Change and transition
 On April 29, 2016, members of The UWI Council – the highest governing body of the regional institution – met at the St. Augustine Campus for the Council’s annual business meeting. At this meeting, several important decisions were taken as it relates to the leadership of our University as The UWI continues to demonstrate its immense value as a contributor and repository of human development and intellectual capacity of our West Indian community.
Indeed, The UWI is witnessing a ‘wind of change and transition’ which I firmly believe is not only inevitable, but a process that readily lends itself as a natural catalyst to foster further growth, relevance and impact as we continue to evolve into an entity that meets the daily expectations of the people of our region.
It is within this context and with pride that I would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to Professor Brian Copeland who has been appointed Campus Principal Designate of The UWI St. Augustine Campus. As a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the St. Augustine Campus, he has been my well-respected colleague for over two decades. For many years, I have known of his commitment to The UWI as a colleague in the Faculty of Engineering when he was Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and I was the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. His drive and passion for excellence and strong focus on developmental research has resulted in outputs such as the first Electronic Scoreboard at the Queen’s Park Oval and the development and patenting of the G-Pan, a re-engineered form of the traditional steelpan, as well as the Percussive Harmonic instrument (P.H.I.), an electronic form of the traditional steelpan.
I extend my very best wishes to Professor Copeland, and I have every confidence that he will continue to build this Campus on the solid platform that has been laid by all past Principals of the St. Augustine Campus over the last 55 years.
I also wish to thank and congratulate the Deputy Principal of The UWI St. Augustine Campus, Professor Rhoda Reddock, for her sterling service throughout the years. Professor Reddock has been given a one-year extension as Deputy Principal which will be instrumental in the transition period of leadership at The UWI St. Augustine Campus.
In addition, Professor Indar Ramnarine was reappointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology. Professor Ramnarine has brought considerable creativity and innovation to this Faculty, especially as it relates to the development of new postgraduate programmes. I also extend a warm welcome to the new Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Wayne Ganpat, someone who brings considerable experience in the agricultural sector of Trinidad and Tobago and the region. I wish to thank the outgoing Dean, Dr. Isaac Bekele for his stewardship of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture and the establishment of the Agricultural Innovation Park (AIP) at our East Campus in Orange Grove.
At the regional level, I congratulate and extend best wishes to Professor Archibald McDonald the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The UWI Mona Campus, who was granted a one-year post-retirement extension which will enable him to complete several major developmental projects including The UWI Mona, Western Jamaica Campus in Montego Bay, and Dr. Luz Longsworth who was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The UWI Open Campus, and as such, will lead and forge the transformation and new direction of the Open Campus based upon the recommendations of the Open Campus Task Force established by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles.
The University leadership also welcomes a new Pro Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Development in Professor Densil Williams (former Executive Director of the Mona School of Business and Management) who will oversee the development of The UWI’s new Strategic Plan 2017-2022, to align industry with academia to create wealth; to expand access to tertiary education; and to seek global opportunities. I take this opportunity to commend Professor Williams on his new assignment and express thanks to the former PVC of Planning and Development, Professor Andrew Downes for his prominent role in conceptualizing and operationalizing The UWI’s current Strategic Plan 2012-2017 and his stewardship of SALISES. I wish him the very best in his retirement.
As I personally also prepare to demit the Office of the Campus Principal, and more broadly, retire from The UWI on September 30, 2016, to encounter what lies ahead in my journey of life, I must say that it has been a truly incredible journey for me that started way back in 1969 (as a student), and I recount with a great sense of joy and pride some of the extraordinary accomplishments we have been able to achieve as a team. And while I believe that there is still so much to achieve, after a 47-year association with The UWI, I remind myself of the belief that ‘there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity…a time to plant and a time to uproot….’ (Ecclesiastes 3).
Indeed, our beloved regional university has an ageless mandate of serving the Caribbean region and beyond, and I remain confident that our new leaders will espouse a philosophy of leadership based on servant-hood, a style of leadership that I have embraced. I close with a quote from Rabindranath Tagore, words I underscored at my final presentation to Campus Council: ‘I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy…’.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Campus Principal: Professor Clement Sankat
Director of Marketing and Communications: Dr. Dawn-Marie De
Four-Gill
Editor: Ms. Vaneisa Baksh [vaneisa.baksh@sta.uwi.edu]
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