14
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 6th JULY, 2014
OUR CAMPUS
The much anticipated meeting
with the Grupo Coimbra
de Universidades Brasileiras (GCUB) and The UWI was
conducted in Portuguese, much to the delight of the visitors,
who came to the St Augustine Campus after meetings in
Jamaica where they signed an agreement with The UWI to
promote and strengthen academic, scientific and cultural
cooperation through research, education, and project
management.
Member universities of GCUB come fromall regions of
Brazil and have established relationships with universities in
more than 50 countries to facilitate partnerships in research
as well as staff and student mobility. GCUB is particularly
interested in developing relations with the Caribbean,
especially in the areas of research into agriculture, health
and family medicine, language teaching, and energy. The
delegation, led by President Dr Maria Lúcia Cavalli Neder,
Scholarship Exchanges with Brazil Universities
stressed the need for Brazilian lecturers and students to
improve their skills in English, especially with The UWI as
a centre of excellence in this area.
The Groupwishes to invest more heavily in teachers and
to bring teachers toThe UWI for professional development
courses immersed in an English-language setting. Carla
Rosane Zorio Chelotti, Cultural Attaché, Embassy of the
Federative Republic of Brazil, noted that the Embassy
of Brazil plans an outreach to educational institutions
about Government of Brazil scholarship programmes for
undergraduates and postgraduates and this would include
information on the GCUB opportunities. In this regard,
Dr Jo-Anne Ferreira, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics,
Coordinator Portuguese and Brazilian Studies in UWI’s
Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics,
mentioned two former students who went on scholarship to
Brazil after just one year at the St Augustine Campus.
Also present at the meeting were Dr Armando García
de la Torre, Lecturer, Latin American History, Department
of History, Eliete Sampaio Farneda, Leitora (Visiting
Lecturer, Government of Brazil), Department of Modern
Languages and Linguistics, Dr Lancelot Cowie, Director,
Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean along with
Dr Paulo Teixeira de Sousa Jr., Secretary for International
Relations, and Dr Rossana V. de Souza e Silva (UnB),
Executive Director of the Coimbra Group of Brazilian
Universities.
Vice-Chancellor Harris has accepted an invitation
to attend the annual meeting of the Coimbra Group of
Universities in Recife, in October 2014.
ThursdayMay 15 was a perfect day
for new academics
tomeet, network and share an outdoor afternoon tea on
the cool Greens at TrinityHall. About 45 new and not so
new UWI St. Augustine staff members, some of whom
had never met each other were given an opportunity
to meet colleagues from different faculties, hear
about their research interests, discuss future possible
collaborations, and as many of them said, finally put
a face to a name.
After a fun session of chatting with someone
unknown and introductions, Allison Dolland, Frank
Soodeen and Lorraine Nero shared the services offered
by the library and encouraged researchers to tap into
the wealth of original Caribbean research material
available at the West Indiana and Special Collections
Division. Dr. Surendra Surujdeo-Maharaj shared his
enthusiasm for cocoa research and was able to impart
upon the group the centrality of Trinidad’s cocoa within
the International arena. Dr. Erik Blair made comments
on the role of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching
and Learning (CETL), while Dr. Winston Elibox, an
early researcher, shared his publication success story.
Cheryl Carter and Indira Jagassar encouraged future
networking sessions by early researchers for early
researchers, and stressed the need for such interactions,
particularly in the grant application process.
This forum was for emerging UWI researchers
to meet, network, share experiences, and form
collaborations with the potential for developing the
Campus’ interdisciplinary research landscape, more
publications and research uptake capacity. The group
of about 45 represented the Departments of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, Chemical Engineering,
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical
and Manufacturing Engineering, Life Sciences,
Mathematics and Statistics, Creative Arts, Trinity
Hall, Health Economics Unit, Health Services Unit,
Human Resources, Office of Research Development
and Knowledge Transfer, The Alma Jordan Library,
School of Education, Campus IT Services, the Cocoa
Research Centre and the Centre for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning.
Tell me what
you’re up to
The men had to play musical chairs on their own,
given the roughness that sometimes breaks out!
For a while, it seemed the rains
might dampen the Family Day on June 28, but the showers subsided and the sun came
out to bless the grounds at UWI SPEC. So that by mid-afternoon, when about 2000 staff members and their families
were deep into the wide range of games and competitions on, there was no chance of anything being a wash-out. Some
of it was hilarious, some intense, like the tug o’ war, and the dance off. The flag presentations caused quite a stir as the
teams put out some stunning displays. And of course, there were lots for the creative ones with the tent décor and cook
off competitions.
Nine teams competed: Admin 1: Oil Riggers; Admin 2: Sa Sa Ye; Engineering: Viey La Cou; Humanities & Education:
Canboulay; Medical Sciences: Maca Fouchette; Science and Technology: Team Retro; Food and Agriculture: The League
of Culinary Generals; Social Sciences & Law: An Vyé Vilaj Pêche; and the Alma Jordan Library: Cote Ci Cote La; and the
Faculty of Engineering took the overall trophy.
Bring It Back, Bring It Back
EUPHORIA: UWI Staff members and their guests celebrate to the sounds of retro music at UWI’s Sports and Family Day,
themed “Ole Time Days”.
There was face painting as well.
Photos: Yohann Goveia
