Three members of staff at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus have been named as recipients of the 2014 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence. They are Professor Marvin Reid, Director of the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, and Professor Simon Mitchell, Department of Geography and Geology, who will both be recognized for Outstanding Research Accomplishments; and Professor Hopeton Dunn, Director of the Caribbean Institute of Media & Communications (CARIMAC), whose award is for contributions to public service. 
 
Two other awards will be made to the Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, St Augustine , which is the first recipient of the newly implemented 'Vice-chancellor's Departmental Award for Excellence and to Professor Jonas Addae, Professor of Physiology, Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, St. Augustine, who receives his award in the category of Teaching.
 
The awards will be presented at a ceremony scheduled to take place on Monday, October 27th at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference Centre beginning at 6:00 p.m.The establishment in 1993 of an annual Vice-Chancellor’s Award to recognise high achievement by academic as well as senior administrative staff, was an initiative of former Vice-Chancellor, Sir Alister McIntyre. As many as five awards may be given in any one year in one or other of the following areas: teaching, administration and research accomplishments, service to the University community, contributions to public service, and all-round excellence in a combination of two or more of the four core areas. Each award is valued at US$5,000.
 
Professor Marvin Reid has served as Director of the TMRU since April 2013. Prior to that, he was Head of the Sickle Cell Unit in the Tropical Medicine Research Institute.  Over the years, his research has focused on Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. More recently, he has investigated how adaptive responses increase susceptibility to cardiovascular and renal diseases, as well as complications of Sickle Cell disease. He has worked to promote clinical trials research and research in clinical epidemiology.
 
As a Metabolist and clinical nutritionist, Professor Reid has conducted research to investigate how the body responds to illness and ageing. For example, he and colleagues at the TMRI worked with children with severe acute malnutrition to understand how children with the disorder utilize food.  The information obtained from this body of work is being used to facilitate the creation of better treatment strategies for the condition.
 
Professor Simon Mitchell has developed a remarkable research career in Geological sciences at The UWI, Mona. His research has concentrated on understanding the geology of Jamaica, and placing this within the context of the geology of the Caribbean-Central American region, and using this knowledge to promote geological research and economic development around the region.
 
His work on the stratigraphy of Jamaica has rewritten the understanding of the geology of the island. This work has included the production of a series of new geological maps and a revision of the stratigraphic successions in many parts of Jamaica, allowing this to be correlated with successions elsewhere in the world. Integration of this work with work on the geochemistry of the volcanic and metamorphic rocks to establish where and under what conditions these rocks formed has resulted in the development of a new model for the evolution of Jamaica, with different parts of the island originated in different areas and being joined together some 50 to 70 million years ago as the Caribbean Plate collided with the North American Plate.  His mapping and stratigraphic work has  not only been of academic importance but has contributed to applied research areas such as the development of Highway 2000, understanding the sustainability  of river sand mining, oil exploration, and the boundaries of the Cockpit Country.Professor Hopeton Dunn has maintained an outstanding record of excellence in public service at the local, regional and international levels. The impact of his public service has been mainly felt in the areas of media and communications policy making, Telecommunications and ICT Reforms, institution building and capacity development in education and leadership in the cultural and creative industries.
 
As Chairman of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica, he has been a tireless advocate for higher standards in media, and has led in implementing a range of institutional and public policy reforms, including tougher new broadcasting regulations for music output, and new rules for observance of the Children’s Code for Programming. In his capacity of Co-Chair for the National Steering Committee for Digital Switchover, Professor Dunn plays a leading role in fashioning the spectrum rules and transmission policies that will govern the digital, broadcasting and cable-delivered media sector in Jamaica.
 
Hopeton Dunn has also served as Secretary General of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Media Technology Institute.  At The UWI, he is Member of the Finance & General Purposes Committee as the Vice Chancellor’s Nominee, Chairman Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on UWI’s relationship with Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network and Caribnet and Chair of the UWI Mona Principal’s Advisory Committee on New Academic Initiatives in Cultural and Creative Industries.
 
The Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, St Augustine is the first recipient of the newly implemented 'Vice-chancellor's Departmental Award for Excellence' (implemented in 2012/2013).  This award is made entirely on the basis of quality principles.  Departments must demonstrate or provide evidence that their quality assurance performance meet seven prescribed criteria of leadership, well developed and well managed processes and procedures, data driven to affect decision-making, driven by high standards, student-and stakeholder-centred, innovative, and results oriented.
 
The final award is to Professor Jonas Addae, Professor of Physiology, Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, St. Augustine, who receives his award in the category of Teaching.