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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 21ST FEBRUARY, 2016
COMMUNITY NEWS
UWI Winners presented with
D
EREK
W
ALCOTT
B
URSARY
Awardees Tasha Frank (L) and Chelsea Sherry Ramjit (R) flank Nobel Laureate Walcott
while DCFA lecturer Jessel Murray stands.
PHOTO COURTESY: MARK HARDY
Derek Walcott, an alumnus of The UWI,
who has been
presented with several prizes including the MacArthur
“genius grant”, T.S. Eliot and Guggenheim awards, as well
as the Queen’s Medal for Poetry from Queen Elizabeth II,
believes that mentorship as well as financial support are
essential to the development of the arts. Walcott donated
TT$40,000 to the UWI St Augustine Campus in 2013;
proceeds from the success of the production of his play
‘O Starry, Starry Night’ which after touring the U.K and St
Lucia, premiered to sold-out audiences at the Central Bank,
Trinidad. Actors from the production also conducted a free
workshop for theatre students of UWI and UTT that year.
Continuing in this philanthropic path, at the end of
2015, the 1992 Nobel Prize winner for poetry presented
the Derek Walcott Bursary in Creative and Festival Arts to
Tasha Frank and Chelsea Sherry Ramjit at the Kapok Hotel,
Port of Spain. Both awardees are full- time undergraduate
students enrolled at The University of the West Indies,
Faculty of Humanities and Education, Department of
Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA) at the St. Augustine
Campus, Trinidad.
“I feel very proud of myself, I know the bursary is
something I worked hard for and I feel very proud about
this”, explained Trinidadian Chelsea Ramjit, the 2014
winner, whose ambition is to become a theatre in education
teacher for specially-abled children. She explained after the
presentation, that she initially faced many challenges, with
the death of her mother and grandmother the year before
she entered UWI, but looks forward to graduating soon.
Similarly, Tobagonian, Tasha Frank, who was presented
with the 2015 bursary, stated that “the financial assistance
from this award is great, because as a university student it is
really tough”. She has had a profound love of acting and stage
management and spoke highly of the drama guild in Tobago
and the dedication of UWI lecturers. After graduation, she
intends to focus her studies on “arts administration and
cultural studies”.
In fact, both students had the highest praise for the
DCFA lecturers, but also spoke of the need to develop the
facilities at the UWI campus. Head of the DCFA, Jessel
Murray, underscored that financial assistance from the
Government through GATE, while extremely key, many
students also need additional financial aid through bursaries
“like these, since many students are in dire need of funding
for obligatory expenses - living and transport expenses”.
The DCFA has over 500 students enrolled in undergraduate
and post graduate programmes including dance, theatre,
musical, visual arts and creative studies.
The poet and playwright celebrated his 86th birthday
on 23 January and he is being honoured in St Lucia during
Nobel Laureate Week, with the opening of his childhood
home as a museum and cultural centre in Castries and a
lecture by poet Rosanna Penn-Warren. Walcott is currently
working on a book of poetry and art with the highly
acclaimed painter Peter Doig. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
will perform a stage adaptation of the high acclaimed epic
poem, ‘Omeros’ (after a successful run at The Globe in
London, UK) in St Lucia this year.
For more information on The Derek Walcott Bursary in Creative and Festival Arts,
please call: Mr. Louis Mc Williams at 663-2222 Augustine Campus.
UWI NEWS
It’s been ten months
since
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles was
installed as The UWI’s 8th Vice-
Chancellor. There’s been little
time for settling into his new
capacity. In today’s challenging
environmental conditions it’s
tougher times ahead for the leader
of any Caribbean institution,
but more so for one faced with
steering four campuses spread
across 17 territories. Amid all of
this, Sir Hilary must also navigate
The University as it transitions
out of its current strategic plan which expires in 2017 and plot
the next business cycle.
From the onset of his appointment, he declared his main focus
is to make The UWI one again – to fix the fragmentation that has
resulted over the years. Shortly after his first message to all staff,
he enumerated his vision into six main priorities:
1. Wealth creation and social development
2. Promoting an anti-recessionary action plan for the
Caribbean
3. Caribbean nation-building and social justice
4. Sharpening UWI’s role as a Caribbean cultural force
5. Deepening and strengthening UWI as a regional
institution
6. Expanding UWI as a global brand of education
Already he has outlined in a number of meetings the
framework and vision of the next Strategic Plan, 2017-2022. The
three major objectives he said will be facilitating the economic
recovery of the region while advancing the financial sustainability
of the university; globalising the UWI brand and reputation;
expanding access to the tertiary sector in the region. He referred
to this as the Triple A vision- Alignment of industry and academic
for wealth creation: Access expansion: and Alertness to global
opportunities.
One of Sir Hilary’s key strategic tools in these early days of
executing his vision has been the expeditious establishment of
specialized Task Forces which bring together multi-disciplinary
experts. These Task Forces have successfully supported crisis
and developmental issues within The UWI and across the region.
In September 2015, the first was appointed to provide technical
disaster management support to the immediate recovery needs of
the island of Dominica, following damage sustained by the impact
of Tropical Storm Erika. In October, a similar multi-disciplinary
Task Force was deployed when the Bahamas was left vulnerable
and battered by Hurricane Joaquin. Now as the region faces the
growing threat of the Zika virus, another technical team will
leverage The University’s expertise and coordinate efforts with
regional governments, health ministries and other agencies to
combat the virus.
Over the next fewweeks much of his attentionwill be engaged
in the hectic round of Campus Council meetings, leading up to
The University Council Meeting in April - his first during his
tenure as Vice-Chancellor. Sir Hilary holds strong views on how
The University ought to engage and participate within Caribbean
civilization as it seeks to be relevant and impactful. Because of this
we can certainly expect to see UWI initiatives aimed at harnessing
community internally, a more activist university, increased
stewardship intended to drive growth in the region and aggressive
efforts to deepen global penetration.
The global agenda has already been activated.The university’s
first PVC for Global Affairs takes up office on June 1st, 2016. This
week the VC will host a team from Suzhou, China, in order to
finalize plans for the creation of a UWI Campus site in China,
and a China Institute for Software Technology at UWI. These
are revolutionary initiatives designed to transform UWI in the
years ahead.
Charting the
STRATEGIC
DIRECTION
