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Statement from the Vice-Chancellor : What A Hero This Hickling!

For Release Upon Receipt - May 13, 2020

UWI


The late Frederick W. Hickling, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, The UWI

Regional Headquarters, Jamaica, May 13, 2020. The following statement is issued by the Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles in tribute to the late Frederick W. Hickling, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, The UWI.

Freddie my friend and psychic freedom fighter was an inspiration to many generations.  We met in Birmingham and he embraced me as a Jamaican. From UK Diaspora, we committed to Caribbean academia. Fearless in his advocacy against the colonial ethos, he became an icon at the epicentre of the epistemic rupture. He was a towering sage on the liberation stage.

I deeply admired his attachment to Marley's metaphor about mental liberation and recognised him as a mentor. The intellectual community of nation and region is greatly diminished by his departure, but his professional and personal legacy will represent an enduring dividend, yielding asset through the ages.

One does not say farewell to a brother like Freddie.  One merely offers a smile while thinking what a hero this Hickling!

-End-

 

About The UWI

For over 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI has evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and an Open Campus. As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies; the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ); The UWI-University of Havana Centre for Sustainable Development; The UWI-Coventry Institute for Industry-Academic Partnership with the University of Coventry and the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research with the University of Glasgow.

The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. 

As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. The world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019 and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean for 2018 and 2019. The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.  For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

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

 

 

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