SUNDAY 22 JANUARY, 2017 – UWI TODAY
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policies, the people and the physical plant at
the St Augustine Campus. The campus and
university are rather unique entities. In fact,
although I have been part of this institution for
over 36 years, I am now no longer surprised
at the discovery of something new. It has
achieved much in its relatively short existence.
However, the institution must be on a constant
drive to transform itself to improve its support
for national and regional development while
simultaneously having international reach and
appeal. This is a challenge to which we must all
respond – staff and students alike. Change is the
only unfailing characteristic of our environment
and the survival of our region, our nation and
our university requires that we properly assess
and adapt to the ever-changing environment.
I closed 2016 giving heartfelt thanks to
all for their support. I am encouraged by and
appreciative of the commitment demonstrated
by all staff to the institution, to regional
development and to the generations to come, to
their service beyond the call of duty to ensure
that UWI remains the premier teaching and
learning institution, and to the families of this
network of people who we must not forget also
provide support for what we do here. I am sure
I can speak for all in expressing appreciation
and gratitude to our institutional, government,
corporate and community partners with whom
we work tirelessly inmaking our servicemandate
a reality. Let us all move into a new year with that
spirit of gratitude - thankful for what we have,
in the midst of the financial constraints, and
mindful of the fact that there are many who are
not as fortunate.
So, with 2017 only just begun, allow me
to offer best wishes - for good health, success,
productivity and prosperity to each one of you
and all of your families.
PROFESSOR BRIAN COPELAND
Campus Principal
EDITORIAL TEAM
CAMPUS PRINCIPAL
Professor Brian Copeland
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Dr Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
EDITOR (Ag.)
Rebecca Robinson
CONTACT US
The UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002, exts. 82013 / 83997 or email:
CAMPUS NEWS
As 2016 becomes
a
distant memory, the new
work year has emerged
with attendant urgency
to be productive, to
meet objectives and
a c c omp l i s h g o a l s .
The year 2016 was
challenging so it closed
with some reflection and
introspection on the past and with a commitment
to focus on what can improved in the future.
As most of you are aware, the global financial
downturn has resulted in an economic recession
that has impacted Trinidad and Tobago and, by
extension, the St Augustine Campus. It is no secret
that we have had to manage the campus with a
reduced funding allocation. Senior management
and academic heads have met in an effort to
identify and agree on mechanisms for more
effective financial management. While one of
our priorities is to try, as far as is possible, to
maintain staffing, cost containment measures
have had to be implemented throughout the
Campus. Regular systematic reviews, exploring
ways to be even more productive and efficient,
are the “new normal.”
Subsequent to these meetings at the campus
level, there were university level sessions on the
new Strategic plan for the period 2017 – 2022.
Guided by the Vice-Chancellor’s vision of
the triple-A strategy - Agility, Alignment and
Access –and our campus vision for innovation
and entrepreneurship, we are developing a five
year plan to take the institution forward. As a
university we are years behind in this particular
initiative. However, we have already put things in
place for a rapid start. In particular, with Professor
John Agard’s assiduous leadership of the Office of
Development, Research and Knowledge Transfer,
we are well on the way to meeting our target of
having our first spin-off by August 2017. This
would represent our first direct contribution to
the economic development of our country and
our region through the nurturing of foreign
exchange earning small andmedium enterprises.
Over the last six months I have spent
much time learning more about the processes,
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
WELCOME 2017
A Tribute to
Sir Dwight Venner
B Y S I R G E O R G E A L L E Y N E
I had just returned from my walk
on the beach where I
watched the rosy-fingered dawn herald the rising of a brilliant
Caribbean sun, to open my computer and learn of the setting
of another brilliant Caribbean son. Caribbean he was by birth
and inclination and brilliant he showed himself to be through
decades of persistent and insistent efforts to foster the growth
and human development of his beloved OECS, not only for
their sake but for the benefit of the wider Caribbean. Sir Dwight
Venner had died.
We spoke at length just about ten days before, when we
discussed his health and he assured me that he was willing
and able to continue as Chair of the Campus Council of The
University of the West Indies (The UWI) Open Campus and he
looked forward eagerly to our University Council meeting in
April. He spoke of his new library and the opportunity it gave
him to sit and watch the Caribbean Sea and write about our
non-aqueous ties and the nature and possible solution of some
of our most pressing problems.
The tragedy of a death often lies in the perception and
persistence of the loss and the extent to which the one we
know is missed and mourned. But if it is true that a man never
dies until the last man calls his name, then we can be sure that
Dwight Venner’s death will be a long time coming. His name will
be called often by those who practice in the field of Caribbean
human development, and although his métier was the economic
dimension, Dwight knew and felt deeply that that our full
development as a people embraced other dimensions. Many
who listened to him in various fora, as I have, would be moved
by his concern as to whether the lads who were in charge would
be deaf to the imperatives which he saw so clearly. He would
speak always with passion and sometimes with impatience about
the examples of collective action in the OECS which were not
being replicated and expanded into the wider CARICOMregion.
I will cite such an imperative that is one of the many which
arose out of his commitment to cooperative and collective
Caribbean action. The Eastern Caribbean Drug Scheme which,
at least when I knew it, was hailed as the only successful example
in the Americas of a group of countries coming together to
acquire drugs at lower prices by collective purchasing. This was
possible mainly because of the backing and guarantee given by
the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and its President Dwight
Venner.
The UWI is proud to claim him as one of its brilliant
Pelicans. He wears our honorary degree with pride and has
never been reticent about proclaiming his academic lineage.
We hope that his name will be called loudly and often for a long
time by the Caribbean citizens who owe him so much. We also
hope that the grief of his family will be assuaged somewhat by
the knowledge of our appreciation of what he did and what
represented among us.
Sir George Alleyne was appointed Chancellor of The University of the
West Indies in 2003. Prior to this, he has had a long and illustrious
career in the medical field, holding among others, the positions of
Professor of Medicine at The UWI and Chairman of the Department
of Medicine. He is an emeritus professor of the The UWI.
