News Releases

UWI launches global affairs think-tank

For Release Upon Receipt - February 24, 2010

St. Augustine


Local reggae sensation, Jah Melody, to perform at launch of Global Citizenship Dialogues

 

A new initiative from The University of the West Indies aims to raise awareness of Haiti’s condition and to champion a successful rebuilding and transformation effort. Haiti will be the focus of the inaugural session of the University’s Global Citizenship Dialogues (GCD), a forum for discussing important global matters related to civic-mindedness and positive international citizenship. 

The first session will take place on Wednesday 24th February, 2010, at the JFK Quadrangle from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

The Global Citizenship Dialogues will take the form of a moderated series of one-on-one discussions, in front of a live audience, between Mr. Sharan Chandradath Singh, Director of the UWI International Office (www.sta.uwi.edu/international), and guests of international prominence. The GCD are targeted primarily to an audience of young adults with the expectation that the personalities and issues involved will resonate with their innate leadership, civic and scholastic intelligences.

For Wednesday’s GCD, award-winning movie producer, humanitarian and businessman, Mr. Neil Prashad, (www.neilprashad.com), of Trinidad and Tobago, will join Mr Singh to discuss his experiences in Haiti, starting years ago through his involvement in charitable work. Mr. Prashad was in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake and was actually trapped inside a school which collapsed while he was helping to search for children. His unique perspectives and experiences should inspire our future leaders as they strive to make a global impact.

Mr Prashad is also a co-founder of Hitlab (www.hitlab.com), a vehicle for upcoming artists to test their music and receive guidance on how to achieve success at an international level.  In support of the University’s fund-raising efforts for Haiti, Mr. Prashad has arranged for a special private screening of a yet unreleased song, penned to raise awareness and generate support for Haiti.

Also present will be another internationally accomplished individual, Jah Melody, a reggae ambassador from Trinidad who has joined producer, Ras Lion, to record a song especially for Haiti. Jah Melody has graciously agreed to sing a part of his song at the inaugural GCD. 

For more information, please visit the UWI International Office website at http://sta.uwi.edu/international, or contact Sharan Chandradath Singh, Director of the International Office, at (868) 662-2002 ext. 4280 or Skype ID: uwi-sta-io.

 

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

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About the moderator

Mr Sharan Chandradath Singh has Masters degrees in International Administration and Business Administration (international) and has lived and worked in Trinidad, England, Canada, India and the United States.  He recently joined The UWI as Director of its International Office to focus on driving the growth and development of The UWI as a globally competitive institution.  Central to this thrust is the recognition that UWI’s primary product, its students, must be global thinkers and actors and the GCD are one of the initiatives created by the International Office to achieve this goal.

About 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.

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