At the annual business meeting of University Council held on April 25, 2008 at the institution’s Mona Campus in Jamaica, the supreme governing body approved the appointment of several senior managers. Firstly, Professor Clement Sankat, former Pro Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies, who has been acting as Principal of the St Augustine Campus for the past six months, was confirmed in the position. He succeeds Professor Bridget Brereton who in turn took over as Principal following the reassignment of Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Planning and Development. Professor Ronald Young, currently Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at Mona, will assume the post of Pro Vice-Chancellor for Graduate Studies.

The newly established Open Campus, which incorporates the former outreach arms of the University, namely, the School of Continuing Studies, the Distance Education Centre and the Tertiary Level Institutions Unit, will be headed by Principal, Pro Vice-Chancellor Hazel Simmons-McDonald. Professor Simmons McDonald was formerly Dean of the Faulty of Humanities and Education at the Cave Hill Campus and has been working assiduously since her appointment as Pro Vice-Chancellor for ‘Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education’ in succession to Professor Lawrence Carrington, to bring the Open Campus to reality. She will be assisted in the leadership of this new endeavour by Dr Vivienne Roberts in the position of Deputy Principal. Dr Roberts, who was for many years a Senior Programme officer in the former Tertiary
Level Institutions Unit, had played a pivotal role in the successful networking of the Caribbean tertiary education sector through the TLIU. Council also approved the appointment of Ms Simone Augier as Registrar of the Open Campus. She is an experienced administrator and has been credited with playing a lead role in the planning, implementation and coordination of the Associate Degree programmes offered by the School of Continuing Studies as well as with the series of Country Conferences conducted by the School.

The recommendations of the Vice Chancellor to appoint Deputy Principals for the three sister campuses were also approved. At Cave Hill, Professor Eudine Barriteau, noted scholar of Gender Studies, received the nod as Deputy Principal, succeeding Professor Leo Moseley when he retires at the end of the academic year. For the Mona Campus, Council approved the recommendation that Mr Joseph Pereira be re-appointed to the post of Deputy Principal. The St Augustine Campus will see a change in leadership in this position with the appointment of Professor Rhoda Reddock in succession to Professor Gurmohan Kochhar. Professor Reddock is head of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at St Augustine and is well known for her activism in the Women’s Movement in the Caribbean and beyond.

Council further accepted the recommendation that the University’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr Winston Bayley, be offered a one-year post-retirement extension of his appointment as University Bursar until a satisfactory candidate can be identified to succeed him in this key position.  Finally, the University Council agreed to appoint Miss Cecile Clayton, currently Senior Assistant Registrar in the Office of Administration, to the revived position of Deputy University Registrar. Miss Clayton will assist the University Registrar in ensuring the maintenance of excellent standards in the preparation and servicing of University meetings and in making arrangements for formal University functions, including convocations and graduation ceremonies.