News Releases

Professor Dale Webber Appointed New Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate Studies)

For Release Upon Receipt - August 12, 2015

UWI


Regional Headquarters, Jamaica - The Office of Administration is pleased to announce that Professor Dale Webber has been appointed as the new Pro Vice-Chancellor for Graduate Studies (PVC, Graduate Studies), replacing Professor Yvette Jackson who served for the past three years.  Professor Webber’s appointment was approved earlier this year at the Annual Business Meeting of the University Council. His appointment took effect on August 1, 2015.

Professor Webber has had a distinguished career in Coastal Ecology and Environmental Management and has demonstrated a strong and consistent record of academic achievement in research, teaching and administration. He joined The UWI in 1989 as Warden of Taylor Hall (of residence) at the Mona Campus.  In 1991, he moved to become Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences, was promoted in 2003 to a Senior Lecturer and then to the rank of Professor in 2010.  Between 2003 and 2007, Professor Webber served as Head of the Department of Life Sciences and participated in the review of that discipline at both the Cave Hill and St. Augustine Campuses. From 1992 to 2001, he was the Assistant Director for the Centre for Marine Sciences at Mona, and returned as Director in 2005 to 2015, and held the Grace Kennedy’s James Moss-Solomon Snr. Chair in Environmental Management from 2010 to 2015.

Professor Webber has produced five book chapters and thirty-five publications in peer-reviewed journals, nine of which are within the special issue of a major journal ‘Bulletin of Marine Science’ highlighting the work on the coastal ecology of the polluted Kingston Harbour. He has presented his research findings at conferences locally, regionally and internationally and has written over twenty technical reports for the Governments of the Caribbean while attracting approximately US$2.5 million in research grants over the past 20 years.

Twenty-one MSc, 27 MPhil. and 14 PhD students have been supervised by Professor Webber to successful completion in a range of interests, from water quality and coastal ecology to oceanography, ecosystem modelling and the effectiveness of multilateral environmental agreements in environmental management. He also has an excellent record of public service, serving as Chairman, Environmental Foundation of Jamaica Board of Directors, Convener of the CAPE Environmental Sciences Panel for the Caribbean Examination Council, Chairman of CL Environmental Company and Deputy Chairman of Jamaica’s National Council on Ocean and Coastal Zone Management.  Professor Webber is married to Marine Biologist Dr. Mona Webber with two daughters, Marissa and Deanna.

As PVC, Graduate Studies, Professor Webber will oversee The UWI’s Board for Graduate Studies and Research which is responsible for policy and operational plans for the development, regulation, management, administration, funding, monitoring and evaluation of graduate education and research throughout The UWI.

The University of the West Indies congratulates Professor Dale Webber on his appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Graduate Studies), and welcomes him to the University’s executive management team. 

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