The University of the West Indies is pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Patricia Anderson, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mona to the position of Professor of Applied Sociology.
Patricia Anderson holds the Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from The University of the West Indies, Mona as well as the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Chicago. She has also received additional training at the University of Michigan, at the United Nations Training Workshop on Populations Projections, Budapest, Hungary and at the Graduate Supervisory Development Workshop sponsored by the School for Graduate Studies and Research, UWI.
Professor Anderson has achieved distinction as a scholar, teacher, administrator and policy analyst. Throughout her career, she has attempted to advance the application of sociology to the critical problems facing Caribbean society, particularly those related to poverty, unemployment, family life and urbanization. Her research has focused on changes in the Jamaican labour market, poverty, family patterns, gender differences and economic development in Jamaica and in the Caribbean. Her mid-1980s study of the impact of the structural adjustment policies on Jamaican society highlighted the issues of unemployment, underemployment and poverty. She was instrumental in the development of the Poverty Line, her findings providing the basis on which the government re-designed the Food Stamp programme and, for the first time, implemented a set of objective benefit criteria based on family size.
Professor Anderson has also looked at specific institutional sectors such as mass transport in Kingston, small-scale manufacturing and domestic service. Her l985 study, Minibus Ride, examined the minibus system, which at the time defied all regulation. The Report on the 2003 Housing Census of Denham Town and Midtown represented extensive original data collection and analysis, including demographic data, data on housing stock and quality, and indicators of consumer goods as proxies for wealth.
She has contributed to institutional research at the UWI, Mona Campus through a detailed examination of changes in the enrollment patterns between 1983 and 2003. This study documented the widening of the social base of the Mona Campus as more students from rural backgrounds and lower income families have entered the institution. Her current research examines changes in the role of fathers in Jamaican families. This study was supported by a Campus Research Fellowship and a research grant from the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
Dr. Anderson played a significant role in the design of the Human Resource Development Masters Programme in 1995, and in the recent introduction of a PhD programme in Organizational Behaviour. Her institution building impulse has also been evident in her contributions towards the founding of the Population and Development Computer Laboratory, the Applied Psychology Programme and the MSc in Demography.
The newly appointed Professor also has a record of sustained public service. She has made important contributions to key agencies and organizations through service as a Director of the Board of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the Statistical Institute or Jamaica and the National Family Planning Board.
Patricia Anderson has also accumulated extensive administrative and teaching experience in the University. Her service to the University earned her the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in 2000. Administratively, she has been Head of Department and has served as Co-Director of the Centre for Population, Community and Social Changes; Joint Coordinator of the UNFPA Demographic Training Programme; Coordinator, Masters Programme in Human Resource Development; Departmental Coordinator for Graduate Programmes; Campus Coordinator, World Bank/Netherlands-funded Social Policy Analysis Project; and Deputy Head, Institute of Social and Economic Research. In addition, she has provided consultancy services to a range of local, regional and international agencies including the UNDP, World Bank, UNICEF, ILO, PAHO, CARICOM and UNIFEM, and undertaken visiting scholar appointments at the University of Miami, Georgetown University and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
She is also extensively engaged with the national and international communities beyond the University and is a regular participant in various international conferences and scholarly societies. She is a member of the Caribbean Studies Association, the American Sociological Association, Population Association of America and the Jamaica Association for Training and Development. In addition, she has served as a Member of the Advisory Committee for the IDB/ECLAC project on Living Standards.
Dr. Anderson has produced a body of work that covers important sociological and demographic topics. She is the author of “Minibus Ride: A Journey Through the Informal Sector of Kingston’s Mass Transport System”, and several chapters in a range of books/publications. Her articles have appeared in a number of journals including Labour, Capital and Society and Social and Economic Studies as well as in prestigious edited collections such as The Urban Caribbean: Transition to the New Global Economy and Caribbean Families: Diversity Among Ethnic Groups.
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