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ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. Friday October 7, 2022 – It was a night to remember as three outstanding lecturers from the St. Augustine campus of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) were honoured at the annual UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Awards held at the held at the Learning Resource Centre on September 22, 2022. Dr Suzanne Burke from the Faculty of Humanities and Education; Dr Amy Deacon of the Faculty of Science and Technology; and Dr Bephyer Parey of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies were all honoured at the awards ceremony. 

The Premium Teaching Awards is part of the university’s commitment to provide a dynamic, student-centred learning environment whereby student learning is pursued as a primary goal of the academy, and excellence in teaching is recognised and rewarded. The biannual event has honoured teaching excellence at the St. Augustine Campus since 2000. This year’s theme was “Ready, Set, Click: Negotiating Quality in the Blended/Online Teaching and Learning Environment”, emphasizing the ability of the campus to successfully engage in blended/online teaching and learning.

Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal congratulated all the Nominees who willingly put their work and themselves out for independent review and feedback. She also extended her gratitude to the team at the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CELT) who ensured the essential quality of online and blended teaching and learning approaches during the campus closure due to the Pandemic. 

“As a way of addressing teaching and learning continuity at The UWI St. Augustine Campus, CETL designed and implemented a number of workshops and capacity-building activities to support teaching and learning in the Emergency Remote Teaching setting. These activities served to foster a much-needed sense of readiness among faculty and students,” Professor Antoine explained.

Mr. Marcos Rehberg, Vice President - Finance, Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited, noted that their partnership with The UWI started in 2000 and the relationship is deeply rooted in developing and promoting academic excellence, with leadership and innovation in mind. 

“We can agree that quality is a value that should not be compromised, as we provide a promise to deliver, whether it be education or life insurance. Managing these expectations, while navigating through a blended environment requires a paradigm shift and agility in order to remain relevant”, he pointed out. 

Dr. LeRoy Hill, CETL Director, spoke to the “ongoing rhythm of conversations that begs us to pause, reflect and take special notice of how we go about ensuring quality teaching and learning”. The theme, he said “Ready, set, click: Negotiating quality in the blended/online teaching and learning environment is an invitation to be ready-to be resilient; resilient in the face of uncertainty or adversity”. 

Feature speaker, Dr. Camille Dickson-Deane, Senior Lecturer, Higher Education Learning Design, at the University of Technology in Sydney Australia, shared her research on the sociotechnical spaces in field of learning, teaching, and performance. 

The panel of independent judges included Dr. Dale Roy former Executive Director, Centre for Leadership in Learning, McMaster University; Professor Marc Tennant, Director and Founder, International Research Collaborative - Oral Health and Equity at the University of Western Australia, and Dr. Suzanne Le-May Sheffield, Executive Director (Acting) of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Dalhousie University. 

The UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Awards 2022 ceremony can be viewed on The UWI St. Augustine Campus’ YouTube Channel

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Notes to Editor 

About the Awardees

Dr. Bephyer Parey Post-Doctoral, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) The UWI, St. Augustine 

Dr. Bephyer Parey, a Junior Research Fellow at the SALISES, has been teaching at The UWI since 2008 and currently lectures on research design and statistical analysis. She has a track record of high-quality international publications and regularly disseminates her research to various audiences. Dr. Parey serves on departmental, faculty, and One-UWI committees. Dr. Parey chairs the SALISES Disability Studies Research Cluster, which is responsible for operationalising a Memorandum of Understanding between The UWI and the Equal Opportunity Commission of Trinidad and Tobago. 

Dr. Amy Deacon Lecturer, Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology The UWI, St. Augustine

Dr. Amy Deacon joined the Faculty of Science and Technology in 2016. She is a graduate of the Universities of Oxford (BA), Bangor (MSc), and St Andrews (PhD), and earned her Certificate in University Teaching and Learning at The UWI in 2017. Dr. Deacon’s research centres on aquatic biodiversity, invasive species and Trinidad’s most famous fish: the guppy. She is passionate about all the courses she teaches, spanning level 1 to MSc. Alongside publishing in biology, Dr. Deacon has contributed to pedagogical research, applying reflective practice to ecological fieldwork and examining the role of tertiary institutions in building conservation capacity in the Caribbean. She is also a proud co-organiser of T&T’s annual Bioblitz, which engages both students and communities in valuable biodiversity surveys.

Dr. Suzanne Burke Head of Department

Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies Faculty of Humanities and Education, The UWI, St Augustine

Dr. Suzanne Burke was formally trained in the areas of Psychology (B.A. - York University, Canada), Development Studies (M.A.: Magna Cum Laude - ISS, The Netherlands), Sociology (Ph.D. - Essex University, UK) and Education Practice (Essex University, UK). Her main academic concern is exploring the domain of culture as a vehicle for social and economic insight and transformation. Her research focuses on Caribbean industries in culture, creative entrepreneurship, cultural policy formulation and cultural practice-based pedagogies. She has worked extensively with a wide cross-section of public sector enterprises, civil society organisations and private agencies in the areas of strategic planning, human resource development, policy analysis, cultural sector mapping and planning, and audience research within and outside of the Caribbean. This research was the focus of her award of a Commonwealth Fellowship that was completed at City University, London in 2016. Between 2017-18, she was part of the Technical Working Group that assisted in the formulation of the only cabinet-approved National Cultural Policy of Trinidad and Tobago. 

About The University of the West Indies 

The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region. 

From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global 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 its Open Campus, and 10 global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. 

The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and wider world. 

The UWI has been consistently ranked among the top universities globally by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education (THE). In the latest World University Rankings 2022, released in September 2021, The UWI moved up an impressive 94 places from last year. In the current global field of some 30,000 universities and elite research institutes, The UWI stands among the top 1.5%. 

The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists since its debut in the rankings in 2018. In addition to its leading position in the Caribbean, it is also in the top 20 for Latin America and the Caribbean and the top 100 global Golden Age universities (between 50 and 80 years old).  The UWI is also featured among the leading universities on THE’s Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Wellbeing; Gender Equality and Climate Action. For more, visit www.uwi.edu