairs. In 1985, Dr Ince was among the few national sport personalities inducted into the West Indian Tobacco Sports Foundation Hall of Fame.

He is the author of several scholarly publications, including “From sideline to frontline: The Rising Tide of Trinidad and Tobago’s Women Athletes”, and “Trinidad and Tobago in London, Half Full and Half Empty” in the Trinidad and Tobago Review; "The Athletic Tradition at QRC" in QRC 2004 and "Nationalism and Cold War Politics at the Pan American Games: Cuba, the United States and Puerto Rico" in Caribbean Studies. 

In addition to his publications, Dr Ince has written books highlighting the achievements of athletes from Trinidad and Tobago within the Olympic Movement. The first book, Trinidad and Tobago at the Olympic Games: From Rodney Wilkes to George Bovell III, was published in 2005 and Olympian: 75 years of Trinidad and Tobago in Olympic Sport 1934-2010 followed six years later.

His latest book, Black Meteors: The Caribbean in International Track and Field, released in 2012, showcases Caribbean athletes and their quest in pushing the region as a dominant contender in many world class track and field events.  

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About The UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences. 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.) 

For the latest UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

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