10
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 6 AUGUST, 2017
OUTGOING
Pat Ganase is a writer and editor with experience in newspapers, publishing and corporate social responsibility.
Professor Rhoda Reddock
demits the post of Deputy
Principal of The UWI St. Augustine Campus in July 2017,
after nine years. When she retires in 2018, she will have
concluded 33 years – a lifetime – teaching, researching
and supervising at the university that she considers home.
This period has seen her honing and flexing her vision
of an ethical and exemplary Caribbean community.
Professor Reddock has so shaped the social and intellectual
environment for students at St. Augustine that even if
each takes one idea back to their professional or home
communities the changes could be profound.
For Reddock, the challenge has always been how to
affect the quality of life of the individual at the personal
level, while working at the macro level. But it is a challenge
that her curious human nature has eminently qualified
her to accomplish. From her first attempt as a high school
student to enter the Port of Spain prison, to her studies of
institutional life in Jamaica, and eventual qualification at the
Institute of Social Studies at the Hague, and the doctorate
in applied sociology at the University of Amsterdam; to the
return to the UWI as a research fellow at the Institute of
Social and Economic Research (ISER); the establishment of
the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS);
to her spearheading the Division of Student Services and
Development (DSSD), Reddock’s trajectory has been
straight to the heart of individual empowerment to awaken
the potential to lead.
By the time the average student reaches the UWI, (s)
he has already spent more than 12 years in classrooms.
The university student is now focused on refining a craft,
or acquiring requisite knowledge to earn a living. Their
graduation recognizes their having achieved a level of
proficiency in their fields.
Reddock insists that the privilege to acquire degrees
confers the responsibility to become leaders in their social
and professional communities. Reddock’s mission has
been to ensure they graduate as worthwhile human beings,
capable citizens to leaven the still emerging Caribbean
society.
SHAPING
LEADERSHIP
IN THE
CARIBBEAN
Professor Reddock shares her
thoughts on UWI’s special role
B Y P A T G A N A S E
She holds dear the tenet of “a distinctive UWI graduate
for the 21st Century – one who has a regional frame
for reference and exemplifies the following attributes: a
critical and creative thinker; a problem solver; an effective
communicator; knowledgeable and informed; competent;
a leader; a team player; skilled and information literate;
socially and culturally responsive; ethical; innovative and
entrepreneurial; and a lifelong, self-motivated learner.”
Love for lifelong learning and leadership is not always
acquired in the classroom. Reddock recognises that living
and studying environments are also arenas for learning.
With this inmind, she has piloted infrastructure atThe UWI
to engender integrity; intellectual freedom; excellence; social
and civic responsibility; diversity and equity. In establishing
the DSSD, she has worked to effect a social ethos that
supports student ambitions while shaping principles and
values to prepare worthy citizens.
This major initiative during her tenure as Deputy
Principal (2008-2017), seeks to improve all aspects of
student life, from living quarters to advisory andmentorship
programmes; to the acquisition of meaningful skills through
volunteerism, community engagement, civic activities and
practical courses like defensive driving. It has also led to the
development of a scholarship of Student Services.
As Deputy Principal, she also had a responsibility
for academic quality, and chaired the Academic Quality
AssuranceCommittee (AQAC).ThisCommittee adjudicated
quality in academic programmes, and established the
Mathematics Committee after realising that a significant
reason for failure in courses was qualitative or mathematics
related. AMathematics Help Desk was set up in the Faculty
of Science and Technology; and the School of Education was
prompted to work with national and regional stakeholders
in the improvement of mathematics education.
She is particularly proud of “the work that The UWI
has done in the area of Gender Studies where the IGDS is
now … a global centre of excellence and has maintained
its commitment to scholarship as well as to social change
and social justice.”
The University recently approved a Gender Policy
which she expects to be rolled out to the benefit of all. “I
see this UWI Gender Policy as an example of leadership to
the rest of the region.”
Like teacher-philosophers through time, she continually
ponders, Who am I?What am I here for? A practical thinker,
Reddock also asks: How can I make it better? She wishes that
students would not only find academic keys to successful
careers. She hopes that they also require a social conscience
and humanity to be worthy citizens in the creation of caring
and just communities.
As a graduate and research institution, there remains
an area of limitation at The UWI. She points out that
philosophy underpins all academic disciplines, from the arts
to the sciences. It engages the most fundamental questions:
What is being? What is knowledge? What is truth? What
is a meaningful and worthwhile life? At most institutions
of higher learning around the world, courses in critical
thinking are the responsibility of philosophy departments.
She believes it should be a priority of all systems of
education, and should be much more widely taught in the
humanities, the social sciences as well as in the natural and
applied sciences.
Reddock is the first to recognise that her years at The
UWI have expanded her own philosophy and personal
development.
“In my opinion the UWI’s greatest contribution to
Caribbean society is our graduates. We should be measured
(not by numbers) by the quality of our graduates, both in
relation to competence and knowledge; in their service
to community and society; and their commitment to the
Caribbean region. Through leadership through research,
activism, teaching, and publications, this institution should
provide the information and analysis that raise critical
questions and generate informed debate to guide policy
in all areas.”
To be sure, Reddock will continue to be an engaged
scholar and collaborate with like-minded leaders and to
speak out on the issues.
