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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 5 AUGUST, 2018
CAMPUS NEWS
Honorary Degrees 2018
At the annual business
meeting of the
University Council, which was held on April
27, 2018, it was agreed that honorary degrees
will be conferred on the following four persons.
LLD: Mrs. Paula Lucie-Smith
teacher/advocate/pioneer,
Trinidad and Tobago
LLD: The Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham
politician, The Bahamas
LLD: Mr. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
sportman/cricketer, Guyana
DLitt: Mr. Winston Bailey (Shadow)
musical
composer, Trinidad and Tobago.
The honorary degrees will be conferred at the
St. Augustine campus graduation ceremonies
scheduled for
October 25-27, 2018.
More in our next issue.
If you never thought
you’d need much maths smarts
in your future, you were clearly not considering the
very analytical (and profitable) career of actuary.
One recent graduate of the BSc Actuarial Science
programme at UWI, St Augustine, Sarika Chin Fong,
has become its first graduate to achieve the Associate
of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) professional
designation, earning the respect and pride of UWI’s
Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
“Becoming a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries is
one of the most difficult professional designations to
obtain. Currently there are less than 20 nationals who
are fellows,” came a missive from them.
For Sarika, achieving the ASA is cause for both
celebration and relief. “I was in shock at first. Now I’m
very proud and relieved that I managed to get this far.
I am still far from the light at the end of my tunnel. I
still have to get my FSA designation. But I feel like I
can sit back and smell the roses a bit before I throw
myself back in.”
The ASA designation is awarded after a rigorous
series of exams and case studies. Says the UWI
Department of Mathematics and Statistics: “The
Associateship is the junior designation that one must
obtain before becoming a Fellow of the Society of
Actuaries. It is very unusual and quite significant an
accomplishment for a university programme of less
than ten years to have any of its graduates achieve an
Associate designation so soon after completing their
BSc in Actuarial Science. This is quite the academic
milestone for this relatively young programme and
for UWI.”
UWI’s BSc inActuarial Science programme began
in 2011. Sarika Chin Fong graduated from it in 2014
with First Class Honours, and after completing her
professional examinations, she received the Associate
of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) designation on April
6, 2018. It’s a fitting career for a person who as a child,
says she loved maths “all day, every day.”
So what, exactly, is it that actuaries do?
Actuaries are financial experts who measure
and manage risk to develop solutions for complex
financial issues. To do this, actuaries must have a deep
understanding of mathematics, statistics and business
management. The programme at UWI includes
courses in probability theory, economics, financial
accounting, computer programming, linear algebra,
analytical geometry, statistics, and asset & liability
management.
Actuaries can work for many different kinds of
businesses including insurance, banking, government,
energy, marketing, predictive analytics and more. In
the Caribbean, the two main areas of actuarial work
are life insurance and pensions, according to the
Caribbean Actuarial Association.
Last month the UWI Department of Mathematics
and Statistics of the Faculty of Science and Technology,
held a special event to recognise Sarika’s ASA
status. The July 3 event featured video messages of
congratulations from the President of the Society of
From left: Stokeley Smart, Senior Lecturer in Actuarial Science, The UWI; Winston Dookeran, former Governor of the Central Bank and Minister
of Finance; Sarika Chin Fong, Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Anthony Smart, former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago and
Chairman of First Citizens at an appreciation evening on July 3.
Measuring andManaging Risk Pays Off
Sarika does an actuarial first
B Y S H E R E E N A N N A L I
Actuaries and the President of the CaribbeanActuarial
Association. Other speakers included Dr Judith
Gobin, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Science and
Technology; former TT Attorney General Anthony
Smart, Chairman of First Citizens; and Kyle Rudden,
who is Consulting Actuary & Managing Director of
KR Services Ltd, the firm where Sarika now works.
For Sarika, the event was unexpected, but she took
it in stride, telling he audience her story.
“In 2011, I applied to do the Electrical and
Computer Engineering degree. The week before the
semester started, the last week in August, I somehow
set my sights on the newActuarial Science degree. My
parents’ determination to see the dean or any other
person that could help was the real reason I ended up
in the programme…They toldme: ‘You likeMaths, go
do actuarial science, you’ll like that too and it’ll make
money.’ So there I was, first day of UWI, not a clue
of where to go. Eventually I figured out the ‘where to
go’ part.” She added:
“The UWI programme was a mix of math,
computer science and finance courses. I may have
wanted to pull my hair out over the more financially-
based courses. I had a math and science background,
you see. The actuarial science courses were another
story. Totally unfamiliar territory. But we came, we
saw, we conquered. Our egos took some hits but we
were better students for it.”
She says: “The professional exams were done on
your own time, at your own pace. It was especially hard
for me to find a rhythm between working, studying
and living. Finding that balance was very satisfying for
me. I liked that I was able to have some sort of social
life outside these exams and work.”
She says dealing with some failure was all part
of the learning experience of becoming an actuary:
“I failedmy first exam ever in 2016. Ever. First fail
in my life. Models of Life Contingencies. My friends
told me ‘Welcome to the club! Let’s go drink.’ There
are many profound quotes on failure. My advice to all
of you about failing – it’s an experience and just like
all experiences, you learn from it and move on. Take
some time off from studying. Have fun, party hard
(or sleep hard). And then, sign up for the next sitting.
Just keep going. Self-motivation is very important.”
