UWI STAN & Perspectives January - April 2016 by UWI St Augustine

JANUARY - APRIL 2016

PROFILES IN LEADERSHIP

36 Message from The Principal

From the Desk of the Editor-in-Chief

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

The Economics of Good Health

Unlimited IT Potential

Gravitational Wave Discovery

Prof. Wilson Gets a Worldwide Following

Close-up with Professor Emeritus Kenneth Julien

Fifty Years of Academic Service to The UWI: The Professor Holman Williams Story

Lawford Dupres - The Balanced Life

Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Mr. Deodat Maharaj UWI IN SOCIETY

Existing on a Lower Oil Price

The Long Journey: Dr. Roy Cape

IIR Celebrates 50 year Milestone

Ministering to Refugees at the Living Water Community

ACHIEVEMENT

Guyanese President Gives Reality Check on Caribbean’s State of Security MY CAMPUS

High Academic Achiever Zahra Heads to Oxford

Youngest Soca Monarch Projects only ‘Positive Vibes’

UWI Fete raises funds to help students in need

Jehue on the Road to Rio!

Dealing with Zika and other Epidemics on Campus

Finding Passion in Flowers

Cantonese in Trinidad and Tobago COLLABORATIONS

The Degree in Actuarial Science at The UWI

Some Bollywood in your Chutney?

Feasting on Film: The UWI Film Programme’s Inaugural Film Festival CONGRATULATIONS

Endeavour Executive Fellowship Recipient 2016: Ms. Danielle Watson

Message from the Principal

Pg. 2

Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations

Professor Clement Sankat

he Principal of a University Campus like The UWI at St. Augustine can sometimes feel like the head of a small country. There’s the student population, nearing 19,000 at last count, from all over the Caribbean; and a staff of over 4,000. This Campus is the largest of The UWI system and operates 24/7, year round. We simply do not stop working as many think. As an accredited Regional educational institution, there are bilateral agreements with other universities around the world, most recently China and India and Brazil, and partnerships with the Private Sector and other institutions. Then there’s the significant other, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Partnerships are essential to leadership and capacity building, and it is in this context that we have forged collaborations between The UWI and external parties. Within

The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, has grown into an important centre of teaching and learning, research and the cultural arts that serves the development of Trinidad and Tobago and the Region. I believe that the UWI has a significant role to play in the continued evolution of Trinidad and Tobago. The UWI, we are also promoting partnerships across disciplines to meet student needs for crossfunctional certification. I am especially proud of the partnership agreements which are recently yielding new physical facilities at St. Augustine; and new satellite Campus in the South at Debe. I am grateful to the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago for the North Gate Plaza at the entrance to The UWI and the Government of Trinidad & Tobago for funding the South Campus. Republic Bank has also provided funding to enable a building which will house the Department of Creative and Festival Arts. Soon to be constructed at the centre of the Campus is the new building, the ANSA McAl Psychological Research Centre for the new Department of Psychology, all with funding from Ansa McAl Group. These might be the most

recent in a history of collaborations locally and internationally, but certainly the biggest in our time. During my first term as Principal, the St. Augustine Campus benefitted from substantial infrastructural development, including construction of The Sir George Alleyne Centre for Health Economics, the Department of Creative and Festival Arts Building, the Sir Arthur Lewis Hall of Residence on St John’s Road, the Seismic Research Centre, the Canada Hall Renovation, refurbishment of the main Administrative Building, The New University Inn and Conference Centre, the Facilities Management Head Office, the Teaching and Learning Complex located on Circular Road, St. Augustine, the Student Medical Facilities at San Fernando and Mount Hope, the Film Building, the Library/Social Sciences Building, Trinity House etc.

Further afield, I have travelled to India with the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister’s delegation; and also welcomed representatives from China. Those collaborations have added tremendous value to both the University and to Trinidad and Tobago. CHINA The Chinese construction firm, China Jiangsu, won the competitive bid and is currently constructing The UWI South Campus at Penal/Debe. The Agricultural Innovation Park, a 200-acre project at Orange Grove, is a collaboration driven by the Faculty of Food and Agriculture based on an agreement between The UWI and the China Agricultural University (CAU). The Crops Research Institute of Guandong (CRIGAAS) is also an agricultural partner from China. The Confucius Institute (CI) was established at The UWI in 2013 with the CAU and a Centre for Language Arts and Culture was thus created. More recently, an MOU was signed for collaboration in International Relations between the Wuhan University and The UWI’s Institute of International Relations with a focus

Confucius Day celebrations , held at Independence Square - 2015

on Caribbean Studies; a first in the Region and China. INDIA Collaborations in education and culture have been facilitated between the Indian High Commission in Trinidad and the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in New Delhi, India, for almost two decades. The UWI St. Augustine Campus hosts three Academic Chairs in Hindi, Contemporary Indian History and Ayurvedic Medicine, which are all sponsored by the Indian Government.

The Campus has worked closely with the Indian High Commission in Trinidad to mount a wide range of conferences, symposia and cultural events including performances and even a film festival. UWI Staff have benefitted from scholarships to obtain professional development training in India. In 2012, The UWI was included in the contingent of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago on a State visit to India. Representing The UWI, I took the opportunity to deepen long-standing relationships with Universities in India.

State visit of the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister to India in 2012

Following the visit, The UWI signed an agreement with the Government of India for the Chair in Ayurveda. Significant opportunities for staff exchanges were developed; and agreements were made for technical assistance to be provided to the UWI for expanding existing programmes and setting up new ones (especially at the post-graduate level). THE UWI IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO The University of the West Indies St. Augustine, has grown into an important centre of learning, critical thought and research, culture and service for the development of Trinidad and Tobago, in particular post independence.

UWI STA South Campus (Penal/Debe): A ‘World Class’ campus coming soon

I believe that the UWI will have a significant role to play in the evolution of Trinidad and Tobago.

I am pleased by the strides being made in creating cross-functional departments spawning integrated areas of study, producing balanced and well-rounded graduates so as to better serve the needs of our community.

After 55 years of St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago, we have built a reputation globally for qualified professionals in the fields of Engineering, Law, Medicine, the Arts and Agriculture. With English as our language of teaching and our strategic location, our Campus can be attractive to North, South and Central American students as well as the West Indian diaspora throughout the world.

One of our challenges is making youngsters more educated rather than simply certified…to infuse more contemporary matter into the curriculum in an undergraduate programme of three years…to enhance the output of the UWI. We need to ensure that students learn to think, to solve problems, to innovate. I think it starts with a vision of citizenship and a view of our Region.

We should promote ourselves globally to attract fee-paying students. We cannot underestimate the value of international students to strengthen our diversity and ensure our sustainability. Soon, we’ll have two campuses, St. Augustine and the ever attractive new South Campus.

As an Engineering student in 1970, I came to the UWI on a scholarship from Guyana. Steeped in the rural traditions of the Courentyne in Guyana, there was a natural affinity for agricultural engineering, developing tools to take some of the back-breaking work out of agriculture. Agriculture of today requires a much lower level of

human energy, thanks to the work of Agricultural Engineers through mechanisation. To be profitable in Agriculture, we need to think of how we add value in the chain from “farm to work”; how can a society that is able to produce and consume this food create wealth. When I first graduated from the UWI at St. Augustine in 1972, with a BSc (1st Class Hon.), I was awarded the Sir Solomon Hochoy Award as the best mechanical engineering graduate. I then specialized in Mechanical Engineering Design for the MSc (1975) at the UWI before going on to the University of Guelph in Ontario Canada for the PhD Engineering in Food & Agricultural Engineering (1978). Acquired knowledge has no value if it can’t be applied for sound solutions in the challenges that we face. That’s central to my interventions in Research and Development at the UWI over the years. Hence I speak passionately of “Research with Impact”. For instance, an import food bill of TT$4 billion is inconsistent with a

sustainable society. We recreated the Faculty of Food and Agriculture to support – and stimulate as far as possible – agriculture and food production. By the time our graduates leave the University, we can impart the techniques for smart or entrepreneurial agri-business with use of technology and modern systems. Agriculture must be seen as a profitable business for them! AN INTEGRATED UWI My vision is one of “integrating the curriculum within UWI” and this has had traction in some areas. Environmental Science/Engineering and Management is one such area. Environmental consciousness is strong on the Campus. Faculty and students have always been

involved in protecting the natural environment, our watersheds, marine resources, flood and faunas. They have been instrumental in raising awareness through organizations like the Buccoo Reef Trust, the Turtle Village Trust, The Wild Fowl Trust at Pointe-a-Pierre etc. I am proud of the work of persons such as Professor John Agard who was a member of the IPCC on Climate Change; and Professor Dave Chadee who has been working on control of mosquitoes. Professor Chris Oura is a vet working on the one health concept. In addition, the newly established Law Faculty has a focus on environmental law as my

colleagues in Engineering on the Built Environment. As we progress - the principles of integration can provide many opportunities to bring crossfunctional expertise to meet daily needs. A key focus for the country should be that of transport. With congested highway systems and air-bridge deficiencies, there are engineering solutions such as rail systems, light transit systems. The UWI must work collaboratively with the State to develop solutions and to find creative ways to raise funding for essential services. All of this requires an integrated approach to problemsolving, in which our graduates must be steeped. 

PROFILE OF PROFESSOR CLEMENT SANKAT Clement Sankat came to the University of the West Indies as a young man of 18. It became home and family to him when he joined the staff as a lecturer in mechanical engineering nine years later. Appointed Pro Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal in 2008, he declared that “leadership is founded upon a spirit of servanthood … It is through service that we strengthen the capacity of our nation and our region and facilitate the sustainability of our university …” Professor Sankat has for many years been actively involved in the application and promotion of Science and Technology (S&T) for national and regional development. He was a long serving member on the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) and had previously served as the Institute’s Chairman. During his tenure as Chairman of CARIRI, Professor Sankat led the drive to re-focus and reengineer the Institute with a strategic vision of business service and self-sufficiency.

He was also a previous Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS); served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST), and was instrumental in the development of a Draft National Policy on S&T for Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). He was appointed as Chairman of the Vision 2020 Sub-committee on Science, Technology and Innovation for Trinidad and Tobago and was the lead author of the Committee’s final report. He served on the Board of Directors of the Metal Industries Company Ltd. (MIC), and is Chair of the Board of the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business (ALJGSB) and the UWI School of Business and Applied Studies Limited (ROYTEC). Professor Sankat is a scholar in the area of Food and Agricultural Engineering, and a Chartered Engineer. He has received numerous awards including the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research, University and Public Service.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

From the Desk of the

Editor-in-Chief A

interview, Mr. Dupres discusses the ways that we can mitigate the impact of the downturn of this industry by producing economically. He also provided some personal insights into his life and how his personal values have impacted his career choices and how he has chosen to make a contribution upon retirement.

s we move into our third issue of The UWI’s STAN magazine since its resumption, we have tried to push the envelope even further, by engaging key minds not only in academia, but in industry, business and government. It is imperative that our focus to raise the awareness of the valuable work being done at The UWI, is maintained; primarily for the reason of demonstrating to our students and staff, the importance of their contribution. More significantly, we will also continue to track the contribution of the intellectual human resources, that were fostered at The UWI, now active in their positive contribution to the wider national, regional and international communities.

Arnold Corneal

To accomplish this, we will engage the many brilliant persons who are well placed and functioning across various disciplines in our society. STAN provides an opportunity for them to share their ideas, suggestions and advice. This approach will realise the salient objective of initiating healthy discourse and discussion, not only at The UWI, but also in the public domain.

now the Chairman of the University of Trinidad & Tobago. Our readers will now be privy to a first-hand narrative, as Professor Julien (the first West Indian Dean of Engineering at The UWI) revisits and shares with us the long and challenging journey for The UWI, as it evolved from the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, to what we now know as The University of the West Indies. He further elaborates on what he envisions as the role to be played by our engineers today. Professor Julien places our energy industry into an international perspective, drawing reference to what is currently happening in some parts of the developing world like Africa. This article is a ‘must read’!

In this issue of the STAN we convened a face to face discussion with the energy icon Professor Emeritus Kenneth Julien; who is

In keeping with the energy sector, we spoke to Mr. Lawford Dupres, the former Chairman of National Petroleum. In an interesting

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

STAN seized the opportunity to have a lengthy discussion with the Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth - Deodat Maharaj, who is also an alumni of The UWI. Mr. Maharaj candidly identified some of the many challenges that the Caribbean region faces today; from Global warming and Climate change, to the economic threats to our Caribbean island States. He also spoke about the need for continued thrust towards Caribbean integration, along with the many ways in which it can be accomplished. Also captured in this edition are The UWI’s efforts to expand our global reach in Education, through our internationalization thrust. In this regard, the STAN conversed with the High Commissioner for India to Trinidad & Tobago, His Excellency Gauri Sankar Gupta as he shared on collaborative initiatives between Trinidad & Tobago and India, which have been undertaken during the time that he has been in Trinidad.

His Excellency has been a source of great support for The UWI and has facilitated in the recent past, visits to India by delegates representing The UWI, along with being sponsor to the recently concluded History Fest 2016, Cultural nationalism Symposium: Possibilities and Challenges-India and the Caribbean World. This interview covers some interesting ground, and therefore the content is very intriguing and impactful.

near future and the secrets behind her success. Also to be featured is Ms. Nandini Maharaj, a graduate of The UWI in International Relations. Nandini has demonstrated the entrepreneurial spirit that has become characteristic of many UWI graduates, and now owns and runs a flower shop. She tells us about the commitment she has made towards self-sustainability and the viable prospects for others like her, who choose to do the same.

This edition of STAN explores the current state of the economy with Government Senator and Economist Dr. Lester Henry; where he analyses the economic landscape and identifies some of the challenges that can arise. However, he also presents the many possibilities that are available to us, as we chart a more rewarding fiscal path to sustainability. As part of our comprehensive evaluation and examination of the current economic landscape, in making sure to present a broader perspective, STAN connected with UWI Professor Karl Theodore and his team; who collaboratively addressed our questions and put forward their thoughts and position, on the way forward.

I am confident in saying that all our readers will enjoy the discussion that we had with the legendary Dr. Roy Cape; the musical icon who came from a humble beginning to become a stalwart in the Music industry. Dr. Cape, who, a few years ago, received a Doctoral award from The UWI, has been pivotal, in touching the lives of many of the stars of today who are excelling in the music industry. He was also very candid in telling the story of the many challenges that he faced during his rise to stardom; some will astound you!

The STAN also presents perspectives on The UWI’s social responsibility initiatives and the Development and Endowment Fund and how it continues to provide valuable bursaries and scholarships to hundreds of students over the past 28 years.

Other important interviews were conducted with Dr. Rhonda Maingot and members of the Living Water Community, who shared their views on the impact of the global refugee crisis and the ways that it is impacting the lives of the displaced here in Trinidad & Tobago. We also got a better understanding of the Community’s dedicated humanitarian work to the people of Trinidad & Tobago and their commitment to provide service to the poor and outcast.

Readers will also be introduced to our Rhodes Scholar Zahra Gomes, as she tells us of her plans for the

The STAN concludes this edition with a conversation with The UWI’s Director of Medical Services,

Dr. Neil Singh; who tells us about the methods being used to address the global epidemics such as Zika, HIV and H1N1, and the strategies employed to protect our student body and to ensure a healthy state of affairs at The UWI. This information is timely, as Trinidad has recently recorded a few cases of persons being afflicted with the Zika virus. Other features to look forward to are: the article by Stefan Poo Ying in a Language Series- Cantonese in Trinidad & Tobago; where he explores this ancient language, along with his insight to the impact of Chinese migration and its influence on our local culture; an article by Dr. Yao Ramesar, the Film Coordinator of The UWI, who enlightens us on The UWI Film Programme’s 10th Anniversary and the upcoming World Festival of Emerging Cinema; and a controversial response from our own Professor Stephan Gift to the recent announcement of a breakthrough discovery in gravitational waves by the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). I am very excited about the many conversations that are contained in this issue and I am reasonably sure that the content of the various issues of the STAN magazine, will find specific interests to our diverse reading audience. STAN will continue to be relevant, timely and informative, as we provide information that is necessary, and can be found nowhere else. 

Enjoy!

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Research & Innovation

The

Economics of Good Health

THE PRESENTATION “The Caribbean is not poor, except for Haiti. The evidence – a survey of 14 island states - tells us that in the Caribbean we do have the resources to finance our health systems.” Professor Karl Theodore was speaking on Policy Imperatives for Sustainable Health Financing in the Caribbean, at the 10th Caribbean Conference on National Health Financing Initiatives, in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) at the end of October 2015.

Professor Emeritus Karl Theodore is a Caribbean thinker and economist, and is currently the Director of the HEU, Centre for Health Economics at The University of the West Indies St. Augustine. He has functioned as an advisor to governments of the region and to many of the regional and international agencies that operate in the Caribbean, with special interest in the social sectors. With a focus on health and the World Health Organization (WHO) mandate on universal health coverage, Prof. Theodore has concentrated on the efficiency of health systems and on the way these systems touch the lives of ordinary people in these countries. Though delivered to health agencies and governments, Prof. Theodore’s TCI presentation was aimed at the entire region. He makes the point that, “Choices matter - both at the policy and the individual levels – how much we are prepared to spend on health and how we live our lives - in particular, our diet and our activity levels. Perhaps the single most important fact is that covering everyone for health care means that we cannot finance this by requiring persons to pay for care at the time of need; there should be a pool based on a pre-payment arrangement. Equally important is that to sustain universal coverage, we must be efficient in the management of funds and public policy must also provide an environment where the default choices we make about our lives are healthy choices.” STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

He identifies the need for greater efficiency in systems for financing health care in the Caribbean, “Keeping costs under control depends on modern management and community responsibility. The introduction of a health information system, which will allow for the tracking of costs and quality of care, will be essential to cost control. So too will be a programme of increased community responsibility. Personal responsibility for diet and exercise will impact on the national cost of health care.” Prof. Theodore identifies that the major determinants of health originate outside of the health sector e.g. the food and drink industry. “If the default supplies from this industry are inimical to health, there will be a tendency for the population to be unhealthy, regardless of the personal efforts made. If community responsibility is to have maximum effect on the cost of health care, it will be important to examine the legislative framework governing the food and drink industry to ensure that default supplies are NOT harmful to health.” He said, “In the drive towards universal coverage, it will also be important for resources to be allocated with the epidemiology (incidence, distribution and control of diseases) in the particular country in mind. It cannot make sense to have most of the resources in the system allocated to those parts which do not really address the epidemiological challenges. Since noncommunicable diseases (sometimes called lifestyle diseases) are by far the major challenge facing the region, it cannot make sense for countries to be directing more and more expenditure at hospitals. We need to keep in mind that hospitals cannot cure diabetes or hypertension.” Prevention is better than cure, he advocated: “There is need to focus on primary care; to put a cap on hospital spending and put more effort on health management,

which focuses on prevention and on the avoidance of complications, on programmes and activities which keep the occurences of other diseases to a minimum. In calling for prevention to be central to the thrust for universal coverage, there is also the need to emphasize that the use of alcohol and tobacco are major contributors to ill heath situations in the region.” There are different issues for Caribbean people at different ages, he said. “Poor diet and exercise are impacting from childhood; whereas alcohol and tobacco start impacting from young adulthood, with more rapid, direct, devastating results, including the association with violence, trauma and mental illness.” He proposed a multi-pronged strategy for heath care financing. “Getting the health financing strategy right means more than finding sources of funding. It means adopting a financing mechanism which will require some degree of redistribution, that requires tolerance or consensus. It also involves stripping the food environment of biases to ill health; and adopting diets and exercise regimes (by individuals and communities) which will keep the cost of contacts with the health system as low as possible. All these matters can benefit from national consultations on health promotion.”

health. It is a pyramid whose building blocks may be information and analysis, supporting at the top the over-arching ideal of healthy families, healthy communities and a healthy nation. The cost of good health to individuals, families, communities or nations is usually represented in the expenditure on medical supplies and services to recover from disease or other disabling conditions, as well as by expenditure on prevention and health promotion. However, according to Prof. Theodore the cost of good health also includes efforts made outside of the health sector to keep the nation healthy. These may be efforts in social services, in education, in agriculture and in trade. EDUCATION AND RESEARCH The UWI’s mission to advance education and create knowledge through excellence in teaching, research, innovation, public service, intellectual leadership and outreach in order to support the inclusive (social, economic, political, cultural, environmental) development of the Caribbean region and beyond, gives meaning to, and supports the development of a Centre for Health Economics.

THE IDEA It may seem obvious that governments, businesses and families should be tracking the cost of health (and medical) care to determine how to fund on-going good health as well as how to save for emergency medical interventions when they arise. But the practical applications for small nations require on-going collection of historical and contemporary data; review of trends; from primary and secondary sources; unending discussions with client agencies to evaluate objectives and negotiate pathways; as well as fine-tuning surveys and modeling the process for accuracy and efficiency and multiple users. Health economics is a cross-functional, purpose-driven development tool, with one foot in the discipline of economics and the other in social planning and public

Professor Karl Theodore presenting on potential uses of the health accounts

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The Health Economics Unit (HEU) evolved as one of the research clusters of the Department of Economics in 1995. It was established to be an outreach arm of the University and was positioned to offer important hands-on and practical technical interventions in health, social services and related sectors. With its guiding principle of Making A Difference, the HEU formed part of The UWI’s response to the need for technical support throughout the Caribbean region, during a period where several countries were undertaking health sector reform initiatives, while at the same time, grappling with serious economic challenges. In 2008, the HEU was granted the status of a semiautonomous centre within the University. The name was subsequently changed to the HEU, Centre for Health Economics to reflect this change. In 2010, the Centre was moved into the newly constructed Sir George Alleyne Building, north of the campus. Seed funding was provided by the World Bank following its productive research collaborations with the HEU. The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago agreed to provide the remainder of the funds. The HEU, Centre for Health Economics fosters on-going collaborations with regional and international agencies, governments and institutions to define and analyze socioeconomic problems (research) and policy formation/ interventions and implementation (impact). The core activities of the Centre are designed to achieve its aims and objectives by pulling together a team of dedicated and young professionals, and by establishing a network of stakeholders interested in enhancing the efficiency and the quality of health systems in the countries of the Caribbean region. Some research areas developed by the Centre include the following: •

HIV/AIDS – Economic Impact and Policy Response in the Region;

•

Non-Communicable Disease - Economic Impact and Policy Response in the Region;

•

The Unit Cost of providing services at secondary and primary health facilities;

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The aim is to continually improve the quality of policy making in health. •

Health Financing Policy in the Region, including designing National Health Insurance Systems;

•

National Health Accounts in the Region.

SOME ACHIEVEMENTS While there is certainly a lot more work ahead of the HEU, Centre for Health Economics, it is safe to say that compared to 1995, before the birth of the HEU, policy makers in the region are now more aware of: 1. The importance of evidence and research to policy development; 2. The feasibility of doing more in health with the resources available; 3. The deleterious impact of ill health on the economy of each country; and 4. The possibility of containing costs by modernizing the health systems. LOOKING AHEAD The mandate of ‘Making a Difference’ in the region and beyond, is integral to the work of the HEU. This was clearly espoused by Dr. Althea La Foucade who is currently the Coordinator of the HEU, Centre for Health Economics, Dr. Christine Laptiste, Research Fellow and Ms. Vyjanti Beharry, Junior Research at the Centre. Dr. La Foucade, whose responsibilities also include teaching, supervision of graduate students and research says, “External to The UWI, the Centre provides and will continue to provide technical support to governments throughout the Caribbean region. The aim is to continually improve the quality of policy making in health. Within the University the Centre provides teaching support to the Department of Economics, and opportunities to the students of the Department for research and specialization.” 

Research & Innovation

xciting developments are taking place at the Campus Information Technology Services Office and the potential exists for further collaboration with faculties and other departments at the St. Augustine Campus. Over the past five years, student assistants at Campus Information Technology Services (CITS) unit have contributed to the development of eight software applications in the areas of Business Intelligence, User Access Management automation and two mobile applications. The student assistants, mentored by CITS, have also been part of two successful championship code sprint teams.

Derrick Lewis, Information Technology Officer at CITS said the relationship with student assistants over the years has brought with it some interesting outflows in terms of relationships with other departments and participation in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. “At the St. Augustine Campus, there is no doubt that we have all sorts of talent and discipline that might contribute to thriving enterprises, but it’s only in inter-disciplinary interaction that you can find unique business models that cannot be reproduced,” he said. The use of student assistants at Campus IT arose from cost constraints imposed over the last few years and the need to increase the STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

level of customer service through their Service Desk initiative. The Campus IT Service Desk operates as a call centre and help centre where people can call in, walk in or email for assistance with technology issues on campus. “Around the time the campus began to go through some of its financial challenges, it was suggested that we make maximum use of student assistants rather than seek temporary staffing or other types of labour,” said Lewis. “We started recruiting second year students, who we were able to train and retain for two years while they completed their academic programmes. It is challenging to work with students since they are constrained to work part time, but

we seem to have found a model that works. “The students have also been appreciative of the experience gained. It is an opportunity for them to work alongside professionals, in a real work environment. It becomes a significant advantage when they go to the job market. We have had experience with students of both technical and nontechnical backgrounds, exposing them to a high standard of service delivery and preparing them for the employment marketplace.” The framework for student assistantships at the St. Augustine Campus allows graduates and post graduate students to work during the semester for a maximum of 20 hours per week. Over a five-year period, 41 student assistants worked at Campus IT, some of whom also interned during holiday breaks. They worked on the IT Service Desk as tier 1 Service Desk Officers, fielding and assigning service requests and incidents to IT support personnel. In 2012, a team made up of Student Assistants and staff from Campus IT Services worked together to win both the national and regional Code Sprint competitions with their “Fishing Gear Analyzer” application.

In 2015, student Interns and staff of Campus IT came together again, this time to build their “Mobile Donate” app. It was well received by the judges and the team won first place in the Google Startup Weekend, a competition sponsored by Google and the Inter-American Development Bank.

been making informal enquiries about these things. It’s a bit of a personal passion of mine and it’s something I would love to see happen. I have a job to do but that doesn’t prevent me from engaging and continuing to use whatever avenue I can to promote this idea,” he remarked.

Lewis said Google Startup Weekend is significant because it represents an awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship to small-island economies in the Caribbean.

He noted that every year there is an entrepreneurship boot camp to assist students, IDB-funded projects such as the i2i competition, Google Startup and Code Sprints, all in support of youth entrepreneurship. “What I think is missing from the campus is the coordinated effort by departments, academic and non-academic, to promote student development in cross disciplinary collaborations.”

“I would like to see more concrete support for this kind of activity given to students by our Campus. These activities are currently engaged in on an ad hoc basis, but I think there is room to develop a systematic approach to student development in innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said, adding that there are a number of initiatives on the campus already geared towards entrepreneurship. “My mandate as a member of CITS, is to serve the campus first, in my capacity of IT Officer. Still, I have

Giving an example with the Google Startup Weekend, Lewis illustrated that most of the team members had technical backgrounds but the reason for their success was the business model that the judges thought was viable. In the context of Google Startup Weekend, the business model is validated with

customers as demonstration that the product is likely to succeed. It’s an initial proof of the viability of the product before investment. “Being the mentor on that team, I was able to bring to bear my knowledge of IT and also my management expertise.” Derrick holds an MBA from the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business. “We also worked with a graphic designer not related to UWI,” he explained. Over the course of the last five years, with several dozens of student assistants passing through the IT Services Office, two – Justin Zephyrine and Akeem Deare landed permanent positions at the University after working in temporary and contract positions. Several others are working in various industries throughout the country. “It’s a validation for us that our training pipeline is maturing in a certain way. We’re able to take a student all the way from the second year into being a productive member of full time staff.” 

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Research & Innovation

n a striking news report on February 11, 2016, scientists at the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitationalwave Observatory (LIGO) announced the detection of gravitational waves which they claim were emitted by colliding black holes in the distant cosmos. Gravitational waves are waves supposedly emitted when a cosmic mass accelerates.

The search for these waves has been ongoing for the past 50 years without any success until now. If confirmed, this would be an extremely important scientific development as it would open up a new window on the Universe. This discovery has come at an extremely high price as the LIGO experiment has so far cost the National Science Foundation in the USA about US$1.1 billion. It is the largest investment ever by the foundation. There are however some issues surrounding the experiment that for me cast doubt on the authenticity

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Professor Stephan Gift Dean of the Faculty of Engineering

of the claimed detection. Firstly, unknown to the main group of researchers, an independent team used a system of false signal injection to test the apparatus and as reported in the Washington Post, almost caused the publication of at least one of these false signals as a real detection. Here is how Nature Online reported this activity: “In the past, a few senior members of the LIGO team have tested the group’s ability to validate a potential discovery by secretly inserting ‘blind injections’ of fake gravitational waves into the data stream to test whether the research team can differentiate between real and fake signals.

But the September detection happened before blind injections were made, so it is thought to be a signal from a real astrophysical phenomenon in the Universe.” In such circumstances can we be certain that the detected signal is real and not one of these fake injections? Secondly, neither gravitational waves nor black holes have been independently confirmed, so it strains credulity to consider that two unproven concepts have been confirmed in a single detection after decades of unsuccessful search. Thirdly, it is a truly extraordinary coincidence that after such a long period of failed effort these waves were finally detected on September 14th, 2015 almost exactly 100 years after the presentation by Albert Einstein on November 25th, 1915 of his General Theory of Relativity which predicts them. In addition to these observations, in 2014 scientists reported with similar fanfare, the detection of gravitational waves in an experiment referred to as BICEP2. This report turned out to be completely false as the detected signal was shown to arise from space dust. This was the second time that a false claim of detection of these waves was made, as previously in 1968, Joseph Weber claimed observation of gravitational waves using a different kind of experiment. His claim was never confirmed and is today generally accepted as being invalid. These false claims indicate the critical need for rigorous confirmation of the LIGO claim by way of repeated observations using the LIGO and other independent experiments before acceptance by scientists. On the basis of my published demonstration of light speed variation using GPS technology, I have argued that relativity is an invalid physical theory. This view has been expressed by several reputable scientists including Hendrik Lorentz the pre-eminent Physics Nobel laureate whose transformations were used by Einstein in his statement of the theory; Georges

On the basis of my published demonstration of light speed variation using GPS technology, I have argued that relativity is an invalid physical theory. Sagnac the famous French physicist whose laboratory apparatus contradicting relativity for rotational motion is standard equipment today in flight navigation; and Louis Essen, the renowned British physicist who invented the atomic clock that is the basis of the extremely successful GPS. Moreover, the equations derived from general relativity which predict gravitational waves, also predict that masses such as the Sun and the Earth do not attract each other! This is contrary to what is actually observed and known for hundreds of years which is, that all masses attract. This invalidating prediction was known from as early as 1970 and is contained in the well-known textbook on general relativity “Gravitation” by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler. Against the tenets of good science, it has been completely ignored. Therefore I am of the view that these researchers are looking for a phenomenon that simply does not exist and that the claimed detection of gravitational waves by LIGO will go the way of the false claims of BICEP2 and the Weber experiment. At the cost of US$1.1 billion it seems to me that this unconfirmed detection claim has arisen because LIGO has become “too big to fail”. Interestingly I note that immediately following the announcement of the discovery, the Indian government approved the construction of another expensive LIGO system in India. 

Professor Stephan Gift Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty of Engineering, UWI

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Research & Innovation

Prof. Wilson gets a worldwide following as interest develops in his work

n January, Professor Brent Wilson was surprised to learn that he was in the top 5% of the 32 million researchers whose work was most viewed at Academia.edu. He had in the previous month received 75 profile views and 65 document views from 45 unique visitors. By March he had moved up to the top 3%, with 144 document views and 5 profile views from 140 unique visitors in the last 30 days.

must be mounted on microscope slides to be viewed. As he explains, every species of fossil that has existed has divided time into three phases: the time before it evolved, the time during its existence, and the time after it went extinct. “So, if you find two chunks of sedimentary rocks with the same fossils, you know that they’re the same age. That’s one way the oil companies in Trinidad are using my micropaleontology.”

Said the Professor of Palaeontology and Geology in the Department of Chemical Engineering, “I’m just amazed that there’s such an interest in my work, because my field is not the world’s biggest. It came as quite a surprise to me. I’m now in the 3% most searched! Wow! I’m amazed at how many people have taken an interest in what I’m doing and at where they are from as well.”

The other way involves examining the ecological niches of the species. By deciphering the ecological niches of fossil species recovered, researchers can determine the environment (river, lake, shallow sea, deep sea) in which a sedimentary rock was deposited.

His papers have been viewed by people the world over, including Tunisia, Brazil, the US, Hong Kong, Finland, and from places right here, like Arima in Trinidad. If his papers STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Professor Brent Wilson are being used for further research or even for information, Professor Wilson says it gives him a great feeling of being part of the global dynamism that is driving knowledge forward. The papers published on the academic website are related to his work on microscopic fossils that, too small to be seen with the naked eye,

“The big thing I did is, I said nobody’s looked at the environment of the rocks that yield the oil on Trinidad, and that’s what I’m going to specialise in. To try to interpret it, we get a chunk of sedimentary rock and simply boil it in water until it falls to pieces. We sift the rock through a

very fine mesh to get rid of any silt and clay, leaving us with the sand grains and the fossils. I go through those and I pick out 300 fossils, each smaller than a pin head, from every sample. Then I work out the most abundant species and what those species mean in environmental terms,” he explained. Professor Wilson began his research in earnest when he was a high school teacher in Nevis, where he spent seven years teaching physics and maths in a rural high school, “which, to be honest, were some of the most memorable years of my life.” Born and educated in Britain, he ended up on the tiny island in 1989 when he landed the teaching job through a British charity called Voluntary Service Overseas. He went on a 2-year contract but ended up staying there for 7 years. While in Nevis, he examined microscopic fossils in the sands that surround the island and wrote his PhD on them. He tried registering with The UWI but, since he couldn’t afford the costs, he completed his PhD with a British university. Interestingly, however, his initial contact with The UWI led to him arriving in Trinidad in 1998 to work in the energy sector, where he used fossils to find the ages of rocks. He began working at the St. Augustine Campus in 2002, when the Petroleum Geoscience Programme was established. In the energy sector, his job was to search for sandstones that contain oil or gas. “Imagine you drilled an oil well and you found a sandstone, which is the kind of rock that will

have oil in it – it’s like a sponge, whereas a shale is so impermeable that nothing can pass through. “Imagine you drill another oil well some distance away and find another sandstone with oil. You will want to know if it’s the same sandstone. Do you have one enormous oil field, or do you have two tiny ones? If it’s an enormous one, you can bring out the champagne and caviar; but if it’s just two small ones, it’s apple juice and peanut butter! It’s the fossils that can tell you that. They can tell you if the sandstones are the same age and if they were deposited in the same environment,” he explained. “If they are the same age and environment, there’s a good chance that it’s one big sandstone making one large oilfield.”

He looked at the Brasso Formation, which crops out at Brasso Village in the country’s Central Range and consists of about a 1000 metre-thick shale. “I took samples from every 5 metres apart and looked at what my little fossils told me. I expected it to be the same environment all the way through. Instead, I found that the clay was, to begin with, deposited in water about 30 metres deep. The water depth increased to about 600 metres, and then came back up to about 30 metres. This was an enormous change in sea level. There had to be something driving that, and I decided what it was. It was the formation of the Northern Range.” As he explains it, if somebody pushes down on a pillow with their fist, a trough is formed around the fist.

“The big thing I did is, I said nobody’s looked at the environment of the rocks that yield the oil on Trinidad, and that’s what I’m going to specialise in.” A major area of his interest has been the formation of the Northern Range of Trinidad, which stretches from the eastern to the western region of the country. “That was where I started out when I came to UWI. I had worked in the oil industry, but they were only interested in sandstones, because that’s where the oil is. I said, if we are really going to understand Trinidad’s geological history, we have to look at the other rocks as well,which means looking especially at the shales.”

“When plate tectonics built the Northern Range, the mass of the mountains did the same to Trinidad. It pushed down on Trinidad and a big trough was developed around it, which was up to 600 metres deep. Then the Northern Range itself eroded, and so it filled in that 600 metres. I discovered that and I discovered that it had happened twice. The formation of the Northern Range was at least a two phase event. But nobody had even realised before my work that such a thing had happened.” STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

“I’m awash with material from them, because if we are going to understand things millions of years ago, then we have to understand how they are now. We can project that into the past. Such a way of working is given a long name – uniformitarianism – which is a way of saying that understanding the present gives us the key to understanding the past. So, the oil companies are interested in how things are now, so that when looking at the oil wells they have already drilled, they can improve their interpretation of those.” He is also in “a very rudimentary way” advising BHP Billiton in their deep water drilling campaign. “ I throw in my two cents worth, but that is a real adventure for us all because nothing is known about the deep water either in the present or in the past around Trinidad,” said Professor Wilson who teaches palaeontology, specialising in micropaleontology, and sedimentology. “We’ve been very lucky that outside of The Faculty of Medicine, we get the top students. They come in driven and they want to learn,” he said, adding that many of the graduates have gone on to work with local energy companies or finding jobs in external energy companies overseas. In terms of current research, British Gas has given him modern material off the east coast “to try to find out what the situation is right now – how things have been over the last 20,000 years.” Centrica has done the same north of Tobago.

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Professor Wilson is also a researcher associate with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He built up a relationship with the world’s largest museum and research complex while on Nevis.

As he recalls, he requested some literature from one of the Institution’s resident micropalaeontologists, Martin Buzas, who included with the reprints of the documents, a note saying that if Brent needed any other information from their large library, he should contact them. “Boy, did I milk that! Every week there would be a list of about ten papers going up. There were never any complaints. Instead, that started a long relationship,” he remarked. Professor Wilson ended up working with the Institution’s chief statistician, Dr. Lee Ann Hayek, with whom he has co-authored several papers. “Because of the longstanding relationship and knowing the kinds of things I was interested in, she said, ‘Why don’t we work together?’ So, we have published about 6 papers together so far.” One of those papers has to do with Professor Wilson’s interest in ontology, which was the basis for one of his articles on Academia.edu “This is where you make a decision as to how the world is, and then you interpret everything through the lens of that decision. My work has involved questioning why people make those assumptions and then go looking for the evidence and trying to force that evidence to fit the assumption; rather than saying that their assumption is wrong. That to me, was one of my breakthroughs. What are the assumptions we make and how can we test these? What are the results if we question and test those assumptions?” 

Campus Council 2016

(l. - r.) Mr. Richard Saunders, Campus Registrar; Dr. Rhoda Reddock, Deputy Principal, UWI, St. Augustine; Professor Clement Sankat, Pro Vice-Chancellor & Campus Principal, UWI St. Augustine; Mr. Anthony Garcia, Minister of Education, Government of Trinidad and Tobago; Mrs. Angela Sinaswee-Gervais, Permament Secretary, Ministry of Education; Mr. Ewart Williams, Chairman of The UWI, St. Augustine Campus Council

The Campus hosted its 2016 Annual General Meeting of Council on Tuesday March 22, 2016. Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, and Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, Professor Clement Sankat were among the key speakers at the meeting, both presenting reports to the Council. The meeting reviewed the St. Augustine Campusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance over the last academic year as well as the Financial Report for the year ending July 31st, 2015 Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor, UWI greets Mr. Ewart Williams

through the presentation of the 2014/ 2015 Annual and Faculty Reports.

Mr. Makesi Peters, President, Guild of Students, T&T Branch

Front row (l. - r.) Prof. Clive Landis, Deputy Campus Principal, Cave Hill; Dr. Luz Longsworth, Pro Vice-Chancellor & Principal (Ag.) UWI Open Campus); Prof. Dale Webber, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Graduate Studies Back row (l. - r.) Mrs. Debra Coryatt-Patton, Senior Programme Manager, Office of The Campus Principal (OCP); Mr. Arnold Corneal, Communications Specialist, OCP; Dr. Khellon Roach, Research Assistant, OCP

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Research & Innovation

IIR Celebrates 50 Year Milestone Alumni includes Guyana’s President, Brigadier David A. Granger

n the 15th of May, 2015, before a large crowd at the Public Buildings in Georgetown, former army officer David Granger took his oath of office as the eighth President of Guyana. At UWI’s Institute of International Relations (IIR), satisfied smiles snuck across a few faces. “The first alumnus to be elected head of state,” notes the IIR’s Acting Director, Dr. Mark Kirton. The Institute, celebrating 50 years since its establishment, was founded when many Caribbean states were just finding their voices on the international stage. Since then it has laid claim to quite a few visible alumni: In the government of Trinidad and Tobago, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dennis Moses, and at the United Nations the man responsible for meticulous observation of the rules of diplomatic conduct since 2010—UN Chief of Protocol Desmond Parker. But it is perhaps in the public sectors and foreign services of Caribbean states, where work continues with few plaudits, that the school has its greatest impact. “Because of the quality of the training that we have been able to deliver, we have had an impact on the foreign policy formulation of Caribbean states,” says Dr. Kirton. “When we look at the

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

actors who have emerged, they’re placed not only in state enterprises, but in the national community generally.” In taking stock of the Institute’s effect on the region over the past five decades, Dr. Kirton, a regionalist himself, says that its graduates carry “a Caribbean perspective” into the international arena. And while national concerns occasionally trump Caribbean issues, he believes that the IIR has played a role in promoting a regional sensibility by supporting one of Caricom’s pillars—foreign policy formulation. “We’ve always attempted as an institution to ensure that that pillar is reflected in how we deliver. There are times when we’ve fallen short as a region; the national interests sometimes transcend the wider regional thinking, but by and large, I think we’ve trained to deal with that reality also.” Opportunities for Caribbean collective action have presented themselves. From the Non-Aligned Movement of the 1970s, to the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) at the United Nations, and now to CELAC, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, founded in 2010. “Small states, especially those of the Caribbean, have been taken for granted but as we grew, and as

The Diplomatic Academy, an important milestone The Academy, a joint project between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IIR, opened in 2014. It offers hands-on, targeted courses to professionals likely to have relations with states. Dr. Kirton describes the modular, week-long courses as a very important adjunct to the MSc and PhD training of the IIR. “It adds to the theory and practice here,” he says. “The modules vary based on the needs of the Caribbean community.” the Institute provided that kind of training across the region, small states were able, in the international fora, to present cogent, very constructive arguments that made a difference, that influenced some international policies.” Diplomacy has evolved since the school was founded. Once a relatively obscure endeavour conducted behind closed doors with little public feedback, the demand today is for almost immediate response from state actors. An attentive citizenry reacts eagerly on social media, engaging actively with diplomats and offering potential solutions. Rapid transfers of news and people close the gap between event and response.

The Institute has had to adapt its curriculum to ensure that it is in step with current reality. The school’s acting director is cognizant that now is not the time to rest on laurels. The international environment is dynamic, he says: non-state actors such as NGOs and even criminal networks are influencing foreign policy-making in ways once unforeseen. IIR lecturers have to keep pace. “While we would have some of the concepts that transcend generations,” says Dr. Kirton, “you have to have a nuanced view. You have to have perspectives that emerge based on new realities and the new global environment in which we have to operate.” Climate change, international health diplomacy, environmental issues— all are on the front burner. Dr. Kirton has been Acting Director for only a few months, and aware that a soonto-be-appointed permanent director will have his or her own agenda. Yet he is sure of the way forward. “I think we have to be very cognizant of the need to assess, to debate and to maybe provide guidance and at least a framework for recommendations, for states of the region; how we’re dealing with these new issues.” It is important for us to recognize the efforts of Professor Andy Knight, the former Director of the IIR-UWI; whose work in moving the Institute forward through symposiums, workshops and courses, has raised the bar tremendously. His efforts connected the resources of the Institute, through regional engagement activities with the various Caribbean States, by providing certification and

capabilities, produce more PhD graduates, and enhance the exchange of fresh perspectives through visiting professorships and student exchanges. In between the work that always remains, faculty will find a few moments to savour the accomplishments of students who’ve passed through. 

Dr. Mark Kirton, Acting Director, IIR

Commemorating 50 years at the Institute of International Relations Professor Andy Knight, former Director, IIR

orientation courses to various regional stakeholders. This approach certainly created value and exerted impact by raising the awareness of the critical role that strategic international relations play in overall sustainable development. Professor Knight has now left The UWI and returned to his substantial position as a Professor at the University of Alberta. He will be sorely missed, but the foundation that he has created will continue to sustain the new initiatives being undertaken by the Institute.

• Black tie dinner - April 8 (Feature address, Guyana’s President David A. Granger) • Launch of 50th anniversary publication - June • International conference on Caribbean International Relations - September • A naming ceremony in honour of those who have made significant contributions to the Institute • Lecture series - Caribbean venues to be determined

Dr. Kirton says the school also wants to improve its research STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Achievement

Guyanese President Gives Reality Check on Caribbean’s State of Security Addresses UWI’s Institute of International Relations Golden Anniversary

n Friday 8th April, the Institute of International Relations (IIR) of The University of the West Indies celebrated their 50th Anniversary by hosting a Black-Tie Dinner held at the St. Augustine Campus. The Director (Ag) of the IIR, Dr. Mark Kirton welcomed the many distinguished guests who attended this function comprising the President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, His Excellency Brigadier David A. Granger; Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Foreign & CARICOM Affairs, Senator the Honourable Dennis Moses; the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, the Honourable Orville London, members of senior management of the UWI, and other distinguished alumni of the IIR of The UWI. In anticipation of his late arrival at the event (due to a prior commitment to attend a meeting at UWI Mona) Principal and Pro ViceChancellor of The UWI, St. Augustine Campus, Professor Clement Sankat provided a recorded video message. However, he was able to attend the function later that evening to share in the celebrations. In his message, Professor Sankar expressed his profound congratulations to the staff, students and alumni of the IIR on its golden 50th anniversary. Principal Sankat conveyed how proud he was to house such an important institution of The University at St. Augustine.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

President Brigadier David A. Granger as he delivers the feature address

He made special mention that the establishment of such an institute was the vision of the first Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Eric Williams whom he acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of The University. The Campus Principal paid homage to the valuable contribution that the IIR had made over the half century, having produced a cadre of professionals for both the private and public sectors including diplomats, permanent secretaries, academics, CEOs, senior government officials and most recently a Head of State - in none other than an alumnus of the IIR and special guest of honour for that event, His Excellency, President Brigadier David Granger.

recognized institution with an annual average student population of 100 enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma, MSc, MPhil and PhD degrees.

Professor Sankat reminded the audience of the humble beginnings of the Institute, having started in 1966 with a single classroom comprising 14 students and which has now blossomed into a globally

He expressed, “I have never forgotten those lessons and I never will. They make me feel more Caribbean, they make me think more Caribbean. They made me see the Caribbean through different

Senator Moses also brought greetings on behalf of the Government and Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago. The feature address delivered by President Granger was extremely informative and thought- provoking. He commended the Institute for the lessons that he learnt in their lecture rooms and libraries; lessons that have followed him throughout his life and “now into the Presidency of a Caribbean State - Guyana.”

eyes. I will always be grateful for the inspiration of IIR that I had on this Campus.” President Granger, formerly a career soldier, used this opportunity to raise the awareness of the audience present, by taking them on a trip down memory lane, in retracing some historical events that demonstrated the vulnerability of the region for over three decades, as it relates to safety and security. One such incident occurred on October 6th, 1976 when a Cubana Airliner in route to Cuba, via Jamaica, carrying 73 passengers, 11 of whom were Guyanese, was destroyed by a bomb, 11 minutes after take-off from Barbados. There were no survivors. President Granger referred to this disaster as the Caribbean’s 10/6, “the deadliest terror attack in this hemisphere at that time” as compared to 9/11 having occurred in the United States many years later. In his feature address the President

Minister of Foreign & CARICOM Affairs, The Honourable Dennis Moses bringing greetings on behalf of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

made mention of the U.S. invasion of Grenada, the attempted coup d’etat in 1990 in Trinidad and the overthrow of the Maurice Bishop Government in Grenada in 1983. President Granger commended the support provided by the Defence Force of Trinidad & Tobago to Grenada, after the destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

into Haiti in 1995, as part of the United Nations Security Council Mandate”. He further encouraged the leaders of our Caribbean States to uphold CARICOM’s commitment to addressing regional security of our Caribbean States and urged them to arrive at security solutions that will involve our concerted attention and efforts.

He also informed the audience that in 1990, only weeks after the attempted coup had taken place in Trinidad “ the ashes had not even cooled on the Muslimeen insurrection” that CARICOM convened a meeting in Kingston at which time a decision was made to establish a regional security mechanism called the ‘Kingston Declaration’. His Excellency Granger indicated that “it was CARICOM who set the stage for the restoration of a commendable measure of democracy and civility to Haiti”. He was “proud of the involvement of Caribbean defence forces

The President made mention of the circumstances that currently prevail in Guyana where his neighbours, the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela, has claimed that a significant portion of Guyana belongs to them. President Granger declared that “there is a persistence to security threats to our region” and he sees a key function of regional diplomats and graduates from IIR is to convince the United Nations that they must extend protection to our smaller Caribbean States. He suggested “that even current arrangements may be insufficient”

Left to right: Professor Andrew Jupiter; Principal Clement Sankat; President David A. Granger, Chairman Ewart Williams, Director (Ag) IIR, Dr. Mark Kirton; Registrar UWI, Mr. Richard Saunders

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

My Campus

You were selected for the Rhodes scholarship from a short-list of five other candidates from the Caribbean; what edge did you have over the other candidates?

Latest UWI, St. Augustine Scholar to win Rhodes Scholarship

Although the time I spent with the five other short-listed candidates was limited, I was able to learn of some of their accomplishments and aspirations, and despite the diversity of our respective subject areas (these fields included literature, biology, physics, social work, law and epidemiology), I believe that all six of us entered the interview with equivalent credentials.

ahra Gomes graduated from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine in 2015 with majors in Mathematics and Physics and won prizes for the top performing mathematics student, top performing physics student and student with the highest GPA in the Faculty of Science and Technology for all three years.

We all seemed to possess all the qualities of a Rhodes Scholar: exceptional academic records, a deep passion for our chosen field of study, and a strong desire to contribute to the development of society. So, I cannot say what edge I might have had over the other candidates, but I do believe that the deciding factor was what the selection committee learnt of us during the interview.

Just 21 years old, Zahra is currently employed as a demonstrator at the Department of Physics, UWI. This post entails conducting tutorials and demonstrating laboratory experiments to undergraduate physics students as well as conducting research in the field of quantum optics.

The interview gives the selection committee a chance to learn about your personality and your beliefs and compare what you say to how you presented yourself in your personal statement. Therefore, I believe that sincerity and passion are two of the most important traits that the interviewers look for during the interview.

Zahra is passionate about cosmology and plans to study theoretical physics at Oxford which will enable her to develop scientific research and enhance science education in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.

So for any aspiring Rhodes Scholars who would like to know what they should do to have an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;edgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, I would say that if you believe that you satisfy the requirements of a Rhodes Scholar, then be honest for your interview and you will be giving yourself the best chance of succeeding.

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What role did UWI play towards your excellent academic success? I believe that the most outstanding part of my experience at UWI was the unbounded support and guidance given to me by my lecturers. Throughout my time as an undergraduate, no lecturer ever hesitated to give me academic or career advice when I requested it or to give their time to write countless references for me. One lecturer, Dr. Shirin Haque even went out of her way to organize a visit for me to a foreign university where I was able to interact with and learn from PhD students and professors of cosmology. These gestures built my confidence and motivation to further my studies in my desired field: cosmology. I had known about the Rhodes scholarship for as long as I could remember, but the idea of actually being awarded the scholarship was inconceivable. When I was approaching the end of my undergraduate degree and I began researching ways of obtaining funding for my postgraduate study, I decided to learn more about this scholarship. This entailed learning of the rigorous application and interview process and although I thought I met all the requirements for being a Rhodes Scholar, due to the competition I anticipated, I wondered whether the process would be worth it, and I decided not to apply.

Mr. Deva Sharma presenting the Deva Sharma prize to Zahra for the best performance by a female student graduating with a major in physics

At this seminar, the previous yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rhodes Scholar, Miss Cherrelle Dacon discussed her experience of the application and interview process, and this certainly made the process easier for me as I knew what to expect. This seminar was very beneficial, and I hope it continues in future years. Are you looking forward to your time at Oxford? I certainly am! One source of my excitement is, as expected, the academic environment I will be immersed in when I arrive at Oxford. At Oxford I will meet a large number of cosmologists, and other astrophysicists who are experts in their respective sub-disciplines. I also intend to learn as much as possible from guest lectures by world renowned experts in physics, and other fields.

It was not until August 2015 (one month before the application deadline) when Dr. Ricardo Clarke, Head of Department of Physics, and Ms. Lydia Doyle, Administrative Assistant of the Department of Physics, convinced me that I should apply for the Rhodes scholarship. Therefore, I must, for a very tangible reason, thank UWI and the Department of Physics for contributing to my successes.

The other reason for my excitement is the culture and lifestyle that I will be exposed to. I plan to participate in a new sport and take full advantage of the theatres and other available entertainment. I am also looking forward to experiencing the collegiate system employed by Oxford, which I expect will provide me with a network of friends and advisors.

Another way in which UWI assisted me with my preparation for this Rhodes scholarship was through an Annual Scholarship Seminar â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Rhodes and Other Scholarship Opportunitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; presented by The UWI, St. Augustine Campus.

I always planned to pursue postgraduate studies abroad, but in order to do this I needed to obtain funding and this proved to be a challenging task. I also did not intend to apply to Oxford (unless I won the Rhodes scholarship) as the programme I was interested in is very competitive. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

It was surreal when I found out that I had been awarded the Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship and I would be fully funded for studies at Oxford. I am honoured and still amazed that I was awarded this scholarship and entry into a community that is as culturally and academically rich as the Rhodes community.

such as: General Relativity, Cosmology, Astroparticle Physics, Quantum Field Theory and Kinetic Theory.

What are going to be some of your major goals once you’re at Oxford?

It is my opinion that extra-curricular activities are beneficial to students for a variety of reasons. Very often, university students feel as though they have no time for any extra-curricular activities, but for those students who are passionate about sport or an artistic activity, this can be a source of stress-relief and enjoyment. Although I am not currently involved in any team sports, while at UWI, I trained in scuba diving, and this has given me an outlet for exercise and relaxation.

I am currently awaiting a response on whether I will be accepted to pursue the MSc. Mathematical and Theoretical Physics or the DPhil Astrophysics and my primary goal would be to complete my programme with dedication and discipline, while developing an appreciation for all aspects of my field, and learning what areas I might like to study further in the future. Apart from my academic ambitions, I hope to become more culturally and historically educated, through interactions with people of a wide variety of cultures, and via the museums, libraries and entertainment opportunities at Oxford. I also intend to benefit as much as possible from the Rhodes community, through the guest lectures, leadership seminars as well as through my interactions with other scholars. Finally, I intend to involve myself in Oxford community outreach programmes which will allow me to share my experiences and knowledge with others. What area of study will you be pursuing? If chosen for the DPhil Astrophysics, I will be assigned a cosmology research project, but I do not yet know what area of cosmology my research will be focused on. Cosmology is a subset of astrophysics which studies the properties of the universe on large scales, such as its structure, its matter and energy composition, the theory of gravity that governs and how it formed and evolved. On the other hand, if chosen for the MSc. Mathematical and Theoretical Physics, I will not be conducting any research as this is a taught masters. I will instead have a wide variety of theoretical physics and mathematics courses to choose from. Since my ultimate goal is to study cosmology, I will choose courses that will help me form a solid foundation in cosmology. Thus, I will choose courses STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

How important is it for students to engage in wellrounded activities and not focus solely on academics? What extra-curricular activities were you involved in?

On the other hand, for those who are less athletically or artistically inclined, it should be noted that there are many other types of clubs and activities that one can participate in, and most of these activities build skills— such as leadership and creativity—that are not always actively developed in the classroom. In my experience, the most fulfilling reason for participating in some extra-curricular activities is that they provide an avenue for using my talents to influence the lives of others. We spend so much of our time as students learning and advancing our knowledge to contribute to our society in the future, while contributing little in the present. That’s why activities such as community service, mentoring and tutoring can be very fulfilling. In my case, throughout my undergraduate career, I spent time tutoring secondary school students, and I volunteered with character building groups for children. In my final year, I enrolled as a Faculty of Science and Technology Peer Advisor, which allowed me to be an advisor and tutor to fellow undergraduate students. I also participated in community service which allowed me to share my unique skills with others. I started a group which visits children’s homes and conducts science games and activities, with the aim of encouraging the children to have an interest in science.  Editor’s note: Rhodes scholars Kiron Neale and Cherrelle Dacon from The UWI, St. Augustine were featured in the July – September 2015 edition of STAN Perspectives.

My Campus

The choice was between football and music. Music won out.

UWI Student Youngest Soca Monarch “Voice” projects only positive vibes and sings music that everyone can relate to

While his love of football began at age 8, his musical talent came to the fore about seven years ago when he entered a school calypso competition “as a joke.” Aaron “Voice” St Louis, at age 23, is the youngest person to win the International Soca Monarch title. He started off singing 7 years ago in St. Georges College. It began when he entered the school’s calypso competition for fun and won. Then, with encouragement from his friends and still doing it “just for kicks”, he entered the competition again the following year, and won again. After his second win, singer/songwriter, Erphaan Alves, who attended the same school with him, urged him to take up singing seriously. But he still did not give the suggestion any serious thought as his whole secondary school life was about football. He even dropped karate to play football as he couldn’t do both, and transferred from St Georges in Sixth Form so he could play in INTERCOL for El Dorado East Secondary. Aaron played football with some of the top clubs in the country, starting off with the San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club and then moved onto Joe Public F.C. and SKHY FC, with whom he travelled to the Dallas Cup.

Aaron St. Louis

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It was during the INTERCOL season that Aaron entered a competition in Queen’s Royal College with a song called “Detention” and won the competition. The following year he entered the Synergy Soca Star (season 7) with a song entitled “Alien” which was a great hit with the youth. When he began doing school tours with Synergy, the response from school audiences was so overwhelmingly positive that he wondered whether this is where he should be instead of pursuing a football career. However when he performed the song in fetes, the response from the older generation was much less enthusiastic. This was when he made the decision to ensure his work had all round appeal, instead of only appealing to the younger generation, by using themes to which everyone could relate. He also felt that it should always be something positive. So with that in mind, he wrote “Cheers to Life”. The very first line of the song reads “From you wake up this morning, you is a winner”. Translated it means that you may not have everything you want to be successful in life, but you are alive and that is a start. Aaron felt that everyone should be able to identify with that. He went on to explain that he decided not to make it too heavy with the lyrics because he wanted it to have mass appeal - it should be able to be sung by fete patrons, as well as radio listeners. His aim was spot on as it was on almost everyone’s lips for the 2016 carnival season. Aaron is currently pursuing a B.A. degree in Theatre Arts at UWI St. Augustine and believes that it has helped him to improve his writing, as evidenced by his string of recent successes. He has been writing songs for the past three years and a couple years ago, joined the song writing team Full Blown Entertainment, which comprises three persons including himself, and together they wrote “Like a Boss” and “Epic” for Machel Montano. His first hit song was Kerwin Dubois’ “Too Real” in 2013. He also penned another song entitled “Lover” for Dubois. This year he wrote “Unforgettable” for Kerwin and Patrice Roberts and “People” for Kees Dieffenthaller. This year when he approached Kerwin with his song “Cheers to Life”, Kerwin suggested he stop hiding behind the pen and sing it himself. It was also Kerwin who decided that the”track” should have more than one song on it and “Unforgettable” was included. Aaron’s passion for music is what keeps him motivated. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

“when I sang, I saw what my music did to people, to my audience . . . I saw what a powerful influence my music was and I decided that this is my calling.” “I was passionate about football too. But when I sang, I saw that what my music did to people, to my audience, football did not do. Before singing I did some “Spoken Word” material for a bit, but mainly for family. Even there the reaction was surprising. During the Synergy Soca Star performances I saw what a powerful influence my music was and I decided that this is my calling. What motivated me even more was the response to the song “Too Real” that I wrote for Kerwin which won him the Groovy Soca Monarch title. I had no idea then it would be so big. I started thinking that if I could compose this song with no effort, what would happen if I really made an effort. I realised that anything you do in life, if what you are doing is doing more for people than you, that’s where the passion would come in.” Aaron says he actually studied music for CXC. He sang for the exam and was urged by the examiner to take his singing further, to try to influence the youth. Aaron revealed that he has always had his parents’ full support for his career choice and is very grateful to them. As the youngest soca monarch, Aaron truly believes he can positively influence the youth and says: “Positive music is the key. Sometimes you hear music but you are not really listening, but the message in the music sticks with you, even if it is only one line like the first line of “Cheers for Life”. I also want to project a certain image in my behaviour and music videos that people can see themselves being like or better than me. In fact, I don’t want them to be like me. They should always aspire to be better than me. I think if I could push them towards going to school and doing the music, if I could get the younger ones to understand that you can be soca monarch which is good, but to be the soca monarch with a degree is great.” He plans to invest time doing motivational talks in schools.

Additionally, Aaron thinks there should be more platforms for young up and coming artists to express themselves, saying that he knows many really talented young artists and song writers who have nowhere to go further with their ideas. He highlights “UWI Speak” as one good forum but wishes there were more, probably some with an opportunity to chat with the elders and those accomplished in the music industry. For the last carnival season, Aaron sang with the Roy Cape band, but regrets that he only met Roy twice. He was able to speak with the legendary bandleader when he performed at a concert hosted by UWI in Roy’s honour in February. Aaron says, “Roy expressed his great joy at my being so young and winning the soca monarch title. From my own knowledge of Roy I think he played a great role in soca music and helped the careers of so many. All the current popular artists like Machel and Bunji speak so positively about Roy because they know all the great things he has done for the industry. Blaxx and Juice tell many stories about Roy helping people, his stern work ethics in the band room where you can’t answer your phone during practice and much more”.

Asked about the next milestone he hopes to achieve in his career, Aaron says, “Well I had no idea I would be soca monarch at 23. Eight months ago I was working at AMCO. From then to now is a total change.” “But my dream is to have my song in a movie. I think about going to a theatre and hearing my song as part of an international movie. That would be great. Also anything I can do to have a soca song winning a Grammy, is something I want to be part of, whether I sing it or write it.”

Aaron will be going on tour throughout the region, and in the US and Europe soon and is currently in talks about remixes for his “Cheers for Life” to appeal to different markets. The soca monarch hasn’t totally given up football and still “sweats” with school friends in Barataria twice a week. He expects to graduate from UWI next year. 

Aaron “Voice” St Louis, 2016 International Soca Monarch champion and Department of Creative and Festival Arts, UWI student, with Professor Sankat, Campus Principal.

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My Campus

It all started with a Brandy Alexander . . .

UWI Fete raises funds to

help students in need A

rguably the earliest adopter of the allinclusive fete trend, the first UWI fundraising fete was held in 1991 and each patron was welcomed to the home of the principal, Professor Max Richards, with a signature drink – a Brandy Alexander.

Victor Cowan, retired Director of Student Services and Secretary to the UWI Development and Endowment Fund since its inception, remembers the mixing of the Brandy Alexander at the principal’s home, now the Office of the Principal, according to the “secret” recipe of Max Richards, fondly called the #1 mixologist of all times”. “Prof. Max put so much effort into that first UWI fete and he was overseeing everything. In those days we printed tickets and stamped them to ensure authenticity and he would sign each one to confirm that it was the “real thing”. He was a busy man, but did that because he was that kind of person.” At that time, the $100 entrance fee appeared to some, a bit pricey for a fete, but the lure of

unlimited food and drinks with music included in the entry fee, and the opportunity to hobnob with the country’s “hoi poloi” proved irresistible. Despite the downpours, the fete was a success and a great time was had by all, because as all Trinbagonians know, “rain does only stop cricket”. The UWI Development and Endowment Fund itself had been launched in April 1989 - a flow through from the fundraising efforts aimed at the restoration of the Mona Campus after the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. That was how the whole concept of a fund for the three Campuses – Mona, Cave Hill and St. Augustine - came about. An endowment fund is supposed to be self perpetuating so that expenditure should always be less than earnings to ensure it continues. Its main objectives were to provide undergraduate scholarships and bursaries for students needing financial assistance, and to fund research and capital projects.

The UWI Fete became one of two major annual fundraisers for the Development and Endowment Fund, the other being the UWI Golf Challenge. As it grew in popularity, more all-inclusive fund-raising fetes started cropping up and began competing with UWI’s. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Photo: lime.tt

To date 2645 students have received bursaries from the fund to the tune of TT $13,516, 000. This academic year, the Fund added 10 Star scholarships, for study in any discipline. In the area of facilities, the UWI Development & Endowment Fund is pleased to have provided the TT$1,000,000 seed money towards the construction of the UWI SPEC – had it not been for that money, the Sport & Physical Education Centre might not have come to fruition. When the fund started at St. Augustine, traditional methods of trying to reach out to UWI graduates and the professional associations for donations were employed, but there was not much response. So small projects, like the printing and selling of UWI t-shirts, began. Mr. Cowan recalls the first t-shirt design - the UWI insignia in the centre of the circle of flags of the contributing territories. The response was overwhelming but those small projects could not sustain the Fund. Something that would bring in more funds was needed. The UWI fete became one of two major annual fundraisers for the Development and Endowment Fund, the other being the UWI Golf Challenge. As it grew in popularity, more all inclusive fund-raising fetes started cropping up and began competing with UWI’s. UWI needed to differentiate itself. About 10 years ago, the fete committee, headed by Dennis Ramdeen, started developing “themes” for the party, settling on “country” themes. Through decor, food and drinks from the country, fete patrons

Kes and David Rudder entertaining the crowd at UWI Fete 2016

experienced different parts of the globe in each fete over the past few years - Africa, China, India, Brazil, Syria, and Cuba. Countries are usually selected according to major events taking place in the World during the year. The 2014 World Cup led to a Brazilian-themed UWI fete that year and, for the 25th Anniversary, we came “back home”. This year’s Cuban theme was prompted by the lifting of American embargo against Cuba. It was “mojitos” all around. The UWI Fete continues to be one of the more sought after events of the carnival season, especially for regional patrons, and is traditionally held on the 5th Sunday before Carnival. So how is student need determined? Now that everything is online, there is every opportunity for students to make out their case for assistance in

their applications. There is a process. The university advertises its offer of bursaries and scholarships annually. Students then apply across the board. The Fund has a representative on the selection committee and the first exercise is always to look for the financial needs component and that is critical. It was noted that sometimes pride prevents students from admitting that they are in need. However once you matriculate for your required discipline you are favourably considered. Simple. Cowan continued “These bursaries were started long before GATE and when GATE was introduced people questioned why we were still raising funds as one could access GATE to attend UWI. We did an exercise once and realised GATE amounted to some 15% of student expenditure. Gate is basically for tuition fees which have not increased for the longest while. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

person actually got his company to sponsor 5 bursaries and we were very thankful. Since then, other corporate citizens have come on board with sponsorships which certainly helps.”

thank-you note to each member of the board for the assistance she received through the bursary. Big men became so emotional, because in this computer age, everything is a short email”

Asked about “giving back” to UWI after graduation, Mr. Cowan indicated there is no payback for these bursaries and scholarships, neither cash nor kind - no obligation.

Mr. Cowan distinctly remembers an incident one year that made members of the Board somewhat misty-eyed.

“We once approached former recipients for contributions, with mixed response. However one

“One year at graduation, a female student gave me a little packet. In it, in her own handwriting, was a

The Fund is managed by a committee comprised of a Chairman and representatives from business, the UWI Alumni and the University. Her Royal Highness Princess Anne is the Patron of the Fund. 

So yes we continue giving bursaries for expenses other than tuition - you have to live somewhere, you have to eat, you have to travel and you have to buy books etc.”

Radica Saith was inducted as the first woman on the UWI Development and Endowment Fund in 1990 and has served continuously for more than 25 years. Mrs. Saith has used her knowledge and network to tirelessly campaign for increased social services and the continuing development of an infrastructure to support education, women’s issues, medical access and domestic abuse through a variety of non-profit work and board memberships. She describes herself as a traditional business owner, social entrepreneur and publisher.

Raymond Ramnarine of Dil-e-Nadan performs

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According to Mrs. Saith’s Life Work philosophy: In my time as a member of different Boards, owner of businesses and spearheading new non-profits, it has not been enough to establish the existence of such works but to have sustainable successes that can be measured by the impact upon the lives of countless citizens of our country.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

My Campus

Jehue Gordon, our country’s 400 metres hurdler, spoke to STAN Editor-in-Chief, Arnold Corneal a few days before travelling to Florida for a one month training stint in Clermont as part of his preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

JEHUE

on th e ro ad to R io ! STAN: How are things with your preparations for the upcoming Rio Olympics? JEHUE: Things have been slow. In the sense that the country is in a recession, but we are making do with what we have, and not really complaining. At the end of the day we can only do the best that we can do.

With regard to preparation, training has been good, though I picked up a ‘nick’ in training last week. I did an MRI to be cautious, but I should be back out within a week. I am coming back from a major surgery that I did last year in September. It was a really tough year, but I am back training and feeling like myself again.

STAN: What are some of your immediate needs that will allow you to effectively stay committed to your programme? STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

JEHUE: I need as much of my support team around me so that I can stay healthy. It is important that I have everything around me that would allow me to stay healthy so that I can give the best for the Olympic Games. It is not going to be easy, only one person will win the Olympic Gold medal. Very soon- March 26th, I will be leaving the country to go to train in Clermont in Florida. I will be there training for about one month. I would have really wanted my therapist to accompany me, but this has not been possible because of limitations. STAN: Are you getting adequate financial support? JEHUE: Everyone has financial problems, not only me but many of the other athletes as well. We just received some funding, and we will be getting the next tranche in May. That is a constraint, so it means travelling by myself. Having this is very important, especially coming back from surgery.

STAN: How is your new cologne line doing? JEHUE: My line was sold out in early January! We have just ordered some more, so that we can have a revenue stream coming from that. We will also be doing a line of perfumes for women in the very near future. STAN: Do you intend to study beyond a Bachelor’s Degree? JEHUE: Yes, I want to do something in Sports Medicine or Marketing. I have not yet decided where I will pursue it, but I am looking at London or USA as a possibility. I still have to do some research before I decide. As you know I pursued Sports Management and I was most successful in Human Resources and Marketing. However, as much as I am into sports, I believe that in Trinidad we have not reached where we need to be as yet! I would like to work with a Marketing team, possibly with a football club. Adidas are my sponsors. It is just

for me to sort out my life, and I am not waiting for me to retire, or stop running. Now is the time that I need to put my face out there to do things while my name is still being called. A lot of people have asked of me about the Sports Management Programme and scholarships at UWI, and they have shown an interest in going to UWI. I am looking forward to that coming on stream. In general, there is no system in place to look after the athletes. I do understand that it is a work in progress. However, I think that UWI is on the right track and I look forward to assisting in whatever way that I can. The UWI has always looked after me, in having my back. That, I am extremely thankful for.  Arnold Corneal comments, “Jehue was, as always, very enthusiastic in his preparation for the Rio Olympics and he is confident that his preparation is going well and on schedule. He hopes that the people of Trinidad & Tobago will eventually come on board to support the athletes so that they may perform at their best.”

Flashback 2012

Showing Professor Sankat how it’s done. Jehue paying a visit to the Office of the Campus Principal before leaving to participate in the Olympic Games in

London 2012

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Profiles in Leadership

Professor Julien, reflects on the history of The University of the West Indies Article by Editor-in-Chief -Arnold Corneal

CLOSE-UP WITH

PROFESSOR EMERITUS KENNETH JULIEN Professor Julien was the first Ph.D graduate in Electrical Energy Systems in Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean region in 1962. He became the youngest Dean in the Commonwealth, who was also the first West Indian Dean of the faculty of Engineering at the University of the West Indies. In 1974, Professor Julien chaired the Energy Co-ordinating Task Force with the responsibility for determining the potential use of natural gas. Professor Julien holds an outstanding 35 year record as an academic and has been the driving force in the development of the national energy sector. He was also the first Caribbean national to attain the rank of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in the United States. Professor Emeritus Kenneth Julien has taught and mentored numerous engineers, many of whom now hold key positions in both academic and energy disciplines. Professor Julien is also the Chairman of the University of Trinidad & Tobago.

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“Revisiting the history that charted our future!” Professor Emeritus, Kenneth Julien took us down memory lane to the pre-engineering days that existed during the time of the then Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA), here at St. Augustine. He presented glimpses of the environment at that time, as Trinidad ushered in the faculty of engineering amidst the many challenges that they faced. Through an eventful beginning The UWI’s faculty of engineering was born! Professor Julien: The world knew of ICTA and many of the products (graduates) of ICTA were all over the world. They did not have a problem establishing themselves. So the faculty of Agriculture really had a jump start as they were there. We first had a faculty of Agriculture that followed ICTA. In the case of the faculty of engineering however, there were some severe challenges.

UWI started in 1957- Medicine, Arts, Science, Education had less of a problem especially with Medicine being accredited with the London University and therefore they had a jump start.

Former Colleagues of The UWI Faculty of Engineering

In the case of the Faculty of Engineering, which was starting from scratch, we didn’t have any peg to put our hat on! Initially it was a joint programme financed by UNESCO and the Ford Foundation; where the Ford Foundation provided the buildings and we had a five year programme with UNESCO where they will provide the initial staff. That is in fact how engineering began in 1962. I returned to Trinidad & Tobago in 1962 to join the faculty. At that time the staff were principally expats who were sponsored by the UNESCO/Ford Foundation, with some support from the Government. Very early, by 1964, we found ourselves in a very difficult situation, for reasons nothing to do with UWI per say, but for reasons to do more with UNESCO, who sponsored these initial professors, with a large number of them leaving ahead of time- prematurely. So the few of us who remained - West Indians, found ourselves in a situation where we would either have to shut down the place or do our best! In 1964, only two years after the conception of the Faculty of Engineering, I became (Ag) Dean of Engineering. That was unheard of but we had nobody else! So it was a very difficult period from 1964 for about six years when we had to depend on our local resources. I remained Dean for 12 years, forced, as I hadn’t any interest, as I was making my career as a lecturer. People like Compton Deane, Harry Phelps, we had to really carry the show. I think we did reasonably successfully but went through a lot, two elements of which, one was hard work but more importantly, we worked as a team. It was a very tight group of West Indians who were determined to make a success of this. The team that made it all happen! Professor Julien: It began to take shape and my major task, as I said as a lecturer, but asked to be Dean, was to recruit. Based on the experiences we had, I had to recruit people who I thought would stay which therefore meant depending a lot on West Indians. We had some outstanding people that came on board during that period, with the

most famous one called Max Richards! I had known Max for several years, because we were both, so called Shell scholars; Shell sponsored our education. He had the opportunity to do his PHD sponsored by Shell. He was then a Shell person when I approached him. I too worked with Shell at one time. I effectively twisted his arm to give up his nice big salary and all the perks with him being a very senior person at Shell. He was their ‘blueeyed boy’ who would have been their General Manager in a matter of time. He took a difficult decision to come to UWI as a senior lecturer after my persuasion. There would have been a big cut in salary. I don’t think he regretted it as he followed me as Dean and then of course he moved up to Principal and then to President of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago. So I think it was a good career move. The whole idea then was to look to outstanding West Indians who had interests; one in engineering but must also have the academic qualifications. You may find it very strange now, but when I arrived in Trinidad, I was probably the one PHD in Engineering, possibly even in the Caribbean. On taking up this post the first thing we had to do was to get people like Harry Phelps, Desmond Imbert, (who were bright, brilliant people, but STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Sir Philip Sherlock

Sir Dudley Huggins

Sir Alister McIntyre

Former leaders of the St. Augustine Campus and The UWI were not on the academic ladder) to get their PHDs so that they could hold positions in academia. It was more than simply establishing the Faculty of Engineering but also the building of The UWI St. Augustine Campus as well! Professor Julien: That whole process of building continued from 1964-1970’s. Things are very different now, they have PHDs going through the door, and it is a well-staffed place. The success was because of hard work and team work. We had four departments but we operated as one faculty. The Faculty of Engineering can be regarded as a success story but started with a very difficult period. After a while the West Indian content was built up and there was no problem after that, and Max Richards followed me as Dean, then Desmond Imbert and later Dave McGaw. We didn’t worry about Departments and Deanship, we all worked together as a team. We had a relatively small faculty board- about twenty of us, very much a team effort. Engineers are good at that, I wish to make that point! We didn’t argue too much with each other. The fact is that our engineering discipline helped us. Also, to be acknowledged, we had very good support from the University’s administration. I recall Philip Sherlock was here for a while and when he left Dudley Huggins was the Pro Vice-Chancellor who I don’t think was given enough credit or recognition for building the UWI campus. The reason for that was that he was not a flamboyant person, he was from the old school- a gentleman, and a small islander and that was part of the problem. But he did a tremendous job in his own way with his own style in building up the St. Augustine campus. He built it in his own gentle manner, doing the right things! STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Huggins’ efforts were supported by the Dean of Agriculture Professor Mahadeo who was from Ceylon and then Alister McIntyre came on as Vice Chancellor. He was the Vice Dean of Social Sciences. So the building of the St. Augustine Campus revolved around Dudley Huggins’ leadership, Alister McIntyre, Dean Mahadeo and myself. In those early days those were the names who were pushing. It is sometimes forgotten, but the history is worth looking into. Fitting these activities at UWI St. Augustine into The UWI’s regional framework Professor Julien: We had some very difficult periods in relationship with Mona. Because Mona was the Head of the University, and the St. Augustine campus was viewed almost as a little Cinderella. We didn’t have Medicine then. We only had Engineering, and Agriculture, and the John F. Kennedy Arts & Science. We were not taken too seriously. But being Dean of Engineering, I would sit on these meetings in Mona. There were always tensions, because UWI Mona was very well established; that’s where decisions were taken and St. Augustine had very little autonomy, and we had to depend on the Senate meeting in Mona, Finance and General Purposes meeting in Mona, the Council meeting in Mona. We went through a difficult period to be able to establish some level of autonomy. We recognised that it was not a Unitary University nor was it a Federal University, and we were somewhere in-between. Federal is when each country looks after its own interest. On the other hand, we also did not want to be totally controlled from Mona which happened for several years. In those early days those were some of the issues, but eventually we were OK, but there were very difficult decisions that were made.

History has recognized the role Professor Julien has played, diversifying our country’s economy at a precarious juncture in our transition and development (as a young independent nation) from an agricultural based economy, to one based on energy. Further, his initiative, in bringing the world of academia to bear relevance and impact in the national community. Professor Julien: After spending eight years away from Trinidad in pursuing my first degree in the United Kingdom, I came back here and worked for a while in the energy sector. Then I sponsored myself to go and do my PHD at the University of Vancouver. I didn’t have any scholarship to assist at that time. My view towards universities, especially in developing countries was fairly straightforward. Taxpayers are paying our salaries and I saw it as the best job in the world; you teach and you research. You have the academic freedom to move at your own pace and you are paid for it. You see the results and you can influence students in a lecture room. My view at the time was that academics, not just in engineering, have to do more than that! I felt that in the developing world, we have to reach out. I was lucky, as I completed the academic part of my activity; PhD and Publications and I had moved from Lecturer to Professor in eight years. By the 70’s we found that we had an opportunity of participating in helping the country outside of the University. At that time in 1970 I had already become a full professor and I had nowhere else to go, and I had absolutely no interest in being Principal or Pro Vice Chancellor. Having reached the highest level in academia, the opportunity for serving the country outside of academia arose and I grabbed it. Establishing the template for socio-economic development through the energy sector Professor Julien: The Point Lisas development started taking shape in 1974 at which time I was heading the Energy Co-ordinating Task Force. When I recognized that this activity would be reasonably demanding, I gave up my

Deanship of the Faculty. This freed me from going to all the meetings of the various committees at The UWI- Faculty Board, Academic Board, never went to F & GP; those were the things that the University thrive on. That was the time that I used for Point Lisas but I never gave up my teaching. Some of my PhD students provided support for what I was doing at Pt. Lisas. Here was I at the major development of a country and keeping my foot in as a Professor of UWI. This was an extremely unique experience and I was very lucky to be allowed to do it. The Government knew what I was doing and they gave me a supernumerary post, by providing a bright young man, who was doing his PhD under me. This continued for several years, right into the late 70’s early 80’s. That is how I was able to share myself there. Finding avenues for academics to be utilized in ways that allow them to create value and exert impact on society Professor Julien: I don’t think they are, but it has to come from them. The government is not going to come and say, hey you and you, I want you to do this and that! You have to push yourself there. One of the ways for people outside of Government, outside of the Public Service, outside of Ministerial control, can assist, is through the several State enterprises we have. At the last count, in Trinidad, we have about 163 State enterprises. However, a lot of them are not functioning. I think that’s where University Professors can be very helpful. But they must be willing and the government must be receptive, regardless of somebody’s politics. This has nothing to do with my modesty, it is simply a fact, but no one has surfaced to do what I did. Not because they don’t have the talent, but the environment is not there. There should be three or four Ken Juliens out there. Not just in energy, but also in Planning, in the non-energy sector. University people should be dominating that area in the way I did in energy. A bit of this is happening but not enough. Andrew Jupiter (UWI Professor and Chairman of the Board at PETROTRIN) is an example of one who is there; and there are some others. I don’t know the reason for that, whether people have not made themselves available or whether they are scared. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

t, d.

Our engineers must develop a vision that will address real national concerns!

Kenneth Julien has become a household name, primarily because of his well acknowledged contribution to Trinidad & Tobago, for his early work at the UWI, his stewardship in creating a formidable energy sector and also because of his contribution to the establishment of UTT. This journey was not without challenges and considerable personal sacrifice. Professor Julien: I got some licks, a lot of licks, and I continue to get licks- law suits and all sort of things. It doesn’t worry me quite frankly because once you know what you are doing is not for your own personal benefit, but for the country, then people will throw their stones and you will duck sometimes and you may also get hit- and that’s alright. It shouldn’t be that way, but we have a very small society and it is so highly politicized and polarized. I am accused of being a PNM and I am not, but it happens that I support a government whose policies I subscribe to. There should be a different environment in the country, I suspect that in engineering (at UWI) you may have about 120 faculty members, most of them with PhDs, most of them with specialities in engineering. That’s a hell of a resource! You have all those people in one group, with all kinds of specialities. They should be making one hell of an impact on a country that is just over one million people! Why is it not happening? STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Professor Julien: They must get involved, whether it is to deal with our drainage problems or flooding problems or our power problems or our environmental problems. I have tried to do a little bit of that at UTT. While we talk about air pollution and climate change, global warming; that’s alright, except that the U.S., the Europeans and the Russians are the people that are warming the planet. However, there are things that we can do to improve our environment. I grew up in the country and one of the saddest things that I have noticed is the disappearance or pollution of our little streams and rivers. I recently told an environmental engineer here at UTT, make this your life’s work. Restore the few little streams and rivers that we have to be once more an attractive part of our landscape. So there are things like this, though small things but they are very important to a country like ours. That’s the kind of thing I think the university people should be doing. Also afforestation, making sure that our forests are healthy, reduce the burning of our hills. These are things our researchers should be looking at. This is a small country and these things impact us every day. What effect can we really have on global warming?

The downturn in the energy sector, especially with substantial job loss in many of the industry giants, both local and internationally, is an opportunity for our students to change their approach and now look to create jobs, rather than find jobs! Professor Julien: Once we remain in the energy business, the direct employment of these energy companies, at best, are not very large. They have moved away from the time that I worked with Shell, where Shell did everything!

They had their core business of finding oil and gas and transporting it, but additionally they owned the housing, the electricity. What has happened in the oil companies now, is that they have restricted themselves to their core business which is finding and looking for oil.

and produce oil & gas; they move around the world. The expertise we have here in Trinidad & Tobago in the energy sector is very well respected, also the banking sector is well respected. What is needed is for people to look abroad to see where these possibilities are.

But the services are still needed so there has been a proliferation of service companies that have grown out, where these companies are now outsourcing. So my advice to these young people, which is a story we sing at UTT all the time is, don’t go looking for a job, go looking to see where you can create a job!

Two weeks ago I spent a week in Ghana; they desperately need our help. It starts off with our institutional help, where NGC may have to go. Once a presence is there, private sector people should follow; young graduates should follow to see what opportunities are there. These are big countries with a lot of reserves, both East and West Africa.

Most people who go to university, they get a certificate and they say this is my passport to a job. The thinking should be, yes that would help, but I have had the training to create jobs. In Trinidad, a small country, there will always be a limited number of jobs.

West and East Africa are now full of gas! Let me put that into perspective. Our reserves in Trinidad & Tobago now stand at 12 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, that’s what we have. We may improve it, but we use 1.5 trillion cubic feet every year. But we have 12, right now, dropping from 20. So this is a fact, so take that figure twelve.

Capitalizing on opportunities Professor Julien: Trinidad & Tobago is in a very fortunate position. Over the past 100 years we have developed a very respected level of expertise in the energy sector, not just oil & gas, but also electricity, distribution, pipelines. That is in demand all over the world. You look at a country like England, its survival and its prosperity depended to a large extent, on their export of brain power. Some of this has started, for example, certainly in the Middle East there are crews of Trinis who go out to drill wells

Tanzania, in East Africa, they have 60 trillion cubic feet of gas and counting and they don’t have a single gas industry. Mozambique which is their neighbour has 150 trillion cubic feet of gas and counting, and also doesn’t have a single gas industry. They are now trying to get Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) going. And remember, we have 12 trillion. Next door Venezuela, they have about 300 tcf of gas- most of which they flare. The best thing ever to happen to us here in Trinidad was to get more gas than oil. Because once you have oil you lose your interest in gas.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

The reason for that is, as soon as oil comes out of the ground, it is converted into money. Even today, if you put $50 on that, Venezuela has no interest in gas. Because gas, you can’t sell it as gas, you have to process it. Sometime last year, it was announced that Venezuela’s oil reserves are now the largest in the world, surpassing Saudi Arabia. Largest reserve in the world, our neighbour. They produce anywhere between two and three million barrels of oil a day, and in Trinidad, we have problems getting eighty thousand a day! On the other hand, you can’t get toilet paper in Venezuela. Why? Because the revenue they get from the oil disappears, they don’t have any foreign exchange. So that’s their problem, I am not being critical of them. That’s a situation that we fortunately for the time being with our small amount, formed part of our success story - because we had gas and not much oil. You have to work at gas - the road to convert gas into money, is not easy - as you know with the whole Pt. Lisas situation. Before it even leaves the hole in the ground, you could get money for oil. So in a way we may say we were unlucky since we did not have all that much oil, but we were very lucky. Venezuela with all that oil is having all kinds of problems, and they flare the gas. The Role of our Academics to conduct Research and Development and their expectation to publish Professor Julien: I think that the universities at the top levels have to take a decision here with budget allocations. At UTT, with that point in mind, with what I call the Chairman’s Research Forum, I ask the academics to tell us what they are doing. I don’t want them to come and tell us what papers they have published- that’s alright, I need to hear that as well, but what are your plans for research and public development? One of the issues, that we as a developing country have to face is that people can be doing very useful work, that may not get published because the recognition of published work is highest if you publish internationally. But you are competing with the rest of the world who have resources that they can access. So we have to give some recognition to good work that isn’t necessarily published in the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) because they get thousands of articles to be STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

published annually from universities who have resources we can only dream about. So there has to be some recognition of excellent work, peer reviewed work (by our own colleagues) that may not end up being published in international journals. There is a lot of competition taking place in publishing in journals. So there has to be an encouragement to our academics to do their research; without this anticipation that they will only get recognition if it is published in the IEE. While I was at UWI as Dean, I started the West Indian Journal of Engineering for that same reason. I am not sure whether it still exists today. This Journal was not restricted to academics, any engineer in the Caribbean could write an article if it met certain criteria. This was very specific, and they were peer reviewed- agriculture had one as well. This Journal was our own thing and that quality of work that was available, that didn’t have to go all the way abroad and compete with ten thousand other persons. People published in it, got the credits for it when we looked at promotions with it being all peer reviewed. Maximising the benefits of GATE, while ensuring that our tertiary institutions maintain the highest academic standards Professor Julien: Firstly, it serves a purpose! There are people who have the quality and the attitude to go into tertiary education but they don’t have adequate funding. I like the word post-secondary, rather than tertiary. However, my feeling is that the whole programme has to be reviewed on the basis that we make sure that the programmes, not necessarily the institutions, fit in to national objectives. More important, there is need to regularly evaluate the quality of the programmes. This has become a money making business for a lot of institutions. I have not been to these institutions to see what is the quality of their staff, however, UWI, UTT, COSTAAT, and Southern Caribbean have certain standards which are subject to fairly tough accreditation scrutiny. I am not certain that the same thing applies to the other institutions. I believe that the GATE support is a good concept, but the institutions that qualify for this should be subject to annual review. These folks, unless pushed, may not always upgrade their systems. The UK universities have to make money outside of

the UK- they are no longer getting the big financial support from their governments and therefore they find ways of making money, not just here but also throughout Africathey offer all kinds of certification and degrees. UWI and UTT- One complements the other! Professor Julien: Absolutely! UTT unlike UWI (there is nothing wrong with UWI) has a regional mandate, and to achieve such a mandate it can’t focus on the specific needs of any one country. The way to do that is that you have a very traditional structure; do all the right things that universities do. You are serving the region as a university. UTT is the national University of Trinidad & Tobago- it has to focus on Trinidad & Tobago’s needs. So even the academic programmes that we set up are quite different. We don’t have a Department of Chemistry, there is none of Physics, there is none of Mathematics, none of Social Science. It’s all interdisciplinary! The distinction that I make is that it is not discipline oriented. Also, we at UTT have an Academy for Sports, in recognition of the value of fitness and health to students’ achievement of academic excellence, as well as its contribution to the development of sport through academic, recreational and high performance sporting development. 

Editor-in-Chief’s closing remarks Professor Julien conveyed that there was ample room for both UTT and The UWI to function even though there may be some differences in the scope of their respective agendas in reaching their target audiences. In the closing stage of the interview, the Chairman of UTT pointed to a sculpture that was positioned on his desk at which time he asked if I had ever seen it before or knew what it represented. I answered no to both questions. He then explained that it was a sculpture crafted by a Venezuelan artist in which he depicted, in this piece, the true essence of education. The sculpture replicated a professor/teacher sitting on a park bench with a few books stacked at his side. Directly in front of him, seated on the grass, were two young students- one of whom was Simon Bolivar. Professor Julien explained to me that this setting accurately depicted, in his view, what education is really about. More importantly, the salient message here, was for us to recognize and appreciate the simple manner and setting in which education can be experienced with not much more being required to achieve that very important objective.

A Note on Simón Bolívar Simón Bolívar was a South American soldier who was instrumental in the continent’s revolutions against the Spanish empire. After France invaded Spain in 1808, he became involved in the resistance movement and played a key role in the Spanish American fight for independence. In 1825, the “Republic of Bolivia” was created in honor of the inspirational leader, hailed by many as El Libertador.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Profiles in Leadership

Fifty Years of Academic Service to The UWI The Professor Holman Williams Story

ur writer is met with a warm smile as he extends his hand - first to welcome and then to gesture towards the open door of his home. He settles onto a chair near an airy window. All around are signs and symbols of a family that is well-travelled and very much connected to the Caribbean. His wife Marina is busy in an adjoining room to this comfy, open space. There is an aura about him - reflective of his generation. His is a distinctive voice, marked by the precision of a teacher. There is deep thoughtfulness and clarity as he chooses his words carefully to ensure that there is no ambivalence or misinterpretation of what he has to say. Professor Holman Williams is now fully retired after fifty years of teaching at The UWI. He delivered his last lecture in 2010 and he recalls, that it was at the Faculty of Agriculture and was based on the effects of the environment on livestock production. A family in service of science Prof Williams, as his students know him, comes from a tradition of learning and has a long history with The University of the West Indies. “My family has had a 94-year association with the St. Augustine Campus, beginning with my father in 1922, when he registered as a student in

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STAN recently paid a visit to Professor Holman Williams and spoke with him about his family’s long history with The UWI. Our staff writer shares his reflections with our readers. the very first year that the Diploma in Tropical Agriculture started.” His father graduated in 1925 with the Diploma of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (DICTA), then a 3-year programme of the Imperial College, a British run institution. Much later in his career he became a Governor on the Governing Body of the ICTA. His father returned to Trinidad in 1949 as Deputy Director of Agriculture long before the Ministerial system was established. His brother Sydney, who secured a degree in agriculture, was appointed to the position of Manager of The UWI Field Station in Valsayn in 1963, a position he held until his death in 1979. Following in the footsteps of his father, Professor Williams enrolled in the DICTA programme in 1944, intent on completing just the first year, since he had his heart set on a degree in veterinary medicine and not agriculture.

Using his first year credits, he matriculated into the Ontario Veterinary College in 1945. Now part of the University of Guelph, the College was at the time affiliated with the University of Toronto. Upon return to the British colony of Trinidad and Tobago, Prof Holman Williams joined the Ministry of Agriculture as a veterinary officer and later assumed the position of Chief Veterinary Officer. In 1960 he was appointed as a part-time lecturer at the ICTA and continued in this capacity until he took up a full-time lectureship at The UWI in 1965. Together with his father and brother, the three have given a cumulative 102 years of service to agriculture in the region – which includes Barbados, Belize, Guadeloupe, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Interestingly, his wife Marina and sister-in-law are also part of the UWI family. Marina is a UWI graduate in English and History and his sister-in-law Paula Williams, now deceased, retired as a Senior Assistant Registrar in 1991. The early years I am fascinated by the lilting accent which I could not identify as either Barbadian or Guyanese. He laughs when I ask and his eyes light up. As it turns out, both accents influence his own. He was born in Guadeloupe to a French-speaking mother named Marie-Joseph Anselme Julie (nee Mignard) and a Barbadian father. His father, Charles Holman Barker Williams, a Master’s degree graduate of Harvard University, in plant breeding, worked in Guadeloupe as a sugar agronomist at the time of his birth. Holman Sr. and Julie moved to the island of Trinidad in 1922 where their first child, Sydney, was born. Prof. Williams said that his mother did not learn English in Trinidad because, at the time, there were many French- Patois speaking persons on the island. When he was three years old, his father was recruited by British Guiana to improve the yield of sugar-cane for better juice and sugar. Through his work, his father spoke English, French and some Hindi from his interactions with East Indian labourers on the sugar estates along the East and West coasts of the mainland colony. French-speaking like his mother, young Holman Williams added English to his language repertoire as he completed his early schooling in

British Guiana, eventually graduating from the local prestige boys’ school, Queens College. During his time in Georgetown, he met Canadian veterinarians who stimulated his interest in the science. After high school, he came to Trinidad to attend the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA). Changes at The UWI Prof Williams officially retired from The UWI in 1991 but continued to lecture part-time at the Veterinary School until 2008 and at the Faculty of Agriculture until 2010. When asked what stands out most for him at The UWI, he says it is the physical changes. “As a first-year student at ICTA, our farm was where the Faculty of Engineering and the Library now stand,” he explains. The farm pond still remains as an aesthetic feature of the campus – “more commemorative than functional”. Prof Williams reflects on how the university has grown. Small classes of less than 20 students are now filled with hundreds of students as the St. Augustine population is now an institution of choice for thousands of Caribbean students. He recalls that the post-graduate population during his time at ICTA was between 30-40 students and an enclave of British nationals. At the time, British students who had completed their studies in agriculture, came to the West Indies to do a year of Tropical Agriculture before they were deployed in the Empire. “The staff were ‘upper-crust” scientists; over the years, more than one were Fellows of the Royal Society, of the United Kingdom” he explains, “mostly staff who were working on export crops to Great Britain.” He reminisces a bit on the ICTA construct: “WestIndians could only read for the Diploma (DICTA) and this was a source of disappointment for many since it was not a degree programme. The British graduates were always therefore, superior in terms of qualifications.” Refocussing the curriculum When the big change came, Prof Williams explains, “It was a decision of the regional governments.” The UWI has its origins in Jamaica with the establishment of the Medical Faculty. Agriculture however, is the oldest faculty at the St. Augustine Campus. The curriculum underwent a dramatic change with the changeover. While the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) focussed on export crops, the Faculty of Agriculture focussed on West Indian agriculture. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Professor Holman at the launch of the Holman Williams Building, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mount Hope

ICTA had done a lot of work on cultivating highly varied and quality cocoa for which Trinidad is still distinguished today, introducing varieties from Peru, Ecuador and other Amazonian types. However the Faculty of Agriculture now looked at developing peppers and root crops such as yam, cassava and sweet potatoes, as well as local husbandry such as cattle, sheep and goat production. Prof Williams specializes in Animal Health so his contribution has largely been in the area of husbandry, his postgraduate studies being in virology. He says a lot has been done in developing standards and teaching delivery in the discipline. The School of Veterinary Medicine has benefitted from the efforts of the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) which is based in Jamaica. The CAAM-HP “was established in 2003 under the aegis of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to ensure that the education programmes of medicine and other health professions offered by institutions in participating countries are recognised nationally and regionally to be of international standard.” Accreditation standards One of the last assignments Prof Williams did before he entered into full retirement was to write up the Accreditation Standards for Veterinary Medical Education for the Caribbean. The accreditation process has already commenced with the accreditation by CAAM-HP of the Veterinary School at St. Augustine. The CAAM-HP drew from some of the best universities in Canada, the USA and the UK to conduct assessments. The accreditation assessments are periodic and include student feedback STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

and input. The aim is for global standards of compliance so that graduates may, ultimately, be able to work anywhere in the world upon completing the degree programmes at The UWI, without having to write Board Registration Examinations. “It’s a small school”, says Prof Williams, ‘but, further to accreditation, we attract some of the world’s best scientists who are happy to be External Examiners, annually, as part of their academic contribution to the development of the science.” The veterinary profession has been regulated for a long time, he explains. “In 1814, Governor Woodford by proclamation had created a Medical Board of Trinidad.” This meant that “physicians, surgeons, barbers, apothecaries and veterinarians could be examined and get a licence to practice on the island.” The present Registration Board for Veterinary Medicine in Trinidad & Tobago was established 86 years ago. Prof Williams is a proud West-Indian and believes that though a small cadre of professionals, veterinary scientists have a lot to contribute to the region and that’s why he returned home to teach instead of staying in Canada when he graduated. Things have certainly progressed since he first joined the university staff at St. Augustine. He believes there is much room for expansion in curriculum delivery through the use of technology and research. In February of this year, a new building was named after Professor Williams for his service to the School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, of The UWI. 

Profiles in Leadership

Lawford Dupres -

The Balanced Life Lawford Dupres may be considered one of Trinidad’s important industrialists. One of a select cadre of engineers, he operated at the national oil company in the decades immediately following acquisition of the assets of Shell, thereby assuming a role in determining the development of the nation’s modern energy sector. What is less well-known is his part in promoting the national musical instrument across Canada and around the Caribbean. He’s not given to volunteering his stories, but pieced together, they reveal a man of action, integrity and quiet wit, steeped in the spirit of communities such as Belmont and Woodbrook of the fifties.

The panman Dupres was a panman before he left high school, playing music while dreaming of being a chemical engineer. Tenor pan player with the panside Dixie Stars, he travelled to Jamaica and Puerto Rico, and later with Tropitones, to Canada to perform at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto. At the University of British Columbia, he supported himself while studying by playing pan with the first steel band to operate there, the Moonlighters, a group comprising other Trinidadian students, including John Donaldson who later became a minister in the Trinidad and Tobago government. After graduating and being employed by Imperial/Esso at their Vancouver refinery, he was

Petrotrin at Pointe-a-Pierre. Since 1995, however, he has been a tenor pan player with Harvard Harps.

Lawford Dupres

subsequently transferred in 1968 to Toronto where he continued his involvement with pan, joining Steltones, a band captained by Patrick Arnold who later became a President of Pan Trinbago. By 1975, back home in Trinidad – the land of pan - he endured a hiatus of 20 years working with the state oil company Trintoc in Point Fortin and

Dupres’ earliest contact with pan was a three note “ping pong” on which he could play “Mary had a little lamb” when he was seven. After that, he remembers, “Irwin Merrit who lived nearby got a 13-note pan from somewhere, probably Invaders, which I borrowed and played on the pavement between Gatacre and French Streets on VJ day. My mother however, eventually clamped down on that adventure. “Around 1952, our family which had moved out of town for a few years, returned to Port of Spain. My brother Steve and I found our way to the Dixie Stars panyard at the corner of Kitchener and Gatacre Streets in Woodbrook. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

“I didn’t play or read music. But you know how kids like to do things they are not supposed to do. In those days college boys were beginning to test and reverse the negative social stigma that had been attached to the steelband. In 1955, after returning from the CNE in Canada, I was two weeks late coming back to school (St Mary’s College) and was suspended. “So I went with the band to Barbados for the opening of a new hotel, expecting the school to tell me when I could return. They never called, and, having experienced life in the wider world, I never asked.” Instead of writing the examinations for the Higher School Certificate, Dupres went to work as a trainee engineer with BWIA. By 1959, dissatisfied with the pace of his training, he enrolled and set off to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to study chemical engineering. “I was good at chemistry and loved engineering. I knew what I wanted to do. My parents gave me a oneway ticket and two hundred dollars. The rest I had to find for myself. So playing pan helped me finance all my university expenses. “When I graduated, the interviewer at Esso asked for an example of my initiative. And I said: the fact that I am sitting here, talking to you (from a place thousands of miles away). I think he got it. And that’s how I got my first job.” During that time in Vancouver, he played pan with the Moonlighters. He also met and married Isabel who worked in the administration office at the university. “Apart from her other attributes, she received and STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

“My parents gave me a one-way ticket and two hundred dollars. The rest I had to find for myself. So playing pan helped me finance all my university expenses.” handled my fees with due diligence,” he remarks with dry humour, “and she was also involved with some activities in the International House, a place where foreign students congregated.” They were married in Canada. He was transferred to Esso’s head office in Toronto in 1968 and then to Sarnia in 1973, where Esso operated its largest and most complex refinery - 180 miles west of Toronto – and where his first son was born. He returned home to Trinidad in 1975 to take up a job offer with the newly formed national oil company Trintoc. Dupres’ challenge was to create an engineering division, recruiting young professionals graduating from The UWI. As Chief Technologist of Trintoc at the time, he worked in Point Fortin leading the team planning of a new refinery. He was responsible for managing the design and engineering of new process plants being done by foreign contractors, as well as negotiating the relevant licensing and other commercial agreements. He was also involved in the early efforts to establish additional ammonia and methanol plants in Trinidad.

The 50-acre site – reclaimed land - designated and prepared for the proposed new Point Fortin refinery was subsequently deemed fit for purpose for the Atlantic LNG plant that started in 1998. By the early 80s, Texaco was signalling its intention to sell its land production and refining operations at Pointe-a-Pierre, and the Government of the day abandoned its plans for the new refinery and bought Texaco’s facilities. In 1988, he moved to Pointe-a-Pierre to assimilate the engineering capacity of both Trintoc and ex-Texaco staff into one Engineering division, and eventually led the Procurement, and Marketing and Corporate Planning teams. The Industrialist “It is an indictment on our development process that after a hundred years of the oil industry in Trinidad and Tobago, we have yet to develop any significant design capability. We have top notch operating experience, with nationals operating world class plants here. But even when we had assembled the largest group of engineers at Pointe-a-Pierre, no serious focus was placed on ‘design’ for development.

“This won’t change unless national policy encourages and supports it. Even today, some 40 years after Trinidadians took the reins of the local oil and petrochemical industries, we still hear cries for more local content in the design, procurement and construction of new facilities.” Lawford Dupres is reflecting on a career in the oil industry that spanned over 30 years. He is cool and dispassionate, speaking quietly and without regret, but with some poignant observations on the state of the industry he left in 1998 as President/Managing Director of the national company Petrotrin. “I believe the price of oil will stabilize eventually, but not at the levels that will sustain our current habits. In the meantime, we need to be able to use gas for products with greater value added. One has to ask what is the plan for our people as the principal resource, for research and design and innovation? In a country such as ours which depends so heavily on oil and gas, where are the benchmarks to indicate how The UWI and other tertiary level institutions should be resourced to produce the skills and technology we need, to be on the cutting edge of progress?” In 2016, “in a world awash in petroleum-based fuels” he says, “the challenge is to produce as economically as possible. I’m not sure some of our current stakeholders fully understand what this involves, or if they do, are prepared to act accordingly. “In the immediate future, everybody will realize that we have to find other

ways of producing revenue. We need to use all the experience and the knowledge at our disposal. Youth and enthusiasm are wonderful assets, but won’t be enough to find safe passage through the murky waters ahead.” After he retired from Petrotrin in 1998, he joined the Bureau of Standards as Executive Director (2000-2004) during the time that Principal Sankat was the Chairman of that Board. From 2003-2010, Dupres was Chairman of National Petroleum. From his experience at the Bureau of Standards, he says, “We cannot get to Vision 2020 or 2030 without changing the standards that underpin how we currently behave and what we do as a society. No one in authority talks in any meaningful way about raising standards. In many areas it’s the same old thing over and over. Vision 2020 was a valuable exercise that incorporated the brains and energy of leaders of the economy and society. It is still a powerful vision, too bad it was politicized.” (Vision 2020 was the draft national strategic plan, devised by a group of thinkers, industry leaders, public

servants and educators, that was intended to bring Trinidad and Tobago to developed nation status by 2020. It was initiated by the PNM administration of 2008.) “We seem to be getting to a place in our politics where transparency and ethical governance are important. We need to step up the effort to build trust among ourselves, to develop and bring to the fore, people who are trustworthy. Where is this built? Start at home and in schools, with fundamentals of what trust means, including an appreciation of basic courtesies for good communication, good morning, good evening, please, thank you, excuse me, can I help you, and so on. Punctuality is a courtesy that is often ignored.” As the chairman of Lake Asphalt, “I learned that Trinidad asphalt is used on high performance pavements all over the world, the bridge over the Bosporus, US highways, airport runways and many other significant applications.” During his tenure, the development of pelletized asphalt and efforts to penetrate the Chinese market were started: “Our asphalt is exported to many developed countries that appreciate its value.

“I believe the price of oil will stabilize eventually, but not at the levels that will sustain our current habits. In the meantime, we need to be able to use gas for products with greater value added. . . “

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But Trinidad roads are generally paved only with refinery bitumen, because many of our contractors didn’t have equipment to surface roads with natural asphalt blends, and there seems to be little interest by the authorities in improving the quality of our roads. “In fact, secondary roads in Trinidad are usually designed to last five or more years. During this time however, the same roads are dug up repeatedly to fix leaks and repaved by WASA’s contractors, who I am advised give a warranty of six months. This results in roads pockmarked by poorly done WASA repairs that defeat the original intent of the Ministry of Works,” he remarked. “All this is to say that standards are needed in every aspect of national endeavour, if we are to achieve a better quality of life. For instance, is there a schedule that citizens can depend on for garbage collection in each community, or is this service at the whim of the various contractors? “We can declare and recognize standards, but we must also put the necessary mechanisms in place to be sure these standards are observed. Where we operate in an international market, we observe those standards, with systems to ensure they are met. “We have a safe aviation industry because our planes and service have to meet the rigorous standards set internationally. The same with the energy sector: our fuel and petrochemical products must meet standards set by international customers or they stay unsold.

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What standards do we hold our institutions to? “I’m glad we are starting to talk about re-doing the school curriculum. We need a process to reflect on things, not wait for them to fail. Every five years or so, we should have a formal review of curricula: how are we doing, are we still heading in the right direction. We need to institutionalize this process of review, course correction, and implementation. This should be a standard,” according to Dupres. As Chairman of the board of National Petroleum (NP), he led a drive to refurbish the service stations around the country; and to set up a facility that would minimize the transportation of products by road. A secure pipeline and storage tanks at Caroni were installed to serve the northern market and airport at Piarco. New NP service stations were built in Tobago and Trinidad. “We also started the process to make CNG more available, with a regulatory regime for stations and vehicles. This has worked in Argentina and other places, why not here?” What I know “I always believed that I could do anything if I tried hard enough. I was taught to be honest and aim high: I never asked for anything for myself, never begged. Live a clean life. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The rest was up to me, to become a worthwhile citizen. “If you have something to say, timing is everything.

“What I learned from pan: the value of practice, of maintaining good relationships or having to face the consequences, of teamwork, of seeking a common goal. That’s why pan is so good for youngsters. You may have a mess at first – each section figuring their parts – but you all know that you are working to produce something worthwhile. And when you can perform together, what a feeling of pride! And in our day – with all male bands – we were very effective at disciplining each other!

“Trinidad and Tobago has a lot to share in the world. We live in harmony.

have

a democracy, a free press,

freedom

speech and religious worship and a unique invention

that

has

spread joy all over the world. “We have a lot of talent, even though we haven’t quite learned how to harness it, or to showcase it. Most of all, we are a young country, trying to get it right for less than sixty years. We’ll get there. When you’re making a good stew, it takes time; you can’t microwave it.

“My advice to anyone starting a project, a career, studies, married life: I paraphrase Stephen Covey and say ‘start with the end in mind, plan a course towards it; don’t set out on a road when you don’t know where it will end up.

“Maybe people go to university now simply because it’s free; there may be too much choice, so they end up confused and frustrated. Figure out what you really like: and it’s not always about the money.”

“All challenges are balancing acts. But at the end of the day, we need to stop talking and act.” 

Pan and the Energy Sector The 1905 patent for

occupation and

the 55-gallon steel

Trinidad’s south-based

oil drum was held by

oil sites were the

Elizabeth Cochrane

containers of choice

Seaman (pen name

for creating pans in

Nellie Bly) of the Iron

the steelbands. It

Clad Manufacturing

was not without irony

Company of New

that oil companies

York. It became the

were among the

standard drum used

foremost sponsors

in the oil industry.

of steelbands. Esso

By the 1940s, steel

was the sponsor that

oil drums discarded

took Dixie Stars across

from the American

Canada in the fifties.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Profiles in Leadership

Secretariat Commonwealth

The Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Mr. Deodat Maharaj

speaks to the STAN’s Editorin-Chief, Arnold Corneal about the current issues facing the Caribbean region.

s we sat to convene our session, Mr. Maharaj immediately and proudly declared that he is an alumni of The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and holds the view that this institution was instrumental in his personal and professional development. His opening remarks further reinforced the sterling role that The UWI continues to play in producing not only local and regional leaders but also global leaders; with Mr. Maharaj being a good example. Our conversation began by first asking the Deputy SecretaryGeneral to share with us, the options available to us in the Caribbean, as we address some of the challenges that this region is currently facing. Some of the issues we examined revolved around finding strategies to secure economic sustainability, identifying new ways to maintain our assertiveness to continue social development, developing a more committed approach to regional integration and also mitigating the environmental challenges such as climate change. Understanding the uniqueness of who we are as Caribbean States Mr. Maharaj first placed some perspective on the physical attributes of the Caribbean region, as he impressed upon us that “the Caribbean countries are small States, and small States invariably are vulnerable to shocks; being economic shocks, as we are seeing now, or shocks that can arise from natural disasters; like hurricane Ivan and tropical storm Erika.” The Deputy Secretary-General also made reference to Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans in the Unites States of America in 2005. He drew this comparison to present the point that larger nations, with larger economies-of-scale, are less affected by ‘shocks’ that may occur; as was in this situation, where there was business as usual in the other parts of the U.S. Though there was concern, many were almost oblivious to what was happening in New Orleans.

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Mr. Maharaj drew reference to Grenada in hurricane Ivan; where the small Caribbean island, experienced, “one billion dollars in losses, equivalent to two years GDP.” He reminded us of the vulnerability of the small Caribbean states, which is a consequence of their physical size. Deputy Secretary-General Maharaj urged our policy makers to think about the question “what mechanisms can we put in place to respond to these shocks? And he encouraged us, as small states to build resilience.While he appreciates that we have little or no control over stopping such disasters, he suggested other important considerations that can be adopted; such as innovative practical ways “to design your buildings, locate your towns (better urban planning), disciplined compliance to the town & country planning approval process. All these are basic and simple things.” Mr. Maharaj spoke about the economic dimensions, as it relates to our region, and conveyed that “ As long as our economies continue to rely on one major export product for foreign exchange earnings, we will always be vulnerable to economic shocks.” He referred to Lloyd Best’s teachings, which he benefitted from as a student at The UWI, and said that“ Best referred to our region as having a plantation economy, in which we produce what we don’t consume and we consume what we don’t produce.” Mr. Maharaj urged us in the Caribbean to have a long-term vision and it must begin by asking ourselves the question “What is this Caribbean that we want?”and suggested that we in the Caribbean must change our approach from one that is based on “expedience and convenience, where our current policy making is short-term.” While he understands the need for this approach, he feels that it is paramount that our regional leaders have a long-term vision. The Deputy Secretary-General holds the view that “it must start with a united approach, with the Caribbean States, collectively adopting a vision that would see us through to 2050.” He indicated that one of the key drivers that is necessary to establish that vision,“must revolve around a committed approach towards strengthening regional integration.” He referred to his experiences as a student at The UWI, St. Augustine as being “a living lab of integration” where he shared a common space with students coming from all over the Caribbean region.

He referred to his experiences as a student at The UWI, St. Augustine as being “a living lab of integration” “This environment allowed me to get a better understanding and appreciation of the region through the interaction with my classmates.” But he admits that this has changed and we now witness that we have become “more intellectually insular.” He stressed that “as a region if we don’t put our heads together, in dealing with some of the big issues, we will be really very challenged.” “CARICOM means well, but what are the resources available to them?” The Deputy Secretary General agrees that CARICOM is the regional institution that has the responsibility for facilitating the process for addressing many issues impacting this region. He believes that “CARICOM means well, but what are the resources available to them?” However, he wanted to be fair to CARICOM and accepts the position that “a lot of the regional institutions, were perhaps fit for a purpose when they were set up, but the world has changed, and we must change with the world, and while we retain our core values as a West Indian people, the world has changed fundamentally.” Mr. Maharaj, in putting things into context, drew reference to what is happening globally, as it relates to trade data, and presents the statistics that “we (the region) account for less than a quarter of one percent of world trade; approximately .08% of 1 percent.” In support of his position, Mr. Maharaj reflected on his experiences on assignment for the United Nations in Africa (Tanzania); where presently, they adopt a 2063 vision that outlines the Africa that they want in fifty years. This he said is how the Asians think, a philosophy that he became very familiar with, having also worked in Asia and the Pacific with the United Nations. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

“it must start with a united approach, with the Caribbean States, collectively adopting a vision that would see us through to 2050.” “That is the long-term approach that is required, and not only about dealing with issues of today and tomorrow.” Africa, he said, “like the Caribbean, was developed through links with the colonial power, and they have a particular focus on trade.” For trade to be developed in this region, Mr. Maharaj said that “we need to have the infrastructure; roads, bridges, railway lines.” More importantly, the Deputy SecretaryGeneral believes that like Africa, the Caribbean, having the characteristics as a young nation, must instill hope in the region’s people. He suggested “that we need political leadership in the region, to have an engagement on what is the biggest risk, where do we see ourselves going, and what do we want to achieve. Further, he declared that ”Our vision needs to take us thirty to forty years down the road, and we can’t only respond to whatever is happening today.” Climate Change is everyone’s battle! The Deputy Secretary General feels strongly that many of the Caribbean States are very vulnerable to the real threat of Climate Change; especially those who are being STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

marketed as tourists destinations, providing ‘sun, sand and surf’ with hotels located right on their country’s beaches. He wants us to envision a rise in sea level of one metre, and how devastating this can be for our region. In going forward he suggested that we must be more mindful and astute in our Town & Country Planning policies and regulations; if we are to mitigate the risks that lie ahead. Mr. Maharaj made mention of the changes taking place in the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba- our Caribbean neighbour; and the many possibilities that may be derived from the spinoff of the opening up of their tourism industry on their more southerly neighbours. Mr. Maharaj demonstrated the importance of having a clear understanding of our geographic profile (as it relates to risks) as nations surrounded by water. He stated that Trinidad & Tobago, with a land area of under 2,000 square miles, has an ocean space of approximately 70,000 square miles. St. Vincent and the Grenadines with a land area less than 190 square miles, has an ocean space of 8,000 square miles, and the Bahamas has a total land area of 5,382 square miles with an ocean space of 745,000 square kilometres.

The interesting question that he posed was,“are we Small island States or Big ocean States? We must not forget the most obvious, and only worry about our resources. To my mind, we must look at the most obvious, the Ocean; not only in terms of tourism, but biotechnology, transport and shipping, deep seabed minerals. It is not only about oil and gas.” He drew reference to Seychelles’ Ministry of Finance, Trade and Blue Economy. Also, Mauritius, which “has a Ministry dedicated to the Oceans; a full Ministry.” The Minister of Education in Mauritius, who had a discussion with the Deputy Secretary-General informed him that “her vision is that Mauritius would be a centre of Excellence for Ocean Studies; offering services through education to all of Africa, as a viable business initiative.” Mr. Maharaj believes that we (in the Caribbean) don’t have a vision for the future and he advises that we work on a much needed vision. He once more referred to international trade by examining what currently exist globally, where “the big countries have formed two trading blocks - the Transpacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Partnership. Those two mega regional blocks will exclude 160 countries, accounting for 18 percent of the world’s population. While it is their sovereign right to do that, we have to recognize the changes and plan accordingly.” This in his view highlights the strategy employed by “super wealthy powerful countries, who are saying that they need to work together.” Mr. Maharaj transposes this idea to the Caribbean region and asked the question, “So why then shouldn’t the Caribbean States work together as a collective regional body to address the shared challenges that we have?” The Caribbean Court of Justice and the perspective of economies-of-scale Drawing reference to important data, the Deputy Secretary-General indicated that “Caribbean countries don’t benefit from Overseas Development Assistance, we don’t get concessional financing, as we are classified as middle income countries; so where are we going to get finance for advice to the Government?” From domestic resource mobilization taxes? But we have a

small base. Private Sector? We have to work on that! If we are going to have a vision, we have to have strong and accountable institutions. So purely from the perspective of economies-of-scale, it makes absolute sense to have institutions that will represent and reflect the region’s interest and the region’s agenda.” The Deputy Secretary-General was quite emphatic in asking “whether there was no other way? So we can ill afford to raise resources in having institutions just for one jurisdiction when it could be shared? We have a common history, a common language, we have a common legal system. So there is room for economiesof-scale. These are expensive institutions to be financed individually.” Mr. Maharaj supported his statement by acknowledging the many varied economic challenges being faced by the region, “where there existed disparities” that sometimes covered a broad spectrum. He said that “the resource base of all the Caribbean States were different, with some being stronger than others. The responsiveness by these countries to matters of financial monitoring and compliance varied.” Mr. Maharaj recommends that “we consolidate and have a regional approach on many of these issues; as there is no other option for us as a region!” He went on to say that “we have to negotiate as a block, as a community of nations, where we will have greater say.” The Deputy Secretary-General stated that a beneficial strategy for us in the Caribbean, is to find ways “to build alliances with larger nations; in particular G20 countries; to be respected.” He went on to ask the question: “Are we as a region, looking at the cutting edge issues, and how we position this Caribbean of ours - not only economically, but as a people and a West Indian nation.” He concluded that “no one can answer that question positively because we in the Caribbean are not doing it!” The role of sport and the many possibilities, if used as a vehicle to achieve social development and continued Caribbean integration The Deputy Secretary-General is an ardent supporter of Sport, and when asked about its significance to the Caribbean, with the backdrop of the recent involvement of CARICOM in matters pertaining to West Indies STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Cricket, he stated, “When I think about sport, it is for peace and development. It is not only about sport for healthy lifestyles and being competitive, but sport as a developmental issue! While it is able to bring people together, more importantly Sport is a business. The question is how do you utilize Sport to drive a development agenda? “We in the Commonwealth actually have a programme, ‘Sport for Peace and Development’. We see it as an integral part for development, especially for young people. Especially in the context of some of the security challenges we face in this region. Through sport we can get the young people off the blocks, where we channel their energy positively: (a) this is the social dimension; (b) there is also a business dimension; and (c) there is a security and living healthy lifestyles dimension. “We have not explored connecting these areas sufficiently. We need to look at the wide spectrum of development issues. It is not only about Cricket; that is the wrong concept- not only about West Indian Cricket, and whether they are doing well or not! It’s much more than football and tennis- that is not the issue. It’s about the need to use the whole package, and use it as a vehicle to drive development. In the discussion the Deputy Secretary-General also spoke about students in high school,and the need for them to be exposed to balanced activities; comprising both academic and sporting, along with other extracurricular. He said that “some of these schools are purely academic, 100% academic, and what you really need is well-functioning people who can survive and not be vulnerable.” Mr. Maharaj recognizes the character building components that sport provides to the developing minds of our region’s young people, and believes that “much more can be done. It is necessary that a strong foundation be built through institutionalizing its formation, so that we may derive long-term benefits. This is where The UWI as a regional body comes in.” Mr. Maharaj reiterated that “we don’t have a compelling vision as to where we want to reach as a Caribbean

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

people, and we must identify some of the pillars to advance this development agenda.” He went on to offer that “many of the Commonwealth countries approach sport as a business. And that is the reason why so many fight to host international sporting events.” He referred to 2014, at which time the Twentieth Commonwealth Games was held in Glasgow; with this initiative providing an opportunity to remodel approximately 30-40 percent of the city; in terms of housing, and stimulating tourism. He stated that the athletes’ village, after the games, was converted into public housing. The Deputy SecretaryGeneral respectfully suggested that the focus should not only be on Cricket. The University of the West Indies must be the intellectual hub of this region! On the issue of Education, the Deputy Secretary-General concluded that “the University has to be the intellectual hub of this region, to be driving the debate, as you need new economic opportunities. We have to rise to the occasion and lift our game and give our people hope for the future. We must realize the genius of the West Indian to attain our true potential. Our policy makers face numerous challenges and as a result, we respond and respond. Sometimes we must step back and look at the big picture.” In his closing words the Deputy SecretaryGeneral said that “we need to call for a vision.” Mr. Maharaj went on to quote the English economist, John Maynard Keynes who said that “in the long run, we are all dead”(Keynes’ ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments). Mr. Maharaj thinks that“it is critical, that as a region, we act now, if we are to instill the desperately needed change in our approach to addressing many of the major issues that are now upon us. They won’t just go away. We must find long-term solutions today that will allow us to be alive in the future! Our approach must be a collective one, where we adopt and own as a Caribbean group, all the problems of the Caribbean states. Only then can we be formidable in our approach, and hopefully gain the respect of our international partners.” 

WINNERS •

Audience Vintage Calypso: 1st Rawle Peters; 2nd Marlon Edmund; 3rd Anson Brache

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Soca Groovy: 1st Camille Renaud & Keron Branche; 2nd Andre Nelson; 3rd Keron Brache

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Best Credit Union Commentary: Camile Renaud

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Best Social Commentary: Jael Jones

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Best Party Song: Marlon Edmund

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Calypso: 1st Jeal Jones; 2nd Seon Vialva and Terrance Rivas (tied); 4th Rawle Peters; 5th Marlon Edmund

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Calypso People’s Choice: Terrance Rivas

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

UWI in Society

Existing on a Lower Oil Price A

curious contradiction in the current world crude oil price situation has been detected by Dr. Lester Henry, senior lecturer in the Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine campus and a longtime observer of the energy scene. “No one seems to feel they are benefiting from this US$40 oil price, which is a bit strange and the first time in history that we have had this situation,” he remarked. Strange indeed. One would think the importers of oil would be happy because they are paying less for a vital element in their daily lives, while the exporters, like Trinidad and Tobago, would be disgruntled because they are receiving less. Apparently, this does not seem to be the case at all.

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“In the past when oil went down to such low levels, you would hear of big benefits to countries like Japan, China, Jamaica and the rest. You would see a big economic boom in importing countries like the United States. But we live in this strange world now where oil prices are low and the US, for example, is screaming. In a matter of 10-20 years, the whole world has turned upside down because of that. So this is a different kind of challenge.” The US, of course, may be in a peculiar situation because, as Dr. Henry points out, “the average worker’s wages have been stagnant or declining, so while they are glad for the slight decrease at the pump, it doesn’t mean all that much anymore.” If wages had been trending up, the “average worker” would have had a

“No one seems to feel they are benefiting from this US$40 oil price . . .”

lot more free income to splurge on non-energy goods and services but, by Dr. Henry’s analysis, the worker does not. If the “average worker” is not gaining, the government, for its part, is actively losing because their tax income inflow from lower company profits is obviously down. “The government has had to face a massive decrease in revenue for a period of time now going on for a year,” the senior lecturer in the Department of Economics points out. “It was going down slowly before but it has picked-up speed over the last year.” The oil industry being such a curious animal as far as pricing is concerned – up one day, down the next – it has no counterpart as a source of income for the government and the country.

It is thus difficult to find what Dr. Henry calls “buffers” to deal with this reality because no other industry can take the place of the hydrocarbon sector. The only “buffer”, really, is savings from past spikes in the price, which in Trinidad and Tobago’s case, is represented by government savings, the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) and, possibly, reserves in the Central Bank. At the time of the last oil price downturn in 2009, there were “significant buffers,” Dr. Henry recalls “such as budget surpluses saved up from prior years which could be spent to maintain the people’s standard of living.” As he points out: “That’s really the way to go. When the prices of crude and natural gas are high, you save money into accounts on which you can draw later. This would be in addition to the HSF and the foreign exchange reserves.” If such savings don’t exist, however, which seems to be the case today, then there is little alternative to accessing the HSF, “which the government has already said it will do to the extent of about $1 billion.” Dr. Henry confesses he was reluctant to endorse such a course of action, “like many other people were.” But “given the current state of the debt situation, the government seems to feel it has no choice but to dip into the Fund, basically to pay off debt rather than for public expenditure.” There are also outstanding public sector wage increases to

“there is stuff out there and my prognosis for a deep water discovery is excellent.” settle “which will include a hefty component of back pay.” But could public sector employees in particular not agree to forego those payments for a while in the national interest? No way, Dr. Henry says. “The social demands of various sectors of the population and people feeling they are entitled to their wage increase because it is their due compensation suggests the average person is unlikely to reason that he understands the country is in a tough situation and therefore he is not going to take his, say, 14% wage increase. People seldom do things like that.” Couldn’t the government negotiate with the unions to delay payment? “It could – but would the unions be prepared to go along? Anything is possible if you have the right willpower on both sides but I am afraid that if union members hear they are due for a wage increase which includes a significant back pay, they are more than likely to have already spent the money in their minds.” The big concern now, says Dr. Henry, is for how long will the oil price downturn last? “In 2009,” he recalls, “the price only stayed down for less than a year and by early 2010 had started to rebound and it turned out that we sailed on for another four years, until 2014, when it started to go down again. Between 2010 and 2014, the oil price averaged about

US$99-100 a barrel.” He shies away from making a forecast on where the price will settle going into 2016, 2017 and beyond. “I would be a very wealthy man if I could answer that question!” The major exploration programme taking place in Trinidad and Tobago at the moment is that in the deep water, spearheaded by the Anglo/ Australian multi-national, BHPBilliton, which does not appear to be letting the low oil price discourage it in this regard. Dr. Henry thinks it is right to proceed, since he firmly believes “there is stuff out there and my prognosis for a deep water discovery is excellent.” His only hope is that the terms and conditions on which the programme is based are “favourable” to Trinidad and Tobago. BHP Billiton might actually find gas rather than oil in the deep water, which would pose a monetisation challenge since gas is more complicated to commercialise than oil. But commercialisation is mandatory since, as he points out, “natural gas is really much more important to us these days than oil.” That particularly applies to crossborder gas. “We know it’s a dicey situation over in Venezuela but if we can persuade them to send their portion of the gas to TT, it would be a gold mine for us.”  STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

UWI in Society

“If I have the opportunity to talk to the youth today, the advice I would give is what was told to me but I didn’t listen. I paid a serious price, economically, for not listening - I would recommend an education. Go to school.”

The Long Journey

Dr. Roy Cape advocates education for a good career

It was always for love, never for the money.

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Earning $300 for a night’s work to support a wife and children doesn’t sound like a bad deal. But when that sum has to be divided up amongst 10 or more, and represents your earnings for the week, you must be a magician or a master of economics to survive on it. That was life in the early days of celebrated musician and legendary band leader, Dr. Roy Cape.

Speaking with him about his life and musical career, he admitted that his love for the saxophone and the music made him blind to everything else, even foregoing a formal education to follow his passion. “Music and my saxophone took over everything. There was no room for anything else.”

through my friend Junior Telfer. After about 3 years she approached me and asked if I wanted to write a book. She would be willing to do it for me. So I said I never really had a plan for a book, but since you challenged me, I think I have a story. Although my life is a central part of the book, I am really relating about all the people I met, almost every musician I met in my life from this country and bands I have played in.”

And while he was able to travel all over the world, playing with top bands and working with local and international celebrities, the road was never easy as a musician. Roy Cape’s life is captured in his book “Roy Cape - A life on the Calypso and Soca Bandstand” but his story also presents deep insights into life in the fifties and sixties, the musician’s constant quest for a better life and the evolution of the local music industry. All play – no money Roy had no expectations about income or fame from his musical career. “When I started to play music we didn’t think about money. There was no money. In the 60s a band used to get 300 and 400 dollars. We used to play in community centres in Princes Town or Guayaguayare or Matelot and in those times plenty places didn’t have electricity so we used Delco generators fuelled by pitch oil and gas.” Commenting on carnival days in the 60s he continued: “When we were on the road from ‘61 –‘68, we (the band) used to walk – we and 4 saxophones, 4 trumpets and 3 trombones; it didn’t have no guitars and bass and all those sorts of things, just a bass drum and a snare drum and some percussion instruments like “bottle and spoon”. Carnival day in all the big bands like George Bailey, Harold Saldenah… the musicians walked the streets. In 1969 was the first time we went on a truck with the Sparrow Troubadours”.

He recounted parts of his life, from his early days as a boy growing up in the Belmont orphanage, after his mother contracted tuberculosis and was confined to a medical facility for a long period, and on to playing music in bands all over the country for meagre wages. Like other musicians at the time, he eventually migrated to the United States seeking a better quality of life. Roy relates his struggles to survive in a land where, as he put it, “good musicians were a dime a dozen” and playing music one night a week couldn’t pay the bills. He spoke sadly about taking menial jobs to get by although he was a professional musician.

The Cape biography Asked about his autobiography, Roy says: “I never had the desire to write a book but God does these things to you. When you feel it you must respond. I had known Professor Guilbault (co-author) for a few years

The book presents a history of the music and the people who contributed to the music. It is filled with photos and captions about where and when they were taken. And even though it is 387 pages long, he says there are so many things that he did not touch on. The hidden musicians Roy is still very dissatisfied about where musicians are economically. “People have to survive and should have earnings to do so decently. Musicians are very sensitive people. We are not like an individual artiste. We have to play with each other to make that song work. There is not enough recognition for musicians.” “So as a musician, it is my lament. I am happy but still I am hurt inside because there are people who are always seen. But musicians are not seen. And I am an advocate for that. I’ve worked with many band leaders but I will call Clarence Curvan, my first professional leader, because I made my name in his band. All the band leaders and bands - Frankie Francis, Ron Berridge, Sparrow’s Troubadours - I worked with, anytime I talk about music and history, I have to call their names.” STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Roy Cape at UWI’s Classic Concert 2016 - held in in honour of Roy himself

In 2011, an honorary Doctor of Letters degree (LLD) was conferred on the legendary musician and bandleader for his contribution to the development of local music and the local music industry. Looking back on his life he declared: “If I have the opportunity to talk to the youth today, the advice I would give is what was told to me but I didn’t listen. I paid a serious price, economically, for not listening – I would recommend an education, go to school.” He sang two lines of the Mighty Sparrow’s “Education”

Good friends he made in his musical life include Black Stalin and Brother Valentino with whom he worked, travelled and played in concerts in Cuba and Grenada and who remain close. Roy Cape is affectionately called “Pappy” by most of the younger generation and his influence on the careers of so many of today’s stars on the local music scene is evident. Reminiscing on his nickname he said; “I would be driving by the block and somebody would hail me out “Pappy!” and I would answer “Yes Pappy!” A little while after it stuck. But in a deeper sense, Pappy means daddy, father, granddad and I would like to feel that is the feeling behind the name. You would find that most of the young people would call me that so it shows a fatherly something” Honorary Doctorate Roy Cape is always willing to help the youth. He spoke about motivating the youth through music and working with Mr Clarke in the Ministry of Culture for the past 3 STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

years, for a programme entitled “Music Literacy in the Community”. As members of the non-profit organization, Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life (FEEL), both Roy and Mr. Clarke, were fortunate to get musical instruments from time to time, and donate them to youth organisations and community schools, so that underprivileged youth with exceptional musical talents were able to continue to practise. These included youth from the Casablanca pan theatre, the St. James Police Youth Club and the youth in Youth Training Centre (YTC). He remembers his own youth when he didn’t have his own instruments and revealed it took him earning from 1958 to 1962 to be able to eventually purchase his own saxophone. “So I borrowed a lot, a lot of people lent me (instruments). In those days a saxophone cost $642. My father was working for $10 a week. Now a good horn costs about US $7000.” Today he counts himself fortunate to have the “Rolls Royce of saxophones”.

“Children go to school and learn well Otherwise later on in life you go ketch real hell” “I lived to see that. All world class millionaire athletes, they all have university backgrounds. This physical body suffers wear and tear and when it can go no more, you have something that you can fall back on. “So education is very, very important. I rebelled against it but still say thank God that I was able to get a little bit and can read and write. Music is about love. And with a good education you can enjoy music, because you would not then be playing music to survive. “This UWI doctorate, I would say without any pompousness is one of the major components in our academic structure in the Caribbean. I am fully aware of that. I did not pursue further education but as you go thru life you meet

intelligent people and you have to communicate and you grow. “I am very proud of this” he says showing me his UWI ring and a poster of him in graduation garb hanging on his wall, “. . . and I have a little slogan I use. “From Laventille to Belmont Orphanage to UWI is a long journey” “Our people do not place value on those things. From where I came (Belmont Orphanage) to be at UWI and getting that honorary doctorate, I understand the whole mechanics of it. “ In 2004 Roy Cape was presented with the national Hummingbird Gold Award for his contribution to music and has plaques of appreciation from Desperadoes and All Stars steel orchestras for his continued support to them, revealing his close relationship with ace arrangers Rudolph Charles and Clive Bradley. Big achievements He joked when asked what his biggest achievement was. “Well you can see that I am not rich, but you can probably say in the practice of “economics”, I should go down as one of the best. Because I have been in this for 55 years, not including my youthful days when I was learning, but as an individual, trying to survive on what I love the most.” “But seriously, I have run a band for 37 years and I can call the names throughout the world of people who have run bands for that long. You have Joey Lewis, who has had the longest performing band perhaps in the history of the world. And then

Sir George Alleyne admires Roy Cape’s graduation ring, as Ms. Helen Bhagwansingh looks on, during a post-graduation ceremony to honour the honorary graduands (2011).

there’s Byron Lee. After Byron Lee I am honoured to be the next person in line. I have been going 37 years with a band. There were a lot of contributors on the journey. Some came and some went, some stayed. Some went and came back and then went away again.” Asked whether, given all of the hardships he experienced, he would do it again, there was no hesitation before he said emphatically, “Yes! But I would wish I could have gotten a little insight of life I have now before, rather than having to wait so long and then learn along the way” In 2015, Roy removed himself from the stage because of health challenges which took a toll on his body. He says, “I never have to push myself to do things. They come to me naturally. Whatever God tells me to do, I just go with His flow. I still think about the guys in the band and I will always be here for them. I haven’t played since February 2015. I can’t say I wouldn’t play again. But now

if I go outside and music is playing, I don’t want to be around. I am dealing with it. But to be in the environment when the band is playing and I have to stand up and listen to them play for an hour and a half, it is like jail for me.” About the band’s continuity he says: “I am putting things together for a right transition. I can’t be out there forever waiting to fall down on stage. My wife deserves a real vacation as she does everything administrative for the band. At 74, I have never had a real vacation. I have travelled all over the world and stayed in hotels, but that was for work. I never left here to stay in a hotel for a vacation. I owe her at least that.” He adds, “I hope the band continues. Once I have the confidence that it can continue, I will leave. Although there is someone running it, I still have to be a part of it. I cannot take away Roy Cape from the band. And with that comes the reputation for producing good work. I must ensure the Roy Cape brand.” 

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

UWI in Society

MINISTERING TO REFUGEES AT THE LIVING WATER COMMUNITY Dealing with the global migrant issue in T&T

elling gyros on the street in Trinidad, 30-year-old Syrian refugee Hosam Aboaytta has been robbed and struck in the back with a stone as he turned to fill a customer’s order. The option of going to the police did not arise. Hosam has been working illegally. The Syrian Christian, recently granted refugee status and soon to be resettled in the United States, is part of a recent influx of refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Trinidad and Tobago as the global refugee crisis has deepened. Since 2013, the number of people seeking protection from persecution or conflict has more than quadrupled, from 46 to 209 in just three years. (See table.) Most are coming from Cuba, Syria, Colombia, Bangladesh and Nigeria. According to Rochelle Nakhid, coordinator of Living Water’s Ministry for Refugees and Asylum Seekers—the first point of contact for any foreigner seeking protection here—Living Water is pushing for policy changes that would allow claimants to support themselves financially. In the meantime, the NGO, constrained by limited resources, is doing what it can. Living Water is led by UWI honorary LLD (Doctor of Laws) Ms. Rhonda Maingot who was awarded in 2014 for her contribution to Caribbean development. “We assist with rent, food; we assist with just about everything,” says Nakhid. “Because people aren’t allowed to work, it’s more of a burden for us. It’s much more responsibility for us to ensure that they can still live their lives in decency and have a decent standard of living.”

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Hosam, who came to the Caribbean at the age of 19 before the Syrian conflict began, didn’t see much choice but to work on the margins. “I ask them (Immigration) about the work permit and still the government say they can’t give no Syrian a work permit. And they (Living Water) can’t help everybody. They can’t let you just sit down home, pay your rent and giving you food.” Hosam’s family is still in Syria, but his return would mean being drafted into the Syrian Army or becoming a target of the Islamic State in his Christian village on the outskirts of Homs. A cousin whom he grew up with, was captured by Islamic militants and beheaded soon after being conscripted. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) recently approved his refugee claim. Pending a medical exam, he will soon leave for the US, likely settling with relatives in Florida. Hosam is soft-spoken and quick to smile. Having learnt his English on the Caribbean street, his language is littered with Trini idioms. It is easy to understand why his customers in a small village in South Trinidad have taken to him. He set up his stand there after working in Port of Spain and Curepe, places that were not as easygoing. “I find the South is more quiet. The people nice. Anything I want, I getting by them. I feel the people already like my family. I go by anybody inside the house. If I take a two days off and I eh go and work, everybody calling: ‘Wha happen, why you don’t come?’” As it stands, the life of a refugee and asylum seeker in T&T is complicated. They cannot open a bank account or legally possess a driver’s license. The protection of law

enforcement is often not available to them and neither is the public health system. (Living Water pays for private doctors when it can.) If given the opportunity, Hosam might have been a good candidate for local integration, but T&T does not accept refugees and asylum seekers for resettlement. Successful claimants are sent to third countries, most often the United States. “We’re actually sending our refugees abroad instead of leaving them here,” says Nakhid. “Most of our refugees can’t locally integrate here because they can’t work legally or they can’t find the documents. They don’t have the rights that should be afforded to them as refugees.” Ghassan Youseph, former mayor of Arima and a member of the local Syrian community, says T&T finds itself with a moral obligation to allow Syrian migrants to settle. “It is reported as a fact that we have Trinidadians—40, 50, could be 100—that left here and gone and fight with ISIS,” says Youseph. “They join ISIS and they are fighting. And ISIS, they are persecuting Christian people in Syria. So it stands to reason that if we take 40 or 50 or ten times the amount it should be no problem. What is the problem! We need to show some kind of compassion to what is happening. And that’s the least we can do.” Nakhid, who finds herself on the front line of the refugee upsurge, is frustrated by systemic shortcomings, and also by individual cases. A recent Syrian arrival who came by pirogue through Venezuela, has been detained in lessthan-optimal conditions at the Immigration Detention Centre, rather than being placed under an Order of Supervision that would require him to surrender his travel documents and report to Immigration every four to six weeks. Nakhid, barred entry to the detention facility by authorities since December 2014, finds his case “annoying”. “He should not be there because he is an asylum seeker. And he did not present a threat to national security, so there really isn’t any justification for detention.” She says the process for Syrian refugees in particular should be streamlined, because by international agreement “nobody is being returned to Syria at this point”.

There is some good news locally: the previous government adopted a Refugee Policy and committed to drafting legislation that would streamline the process of refugee status determination. Hosam says he will miss Trinidad and intends to return to visit as soon as he is settled in the United States. He has forged ties and made a start in the four years that he has been here. Life has improved, albeit incrementally and with frequent setbacks. He now looks forward to legal status and working “like a normal person.” But he’d like to see T&T adopt a more sympathetic stance toward people like himself. “We’s human being. We could help each other. Today is Syria, tomorrow somewhere else. You don’t know what could happen again. Things could come into Trinidad and they could need help too.”  Asylum seekers and refugees seeking shelter in T&T since 2013 2013, Asylum seekers

Refugees

Total

2014, Asylum seekers

Refugees

Total

145

2015, Asylum seekers

Refugees

Total

112

209

2016, (up to Feb. 29) Asylum seekers

Refugees

Total

118

215

Statistics courtesy: Living Water Community; Ministry for Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Refugees vs. asylum seekers – a definition The term “refugee” comprises two classes of people. The first refers to many of the estimated 60 million displaced worldwide as a result of conflict. When they cross borders from their home states, they are loosely termed “refugees”. An “asylum seeker” on the other hand is a person who has sought protection under the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees, on the grounds that if he or she is returned to their country of origin they are likely to be persecuted on the grounds of race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership of a particular social group. The second meaning of refugee is an asylum seeker whose application has been successful.

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UWI in Society

Dealing with and Other Epidemics on Campus Dr. Singh and the HSU are ready and prepared

t’s a normal day at The St. Augustine Campus Health Service Unit (HSU). The walk-in clinic is teeming with students but amidst the business and bustle, the staff are relaxed and cheerful. Even the students waiting their turn to see the doctor or the nurse appear calm.

Our interview focuses on the Zika virus and what measures the University has taken to protect the student population amidst national concerns about its spread from neighbouring Brazil to Trinidad and other parts of the Caribbean.

The first point of contact at the office of Dr. Neil Singh is Ms. Rishma Deonarine. The atmosphere reflects the spirit of the man at the helm of this unique community clinic - Head of the HSU and Medical Officer to some 18,000 students of the St. Augustine Campus.

Dr. Singh explains programme works

Dr. Singh is enthusiastic and exhibits an effortless energy as he gathers pamphlets and papers to share. He is clearly driven by passion for his work and a deep empathy for those in his care. The HSU is unique in many ways. Even though it functions as a clinic, it also provides critical support to the campus community and offers a range of services that distinguishes it from any other clinic of its kind in the country - and as Dr. Singh explains - even the rest of the region. Dr. Singh tries to ignore the telephone so he can give the interview his undivided attention, but eventually he has to alert a persistent caller that he is busy. He was right back into the conversation, not missing a beat. He left no question unanswered, often providing interesting insights into the campus community and why he loves what he does.

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how

the

HSU’s

outreach

We subscribe to a very advanced protocol of the American College Health Association for managing disasters on campuses. While not all of it is relevant to the Caribbean, we have extracted and adopted what is relevant. A key component of the protocols is that of health education. We have a very sophisticated and comprehensive information system here at the campus. There are five outreach channels and mechanisms utilised in our Health Education Communication – each with varying degrees of effectiveness. 1. The least effective are flyers and posters which are placed at key assembly and high traffic points 2. We also inform Marketing and Communications as owners of ‘Pipeline’ – the campus’ email database which uses UWI addresses. Unfortunately not many students pay attention to campus-originating email as they use personal emails to connect

3. We engage with campus staff through HR as owners of that database

In some instances, we take measures that are unique to the epidemic.

4. We at the HSU have created our own database of personal email and phone contacts of our students coming through the clinic and we have found this an effective way of sharing information or sending alerts – via mass text or bulk email

· For example, with Ebola, I personally reached out to our 27 students who are from Africa. While they were not from areas where the virus was prevalent, nor were they in contact with affected persons, we educated them on how to avoid quarantine when coming through primary ports-of-entry. We also shared information in a meeting on causes, how it is contracted and transmitted, as well as known treatments of the virus.

5. The most effective means of getting information into the student population is by far through the Students Guild Facebook. So just how concerned is Dr. Singh about the Zika Virus? There’s really no cause for alarm. I have my own reservations. The Zika Virus (ZIKV) has been with us for quite a while. It is usually asymptomatic –only about one in five persons will actually show symptoms and even then, they are mild symptoms. There have been three cases reported in Trinidad recently and only because we started testing for it. The best treatment for Zika is rest. I know that there is much public debate and furore over the incidents of microcephaly as is being seen in Brazil, but there is still no hard evidence that there is a correlation – just epidemiological evidence connecting the two. It has been reported that the water was treated with insecticide to control the Aedes Aegypti mosquito and that persons may have drunk the water which resulted in these birth defects. Nevertheless, we have taken all necessary precautions to address the spread of all mosquito-borne illnesses here at the campus, including Zika. Dr. Ramsaran has just completed a summary report of international guidelines at the request of the Campus Principal and forwarded to the Vice Chancellor, who has established a task-force to look into the prevalence and potential impact of Zika.

Ebola was never a major threat to Trinidad, even during Carnival. The key issue was really controls and quarantines at primary entry points. Trinidad is not a primary port-of-entry for Africa, it is a secondary port. The USA and the UK have direct flights into Africa and that’s where the screening and quarantining of persons are addressed. Nevertheless, we invited the Ministry of Health to give a lecture and to share the Ministry’s recommendations and policies with staff and students. We at the HSU conducted lectures to at-risk students who were travelling on how to manage at immigration. · Similarly for Chikungunya (CHIK-V), we asked the Campus Registrar to consider the implementation of an “Aedes Egypti Eradication Programme” and some preliminary work has begun. The programme was established to assess the Aedes Egypti Index of the campus community – i.e. the number of households where the mosquito was found growing. Studies are underway to determine how effective the education and awareness programme has been in reducing the Index.

So what systems have been put in place for protecting or containing Zika and other viruses?

The primary objective is to reduce the campus community’s index to zero. Professor Chadee our Entomologist was consulted and is assisting with this initiative.

We follow the same rigorous process for all epidemic threats. We educate, we contain and we treat. The key component is education – sharing information on causes, case studies, self-protection and treatment.

It should be noted however that during the dryseason, we have the lowest risk of mosquito-borne illnesses. For instance while in April CHIK-V was at its height in Jamaica, it wasn’t until the rainy-season in STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

August that it became an issue for us here. Just like dengue, these types of diseases are linked to weather patterns and are cyclical. · For Swine Flu (H1N1) we had a heightened alert on campus and offered free vaccinations which we got from government. Many persons didn’t take it due to rumoured side effects. However this is preventable through vaccination. The current seasonal flu shot we offer also contains H1N1 protection. Proper hygiene is key to avoidance and protection. Covering up when sneezing or coughing and washing hands thoroughly and frequently during flu outbreaks, is recommended practice.

Aedes aegypti

(transmissible) and degree of virulence (dangerous or deadly).

· Dengue Fever is the most common and most virulent of the mosquito-borne illness to which we are exposed. We therefore, should be more concerned about Dengue which kills about 20 persons per year here in Trinidad and Tobago than Zika or H1N1. Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever and Dengue Shock Syndrome which are the more aggressive clinical presentations that show up in reoccurrence of infection, are real causes for concern.

The Ebola Virus is of high-infectivity and high-virulence. This means that it is transmitted very easily and it is deadly. Like with any other virus, the chances of becoming sexually transmissible, is heightened in its viremic stage or when fever is present. However, what is unusual about Ebola is that it remains sexually transmissible up to six months post recovery.

What means do we have of eradicating the source of these diseases?

H1N1 is of high-infectivity but low virulence. Proper hygiene is the most effective means of combatting transmission and infection. It is rarely fatal except in high risks populations.

Spraying is not a major deterrent because the effects last just 3-5 days and does not kill the eggs. The larvae hatches again. So we spray in an area where an infected person is found because it is now known to have active vectors. Some years ago field-officers used to go house to house conducting inspections of the premises and when necessary treating. This practice is costly but more effective in identifying and treating potential sources of infection (vectors). For most viruses, basic hygiene is crucial to containing transmission and infection. There is more that can be done with simple soap and bleach to protect against diseases than costly medications and spraying. What more do we need to know about the threats of current epidemics? Viruses are measured by 2 patterns – degree of infectivity STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

CHIK-V is of low-infectivity and low-virulence. Like Dengue Fever and Zika it is spread by a mosquito. It brings with it severe joint pains which can persist for up to six months after recovery. It is not fatal but symptoms can be debilitating. Zika is of low-infectivity and low virulence. The virus is nowhere as debilitating as CHIK-V. Proper social hygiene practices can eliminate habitats and protect against infection. Dengue Fever has low-infectivity and high virulence because in its advanced stages of Haemorrhagic Fever or Dengue Shock Syndrome, it can be fatal. The burden of disease and a responsive HSU Dr. Singh sees UWI students as lucky – part of a privileged few who have immediate and free access to health care unlike many other tertiary institutions on island or in the

“There’s really no cause for alarm. I have my own reservations. The Zika virus (ZIKV) has been with us for quite a while. It is usually asymptomatic - only about one in five persons will actually show symptoms and even then, they are mild symptoms.” Caribbean. He is proud of the work being done by the Clinic and with how much they are doing to improve health standards at the university. He urges me to visit the Unit’s website where they have now incorporated YouTube videos into their student outreach and Health Education Communication programme. His unit is very focussed on addressing what he calls the burden of disease for students or the Top 10 campus health concerns.

mature students such as part-time and adult entries which make up just about 15% of the student population. 9. Poor nutrition and obesity 10. Physical inactivity and fitness Dr. Singh believes that mental health is at the top of the list because of a number of factors which lead to the inability to cope with academic life.

They are:1. Mental and psychological wellbeing 2. Alcohol and substance abuse (Dr. Singh has spearheaded a policy for the campus which has over the past 6 to 7 years seen a reduction in abuse) 3. Unwanted pregnancies and irresponsible sexual behaviour (the HSU Clinic provides free family planning services including pap-smears) 4. Sexually Transmitted Infections. (Dr. Singh is pleased that in 10 years of testing over 2000 students that there have been only 3 cases of infection. Clearly the education efforts of the Sexual Health Clinic is effective) 5. Violence (person-on-person such as fights and which have been linked to drinking) 6. Sporting injuries 7. The Common Cold & Flu and vaccine-preventable diseases

He sees that in faculties such as Engineering and Medical Sciences where the matriculation is competitive, the workload and pressure to succeed can lead to substance abuse, depression and suicidal behaviours. In other faculties where entry requirements are less demanding, students are even less cognitively equipped for the pressure of academic life at the tertiary level; and their inability to cope is marked by similar symptoms such as over-eating, substance abuse, depression and neglect of workload. Dr. Singh explains that where young people come from very protective environments when all of their needs are taken care of and then they are suddenly thrust into an environment where they have to take care of themselves, prepare meals, manage time and self-motivate to study, that this adjustment period is complicated with ‘unusual

and unaccustomed freedom.’ In his experience, ‘These changes in young adults can lead to unhealthy behaviours - resulting in psychological and social illness.” 

8. Chronic Diseases are prevalent among the more STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

UWI in Society

The Flower Workshop

Finding Passion

in Flowers N

andini Maharaj acquired her degree in International Relations at the University of the West Indies in 2014. However, her interests during the last five years have been focused on floral design and floral scaping. At 24, Nandini is a proud florist enjoying her labour of love.

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Nandini Maharaj

Her introduction to this floricultural art began almost five years ago while on a part time job during her school vacation from UWI, St. Augustine. Later on, her first tangible venture was the launch of her online store via Facebook. Based on the success of this initiative, the next obvious step for her was the establishment of ‘The Flower Workshop’ on Pasea Main Road, Tunapuna. “I felt I had a calling for this; I feel happier doing what I love which is more or less being artistically creative with work in floral design while making my customers satisfied and happy,” she said. “It’s stressful and requires hard work. I thought getting a degree in UWI was hard work but when I started working and having my own business, I thought ‘wow’ I didn’t think it was this difficult and rewarding at the same time until I fully got into it.”

Nandini’s success has been shaped by the skills and experiences she acquired during her stay at UWI, and she feels confident to let other young graduates understand that obtaining a degree is not a “be all and end all” but can be an opportunity to explore other business possibilities that exist in the business world other than formal employment. “I have been asked how I have reconciled my formal training with my business interests. The answer is simple work hard and apply those special skills and innovations,” she remarked, adding, “In applying these attributes I have developed successful interfaces with my local and international suppliers.” Becoming an entrepreneur was not an easy journey but Nandini said it has been a very rewarding experience for her. “I have no hesitation to recommend to my contemporaries that it is possible for them to successfully develop their own business. It’s not only doing what you love and getting the hands-on experience in the business world but it also allows you to explore new boundaries, create your own niche and optimize the available opportunities,” the ambitious florist asserted. She added that big businesses once started off small before they found their niche. “Be an innovator and create new things and I would encourage anyone to do that.” The Flower Workshop seeks to redefine the local industry paradigm. The Flower Workshop specializes in a variety of fresh flower arrangements, flora-fruit arrangements, artificial floral arrangements, candy bouquets, fruit baskets, fruit arrangements and man bouquets. “Our leading product is fresh flower arrangements, which are designed to incorporate a twist on modern contemporary styles mixed with a traditional look,” she explains.

My philosophy is that you don’t have to depend on seasonal peaks if you are prepared to challenge your creativity and reinvent yourself 365 days a year. As most businesses, The Flower Workshop, experiences its business peaks and troughs which are seasonal. But Nandini said, “My philosophy is that you don’t have to depend on seasonal peaks if you are prepared to challenge your creativity and reinvent yourself 365 days a year.” During the off peak season, Nandini and her team promote the business through advertising on social media which was a large contributor to the initial business success. They also advertise by attending industry specific events. “My plans for the next five years will be predicated on a proper evaluation of the growth of the business and the feasibility of the options available to me while maintaining relevance to the prevailing market conditions,” she said. 

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

UWI in Society

Cantonese in Trinidad and Tobago by Stefan Poon Ying

antonese is a language that originated in the old city of Canton which is now modern day Guangzho. Guangzho is the largest city and the capital of the Guangdong Province of China (formerly known as Kwangtung) in South East China. The Cantonese language is the lingua franca of this province and it is most commonly called Yue in Chinese. It is also known by other names such as Guang Dong Wa, Guangtung Wa and Yuet Yue. According to Ethnologue, it belongs to the Chinese macrolanguage Zho.

This language is not only spoken in China but also by immigrants and descendants of immigrants in other countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama and Brunei. Cantonese is also the most common Chinese heritage language in the Americas, particularly the Caribbean and North America. Origins of Chinese Languages in Trinidad and Tobago So, how did this language become one of those spoken in Trinidad and Tobago? It began with the planters’ economic hardship created by the abolition of the slave trade, and continued with the emancipation of the formerly enslaved Africans in the 1830s. The owners of many West Indian plantations looked for a labour force from Asia, and through this many Chinese labourers were brought into the Caribbean. Equally, it was economic hardship that drove many Chinese to look to the Caribbean (including Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad) as an escape from the poverty that they were experiencing in their homeland, especially when they were attracted by tales of great prosperity (“the golden mountain”) to be had in the Americas. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Trevor M. Millett, in “The Chinese Community in Trinidad and Tobago: A Case Study of a Commercial Ethnic Minority” (in Ryan and Stewart 1994), notes that the majority of China’s arable land was under cultivation long before the 18th century. It was even recorded in the late 1700s that the remaining inferior farming lands were given to another group of people, the Hakka people, by the emperor. This left many farmers, without land, and no opportunity for work, especially in the province of Guangdong (then Kwangtung). It was from here that most of the Caribbean-bound Chinese came, seeking available land as a source of their income and livelihood.

Early 19th Century Millett further states that in the year 1802, the British government suggested that Trinidad recruit labour from China, and in that same year 23 Chinese were brought on a trial basis. There is no record of these individuals settling on the island, and neither is there any record of their productivity on the island or of their adaptation to it.

Although there are arguments regarding the number of labourers that arrived, the results of this trial run appeared to be relatively favourable, because later in 1806, nearly 147 Chinese arrived on the vessel Fortitude from Macau (NALIS’s website features a replica of the ship Fortitude made for the Chinese Bicentenary in 2006). Although Macau was a Portuguese colony at the time, it was near Guangdong and so probably heavily utilized as a main port. Historian E. L. Joseph records that the majority of the Chinese who arrived were male, because in those days Chinese women were expected to stay in their homeland and take care of their families. The establishment of Chinese families and communities was discouraged in the Caribbean; they were to remain separate from the Africans and be attached to the European proprietors. Unfortunately, too many obstacles were against these early Chinese newcomers in Trinidad. Firstly, they discovered after spending some time in their new home that there was no great wealth to be gained on the plantations, as rumoured, and many left them to begin their own businesses, using their savings as capital, when their indentureship contracts were over. Secondly, in a pluralistic society of Hispanophones, Francophones, Franco-Créolophones, Anglophones and speakers of numerous other languages, they experienced great difficulty in settling and functioning comfortably in the wider society. The combination of alienation and the difficulty in adapting, physically, financially, and socially, brought an end to the first wave of Chinese immigration. By the year 1814, many had returned to the homeland; only 30 or so remained and they became fishermen and butchers. Look Lai notes in The Chinese in the West Indies 18061995 that in 1838 Trinidad turned to Portuguese contract labour and Indian indentured labour. Yet, with the passing of the Sugar Duties Act in 1846, increased competition came from other territories like Brazil and Cuba, again exposing the plantations of Trinidad to difficulty. Mid-19th Century Simultaneously, China experienced a civil upheaval from the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars with Britain between 1839 and 1860, causing widespread carnage,

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHINESE FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES WAS DISCOURAGED IN THE CARIBBEAN; THEY WERE TO REMAIN SEPARATE FROM THE AFRICANS AND BE ATTACHED TO THE EUROPEAN PROPRIETORS.

poverty and overall national distress. These events encouraged the Chinese government to approve the emigration of its people to foreign lands and Trinidad to look again to Chinese labour. Between 1852 and 1866, over 1,800 Chinese immigrants arrived on a number of voyages. During these years female immigrants also began arriving. This was the beginning of what Millett calls the ‘family immigration’ of the Chinese. Although government-sponsored immigration by the Chinese had ceased by the year 1866, due to the repeated dissatisfaction, on the part of the proprietors, with the Chinese labourers’ productivity in the plantations, many Chinese continued to come through the invitation of friends and family. These immigrants were different from the former ones of the early 1800s. Our National Archives notes that although they received contracts regarding housing, food, etc., they were not given a promise of being able to return to their homeland. Therefore, many decided to settle and began families in Trinidad. The majority of these immigrants became shopkeepers and merchants, while others became their apprentices and oyster vendors. Chinese immigration has continued, as a voluntary choice of the Chinese, well into the 21st century. Most will recognise them as labourers, cooks and proprietors. STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Languages of the Chinese in Trinidad The Chinese immigrants brought more than one language to Trinidad & Tobago. Look Lai records that during the 1800s the majority of the immigrants were speakers of Cantonese, while others were Hakka speakers. Only later in the 1900s did other languages like Mandarin and Fujianese come into Trinidad, as people from outside Guangdong province took an interest in commerce and industry in Trinidad and Tobago. Today, in modern China, the majority of the population are multilingual, speakers of more than two languages, i.e., the official Mandarin as well as a regional language/ languages.

The associations that were established by the Chinese in those early years still exist today. According to a shopkeeper on Charlotte Street, they are used for recreation and other activities mainly on Sundays. These are: • the Kuo Mingtang of China • the Fui Toong On Association (Hakka), • the Toy Shan Association, • the Sun Wai Association, • the China Society, and • the Chung Shan Association. They are all located on Charlotte Street, Port-ofSpain. Here the Chinese have been able to relax and socialise, talking to each other in varying dialects of the

Cantonese and Hakka languages, the two languages that were spoken by the immigrants who established these associations. And of course, there is the well-known Chinese Association of Trinidad and Tobago in St Ann’s, where English is now mostly spoken. Many of the recent immigrants into Trinidad and Tobago, many not transient or sojourning in the country, continue to use Cantonese, Hakka and other languages in the associations. It is not clear if all the associations are open to Chinese immigrants, or if each association is open to immigrants of specific regions, or speakers of certain languages. Bilingual and even trilingual religious services are conducted in Cantonese, Mandarin and English at Grace Chapel (En Dian Tang/The Chinese Christian Fellowship), Long Circular Road, St. James. There is also a Chinese Baptist Church on the Eastern Main Road close to St Joseph. One can still see evidence of Cantonese in the signs posted above the many Chinese restaurants and groceries throughout Trinidad and Tobago, Chinese laundries, and in cemeteries. Also, one can also look around and find evidence of the continuing presence of the Mandarin language posted on signs of construction sites where there are Chinese labourers. There was also Chinese writing in the Port of Spain Gazette, and occasionally in today’s daily newspapers.

Grace Chapel (Chinese Christian Fellowship)

People of all backgrounds enjoy Chinese cuisine and some of the Chinese names of these dishes have been retained and kept in Trinidadian English and Trinidadian English Creole. Here are some examples. • Char siu ‘roasted pork’; • Chow fan ‘Cantonese fried rice’; • Chow mein ‘Stir-fried noodles’ (name derived from Taishanese); • Dim sum ‘Chinese brunch with tea’; • Lo mein Cantonese for ‘stirred noodles’; • Lychee, a tropical/sub-tropical fruit native to China; • Pakchoi ‘Chinese cabbage’ (commonly known as ‘bok choy’ in North America); • Wonton ‘pork wrapped in flour skin’.

The Confucius Institute at the Centre for Language Learning (CLL), at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine offers classes in Mandarin, taught by a native speaker through the assistance of the Chinese Embassy. Trinidad and Tobago celebrated the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Chinese on 12 October 2006, appreciating their contribution to the twin island republic, with a holiday, a commemorative stamp issue, the formation of the Trinidad and Tobago Chinese Steel Ensemble (TTCSE), situated on 34 McDonald Street, Woodbrook, and celebrations that were enjoyed by many of our citizens. Heritage languages must be preserved and promoted in Trinidad & Tobago. 

SO language code: [yue]

(Approximate) date of arrival: 1802

Main locations: Nationwide

Approximate number of users: Unknown

Current status (linguistic vitality/health): Work in progress: Stefan Poon Ying (the Spoken among communities of native Phonology of Cantonese and Hakka in speakers. Rarely spoken among outsiders. Trinidad and Tobago)

Other media and sources: NALIS Subject Selected vocabulary contributions to T&T language: Guide • Food: chow mein, pakchoi, pow, quar chee (‘dried watermelon seeds’), see yow (‘soy sauce’) (Cantonese) • Games: fantong or sanchee (fi chee, fun chee), whe-whe (cow coon ‘cobo’, and yack sam ‘fowl’) (probably Hakka); • Miscellaneous: hakwai – Trinidadian English/Creole word for someone born in Trinidad who is mixed with Chinese (Mandarin and others) Atteck, Helen and Philip. Stress of Weather: A collection of original source documents relating to a voyage from China to Trinidad, West Indies, in 1862, in conjunction with a family chronicle (St Catharines, Ontario: Wanata Enterprises, 2000);

Glasstone, Richard. The Story of Dai Ailian: Icon of Chinese Folk Dance and Pioneer of Chinese Ballet (Alton: Hampshire, Dance Books, 2007);

Johnson, Kim. Descendants of the Dragon: Look Lai, Walton. The Chinese in the West The Chinese in Trinidad 1806-2006 Indies 1806-1995: A Documentary History (Kingston: Ian Randle, 2006); (Kingston: UWI Press, 1998); Indentured Labor, Caribbean Sugar: Chinese and Indian Migrants to the British West Indies, 1838-1918 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004); Essays on the Chinese Diaspora in the Caribbean (2006); and several other publications

Millett, Trevor. The Chinese in Trinidad (Port-of-Spain: Inprint Caribbean, 1993);

Other writers and researchers include Anne Hilton (with a 10-part series in T&T Newsday in 2006), and Winston Gregory O’Young, also with a few articles in T&T Newsday (2009-2010) and other newspapers. There are also a number of HUMN 3099 Caribbean Studies Project on Chinese church, family life, art, sociological and socioeconomic studies, literature and Chinese associations.

See also works on Jamaica and Guyana and general works on the Caribbean such as Winston Hayden Chang, Jr’s The Legacy of the Hakka Shopkeepers of the West Indies (St. Catharine’s, Ontario: Wanata Enterprises, 2004).

Important works:

Rajkumar, Fiona. “Ethnicity and Economy: The Portuguese, Chinese and Syrian/ Lebanese in Trinidad 1945-1981” (PhD Thesis, UWI, St. Augustine, 2011);

STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

DID YOU KNOW? About one-fifth of the world speaks a Chinese language natively;

The Centre for Language Learning, UWI, St. Augustine recently celebrated the Chinese Spring Festival

All Chinese languages share one writing system; They are all tonal languages; Besides Mandarin, Cantonese also has a written standard; Cantonese and Mandarin are mutually unintelligible; that is to say, a speaker of one language will find it difficult to understand the other. Double Ten, a celebration on the 10th of October marking the Wuchang uprising, is celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago with special discounts and sales by most stores. The Wuchang uprising led to the declaration of independence in China in 1911. There was a Chinese National Party of Trinidad in 1917. Eugene Chen, born in San Fernando in 1878, a UKtrained lawyer, became the Foreign Minister of China in 1925; his father was Hakka, and ironically, it is said Chen himself never learnt to speak Chinese fluently.

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million

Collaborations

From left to right, External Examiner Professor Broverman, University of Toronto, Mr. Stokely Smart , UWI and Dr. Antoine.

THE DEGREE IN ACTUARIAL SCIENCE AT THE UWI Partnered with the Universities of Toronto and Waterloo

Did you know that there are just two actuarial firms in Trinidad and Tobago and that they also provide services to other Caribbean territories? The reason is that there are very few actuaries resident in the region. Actuaries are well compensated. Experienced Fellows in the United States according to a 2015 survey undertaken by Ezra Penland Actuarial Recruitment, have the potential to earn from US$150,000 to US$250,000 annually, and many actuaries earn more than that. Anecdotal information for the local market estimates similar compensation levels in the range of TT$1million per annum for experienced professionals in the field. So why pursuing

aren’t more Actuarial

students Science?

Perhaps it’s that traditional aversion to mathematics that make too many high school graduates shy of pursuing math-based degree programmes. So what is an Actuary and just what do they do? An actuary is “a business professional who analyses the financial consequences of risk. Actuaries use mathematics, statistics and financial theory to study uncertain future events, especially those of concern to insurance and pension programmes. They evaluate the likelihood of those events, design creative ways to reduce the likelihood (where possible) and decrease the impact of adverse events that actually do occur.” So says the Society of Actuaries (SOA), a primary accreditation agency for professionals in the field.

Actuaries are most frequently employed by insurance companies as this is central to how these companies calculate the cost of insurance. However many private corporations also rely on risk evaluation especially for major projects such as construction or oil and gas to help them make the best strategic decisions. Many make it to upper management positions because of the value their contribution adds to business success. Some actuaries work as consultants, working with many companies at once to help design business essentials such as pension and benefit plans; or they may consult for government agencies to manage their own essentials or support the overseeing of public companies to ensure compliance with regulatory laws.

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Photo: Giovanni Montanez

Some of what actuaries do on a daily basis are: • Determine how much an insurance company should charge for auto insurance, taking into account many factors such as the car that is being insured and details about the driver. • Develop life insurance products so that clients can enjoy a fully active life while guaranteeing that their children will be cared for in the event of an accident • Determine how much an insurance company should charge for homeowners insurance • Determine how much an insurance company should charge businesses for the many different types of insurance that businesses need, such as liability insurance and business continuity • Develop retirement plans, help manage client assets, liabilities and financial risk. Now that you’re convinced that you have a knack for numbers and a good grasp of human behaviour, what else do you need to pursue studies in actuarial science? According to The UWI Admissions, applicants to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics must obtain passes in at least two (2) A-Level or CAPE subjects, one of which must be Mathematics. A limited number of students, 40 to be exact, are selected each year.

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Professor Broverman with Executives of UWI’s Actuarial Science Club

After the three year degree programme, graduates qualify for entry into a range of jobs in the financial sector, not just entry into the world of actuary science. In fact, the road to becoming an Actuarial Scientist is paved with a series of examinations including the Associate examinations and then the Fellowship examinations under the bodies that govern them. The average minimum time frame for this is usually 10 years with persons progressing along the career ladder during each stage. Students in the programme must undertake courses in Actuarial Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Statistics, and Finance; with options to moving on to graduate work in Actuarial Science, Financial Engineering, Finance, and Statistics and even into Pure Mathematics. The university has an excellent work/study programme. Apart from a relationship with companies such as First Citizens Asset Management, KR Consulting, APEX Consulting, Guardian Life, Sagicor and Tatil, that all facilitate summer

internships, the semester-abroad programme with Canada facilitates a student exchange programme with the University of Toronto (UofT) and University of Waterloo (UOW) in Canada. In the exchange programme, students pay no more than they would pay in Trinidad but they are responsible for their room and board expenses. Here’s what you should know about The UWI B.Sc. programme in Actuarial Science The B.Sc. in Actuarial Science at St. Augustine (UWI) was first introduced in September 2011. Led by Head Actuary Mr. Stokeley Smart, the courses are structured along the UofT degree programme. Mentor and head of the UofT’s Actuarial Science programme, Professor Samuel Broverman recently visited The UWI, St. Augustine as an External Examiner, to strengthen ties between the two universities and to offer advice. Students from both universities are granted the option to study one semester in year 2 and credits from the other institution will be transferred towards the degree.

Mr. Stokeley Smart is a Risk Management Professional and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) specializing in Finance and Enterprise Risk Management. He is a Certified Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA), a Professional Risk Manager (PRM), and has an LL.B (Hons) from the University of London, specializing in corporate and commercial law. He also has an H.B.Sc from the UofT with a major in Actuarial Science, a major in Statistics and a minor in Mathematics. He has a background in Investment Banking, Actuarial consulting, Pension Regulation, Hedge fund management, Insurance modelling, and Risk Management. He has worked in Trinidad, London, USA and Canada, and provides risk management consulting services to the wider financial services sector. Mr. Smart has a vision for the programme and aims to see it certified as a Centre for Actuarial Excellence (CAE). Certain predefined criteria must be met in order for the Society of Actuaries to deem UWI’s programme a CAE. The CAE programme is designed to: Strengthen the position of the academic branch of the profession; enhance actuarial research and intellectual capital development; encourage the university to play an integral role in advancing actuarial

Photo: Shane Musai

UWI Actuarial Science Club Members at the CAA conference in 2015.

knowledge and; build connections between the profession and top-tier actuarial programmes and faculty. The UWI St. Augustine programme is one of the first in the world to incorporate the AXIS software into the curriculum, and recently UofT has followed suit. AXIS software is widely used by life insurance companies for actuarial modeling and it is expensive to obtain a license. Fortunately at UWI, the computer labs are equipped with this software. Become a top performing and top earning Actuarial Scientist Employment opportunities for actuaries are growing. It’s a great job for individuals who like working with challenges and problem solving. A career in actuarial science is often rewarded with great incentive

programmes such as merit increases or performance bonuses. Experience and stage level exams are also levers for promotions and growth opportunities. The Caribbean Actuarial Association refunds the SOA’s Probability and Financial Mathematics examination fees to the top 10 performers in years two and three enrolled in the Actuarial Science programme at UWI, St. Augustine. The fees are covered for exams taken during the year after which the students attain their top 10 ranking. However, the CAA will only provide reimbursement for one attempt per exam and is made regardless of the exam result. So discipline and commitment to a rigorous study programme is important. 

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Collaborations

Some

Bollywood

The story of Nana and Nani could make you laugh and cry—riding their bicycle and falling into a well, smoking and getting wet in the rain, and finally Nani’s tragic end and Nana’s impending execution. Generations of Indo-Trinidadians grew up with East Indian songs spilling from their stereos and Hindi films lighting up their living rooms. They also grew up with indigenous chutney music.

ore has it that the first Hindi film to be screened in Trinidad, Bala Joban, arrived way back in 1935. The exact year is perhaps not important. It was a long time ago. Some thirty years later, along came Sundar Popo. Backed by Indian instruments and reinterpreting Indian folk songs, singing partly in Hindi and mostly in English, he told stories that were deeply rooted in the rural Indo-Trinidadian experience. Nana drinking white rum And Nani drinking wine They called the music chutney, and like the condiment, it was spicy.

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Today chutney has, to some extent, gone mainstream. As the chutney pioneers handed over to succeeding generations, not only did annual competition increase its visibility, but its fusion with soca also broadened its appeal. Observers say that in the past decade or so, a new trend has manifested, with chutney artistes leaning ever more heavily on Bollywood for melody. A prime example is Ravi B’s wildly popular 2010 Chutney Soca Monarch winner “Ah Drinka”, its melody a faster version of Indian playback singer Kishore Kumar’s “O Sathi Re.” Without referring to the song or any artiste in particular, chutney artiste Raymond Ramnarine acknowledges that musicians all over the world are “stealing melodies,” which he says is fair as long as copyright is paid and limits respected. “But using an entire song—melody and music—

in your chutney?

to create a chutney shows total lack of creativity.” Ramnarine says promoters of lucrative chutney competitions are, to some extent, determining the output: one year Bollywood melodies are allowed, the next they’re not. “I sometimes wonder if the copyright organisation of India is aware of what is taking place with the music here in Trinidad,” he muses, “then what will be the circumstances?” But there is no stopping the tide of cross-cultural influence. For many Indo-Trinidadians, Bollywood remains an important connection to modern India. Rajesh Seenath, a teacher of classical Indian dance who is thoroughly scornful of westernized Bollywood dance moves, admitted to an anthropologist in 2008: “We are all film dancers at first.” In a world stitched together by internet cable, Bollywood is more available than ever. It continues to shape chutney, which in the first instance was a “revival and repackaging” of Indian folk songs. It is adding another layer to the Indian influence. The first generation of chutney singers was inspired by Indian folk songs, the next by Hindi film. “Ah Drinka’s” melody may not have been original, but its lyrics were of this place. Complain about me now that we married?

Gyul you know I was ah drinka You always know I was ah drinka India’s High Commissioner to Trinidad & Tobago, Gauri Shankar Gupta, revels in Indo-Trinidadians’ ability to “preserve their heritage in a very sophisticated way, despite the onslaught of time.” Upon taking up his post two-and-a-half years ago, Gupta was struck by the presence of India so far away from home. “I met some beautiful singers on Bollywood singing,” he said. “They sing so beautiful that you can’t believe it, but when you ask the meaning they say, ‘We don’t know the meaning.’ You see, it is in their blood, it is in their molecules.”

H.E. Gauri Shankar Gupta High Commissioner of India to Trinidad and Tobago

But we see this throughout the world.”

Is it necessary to speak Hindi fluently to appreciate it or use it in song? The answer is firmly no. “All of the Indian movies have English translation, so the average person has a good knowledge of what each song means,” says Ramnarine. “So we would know if a song is a sad song, a happy song, a love song, a funny song.” Yet he finds himself on occasion, digging deeper into the language and doing his part to understand.

It’s necessary to philosophize about all this musical borrowing; it goes so far back that the origin of everything gets muddled. “You see the human civilization has actually become a global village now,” remarks Gupta, noting that technology makes culture instantaneously available over vast distances. “The originality ends after a point, after we reinvent the same thing again and again. This is the way the human civilization has been going on: Over a time you forget the previous one, then the new generation comes and they reinvent the same thing.”

Recently he has flown in Bollywood singers and orchestras for his concerts and says he’s looking for something new and fresh from the collaborations. He also observes that Indian film music is hardly free of external influence itself. “Some of the pop Indian artistes take melodies or sometimes translate English (Western) songs and redo them with Hindi lyrics and Indian music,” he says via email. “LOL. Sometimes people say India is the land of copycats—stolen melodies.

The flow of musical influence from Trinidad to India is not as wide, but it has happened. The music of chutney pioneers Sundar Popo and Sonny Mann in particular found its way to the subcontinent, influencing Indian artistes. “I saw a video recently where in a movie they were singing ‘Lotay La’, Sonny Mann’s song,” says Ramnarine, “but I have never seen any actors or entertainers from India doing any chutney songs that have had stolen melodies. So it’s pretty interesting.”

It’s necessary to philosophize about all this musical borrowing; it goes so far back that the origin of everything gets muddled. “You see the human civilization has actually become a global village now.” Now add another stream of sound from another culture to the mix. “The soca music is basically to make you dance, to excite your body so that you are jumping, dancing,” says Gupta. “There’s rhythm, but there’s not much wordings in it. The wording’s basically repetitive, but rhythms are fantastic. Now that rhythm is injected with some Indian wordings in the chutney. So it is a great mélange and mix. This is what you call fusion. There are many films which have taken this kind of music. I would say that this Indo-Afro mélange (chutney soca) has gone back to India and has been taken partly by the Bollywood industry.” Gupta cites an ancient and “very famous” Sanskrit proverb which asserts that dividing ownership of anything into “yours” and “mine” signifies a low level of thinking. “Those who have elevated and higher and more enlightened thinking, for them, the whole aarti is one single family,” he concludes. In this context I can only guess at aarti’s precise definition, yet it seems quite clear: He has deemed it fine to borrow.  STAN JANUARY - APRIL 2016

Collaborations

Yao Ramesar

FEASTING ON FILM The UWI Film Programme’s Inaugural Festival

he showcase event of The UWI Film Programme’s 10th Anniversary celebrations is its inaugural World Festival of Emerging Cinema being hosted from the 19th to the 22nd of May 2016. The Festival’s mission is to help prepare future filmmakers as an internationally mobile workforce collaborating with their counterparts from around the world. It is hoped that the festival will provide a platform for the cultivation of multinational co-productions with the Caribbean, involving filmmakers operating in various specialized roles and spheres of production activity. The aim is to increasingly locate the region in general and The University’s Film Programme in particular, as centres of international film activity, culture and industry.

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The theme for this inaugural World Festival of Emerging Cinema is Feasting on Film. Emerging cinema in this instance is about the diverse visions of individual filmmakers from around the globe. The UWI’s World Festival of Emerging Cinema will screen some of the best works by contemporary filmmakers, representing all continents, regions and national cinemas, with selected directors in attendance and participating with their regional peers in the discussion and planning of international productions. The festival received 691 submissions from 76 countries including Albania, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, Congo, Croatia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Luxemburg, Morocco, Palestine, Philippines, Reunion Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine. Among the submissions were three animated features, fifty-four animated shorts, eighty documentary features, one hundred and twenty-four documentary shorts, forty narrative features and three hundred and ninety narrative shorts.

Caribbean Man No. 2 (1983)

“The Festival programmers . . . were immersed for months in a reservoir of phenomenal imagery . . . a virtual world tour of contemporary motion picture talent.” “Caribbean Man No. 2 (1983)” by Stanley Greaves, one of the Caribbean’s most accomplished artists has been selected as the festival’s poster. The image was deemed ideal, thematically and compositionally, the dynamic range of color impacting on any scale and the street vendor presenting wares, iconic in the Caribbean space -- in this case, presenting cinema wares from around the world. The frames of his lenses speak to the lens, the eye, the camera and the projector. Over the years, The UWI Film Programme has hosted myriad film festivals including the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, the Green Screen Film Festival, Africa Film Trinidad and Tobago Festival and the Africa World Documentary Film Festival. The Indian High Commission

also collaborates with the Programme which hosts its Indian Cine Club. Students of the Programme have won numerous awards for their films which have screened locally, regionally and internationally to consistent acclaim. Festival founder and Coordinator of The UWI Film Programme, Yao Ramesar promises “a veritable feast of cinema.” He says,” The Festival programmers composed mainly of alumni of the Programme were immersed for months in a reservoir of phenomenal imagery. The experience was a virtual world tour of contemporary motion picture talent. I know audiences will be sated at the end of this journey.”  Yao Ramesar Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities & Education

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Congratulations

Endeavour Executive Fellowship Recipient 2016

Ms. Danielle Watson Since 2007, the Australian government has made available the opportunity for international participants to spend time conducting research or engaging in professional development at a tertiary education provider in Australia. This internationalization effort is made possible through the offering of internationally competitive, merit-based Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships. This year marks the success of the second Executive fellowship recipient from Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Danielle Watson. Danielle, a current PhD Linguistics candidate and Instructor attached

to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in the Faculty of Humanities and Education, was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was selected to receive a fellowship. Not only was she the only recipient from Trinidad and Tobago, but the Caribbean region. No stranger to academic excellence, Danielle has been the recipient of a Canada-CARICOM Leadership Grant 2013, an ACT (Ageing, Communication and Technologies) Project Grant 2015 and other funding to facilitate visits to Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, UK, Puerto Rico and other international territories. She learnt

(Above): His Excellency High Commissioner Philby visiting Danielle in office at the English Language Foundation Unit on Campus

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of the Endeavour fellowship during her first week in Fiji as a CARPIMS (Caribbean-Pacific Mobility Scheme) PhD Mobility Scholar (2014), where she spent ten months developing the sociological dimension of her linguistics research. To ensure she didn’t miss the application deadline for Endeavour, the young scholar set herself a reminder alarm thirteen months ahead of the application closing date. The one month fellowship in Australia will allow her to work closely with Professor Margaret Lloyd, a leader in the field of Education attached to Queensland University of Technology. Her research project ‘Navigating Technophobia within the English Language Foundation Unit’ looks specifically at strategies for encouraging her departmental colleagues to ‘buy-in’ to maximizing technology use in the teaching of academic writing courses and to explore possible ways of restructuring course offerings to incorporate greater technology use. When asked why Australia, her baffled look suggests what can be interpreted as a visit of necessity. “Professor Lloyd basically wrote the script so who better to learn from than the master of the craft,” she explains. “I remember a few years ago when The UWI mandated all part time staff members to apply for positions online.

I witnessed colleagues panic, overcome with frustration and some even threw their hands in the air as if to confirm the impossibility of such a task. Some requested assistance to complete the ‘task’ while a few simply relied on others to navigate this new torture. This made me think about our much underutilized virtual learning platform and its effectiveness in the face of fear…fear of the unknown technology.” The research therefore is seen as one of urgency and necessity as adaptation is required to successfully navigate academic terrain. Danielle’s visit to Australia is motivated by a vision for the advancement of her unit and university. She envisions future collaborations in the form of visiting fellows, academic collaborations on scholarly literature about the intended programme advancements to be implemented after the visit, as well as comparative analysis of practices within developed and developing countries. There is also the possibility of education policy transfer discussions, something that has been initiated by Dr. Betty McDonald, the only listed fellowship recipient from Trinidad and Tobago, yet never fully explored. The fellowship period is intended to gain competence in three key areas deemed necessary to the advancement of the EFLU and her growth as an academic – curriculum revision, technology incorporation, and technophobia navigation.

These areas currently present the greatest challenges within the unit; challenges which have been overcome by academics at the Queensland University of Technology. Academics at the Queensland University of Technology have extensive knowledge in providing technological support for students; support specifically geared towards enhancing teaching and learning. They also have extensive knowledge and experience in teacher training and best practice pedagogies. An opportunity to engage in discussions with such individuals, as well as an opportunity to observe their practice in action is beyond the scope of knowledge to be derived from a text or a formal teacher training course. Danielle believes the fellowship will provide a unique learning opportunity, which will adequately prepare her to serve in a leadership capacity at UWI, and facilitate her pioneering of technological advancements in the teaching of university service courses.

Danielle’s visit to Australia is motivated by a vision for the advancement of her unit and university. She envisions future collaborations in the form of visiting fellows, academic collaborations on scholarly literature… as well as comparative analysis of practices within developed and developing countries.

At the Australia Day 2016 celebration held at the High Commissioner’s residence, Danielle was congratulated by many proud citizens including the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and the current Attorney General. She was later visited at the EFLU by the Australian High Commissioner, the Honourable John Philby, who further congratulated her on what he described as a great feat. She intends to commence her fellowship in late July 2016. 

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Upcoming Events on Campus CEREMONY/OBSERVANCE

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY PUBLIC LECTURE AND

INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CULTURAL EVENING: ‘GIRMIT: JOURNEYS AND

BLACK-TIE DINNER

TRANSFORMATIONS’

Date: Friday, April 08, 2016

Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Venue: University Inn and Conference Centre

Venue: Teaching and Learning Complex, Lecture Theatre A, UWI, St. Augustine

CHARITY/FUNDRAISERS ASCC WE CRUISIN’ COOLER FUNDRAISER CRUISE

PLAYS & PERFORMANCES

Date: Saturday, April 30, 2016

RASHOMON -DCFA ANNUAL STUDENT THEATRE

Venue: Peake Marine Ltd., Western Main Road,

PRODUCTION

Chaguaramas

Date: Friday April 01 to Sunday April 03, 2016 AND Friday, April 08, 2016 to Sunday, April 10, 2016

CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS

Venue: DCFA, Agostini St., St. Augustine

PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE Date: Wednesday, July 06, 2016 to Saturday, July 09, 2016

SEMINARS/LECTURES

Venue: TBD

ORAL EXMINATION BY LITERATURES IN ENGLISH PHD CANDIDATE, MS. NIVEDITA MISRA

BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON SPORT STUDIES

Date: Thursday, April 28, 2016

AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Venue: Main Administration Building, Conference Room,

Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2016 to Friday, May 20, 2016

UWI St. Augustine

Venue: UWI St. Augustine Campus LORD OF THE RINGS SEMINAR SERIES CAPS AND PCA MIND YOUR MADNESS LUNCHTIME

Date: Friday, April 01, 2016; Friday, April 08, 2016, Friday, April

WORKSHOP SERIES: SHAMEFUL & MISUNDERSTOOD:

15, 2016 AND April 22, 2016

SUCIDE

Venue: Room 103, Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS),

Date: Thursday, April 14, 2016

UWI St. Augustine

Venue: Centre for Language Learning (CLL), 1st Floor, Lecture Room

TEDU AND SALISES PANEL DISCUSSION: HOW TO DIVERSIFY T&T

DISTINGUISHED OPEN LECTURES

Date: Wednesday, April 06, 2016

PROFESSORIAL INAUGURAL LECTURE- PATRICK

Venue: Daaga Auditorium

AKPAKA: MICROBES WITHOUT BORDERS Date: Thursday, June 18, 2015 Venue: Amphitheatre A, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Eric Williams Medical Complex

FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK: http://sta.uwi.edu/news/ecalendar/