“The University of the West Indies: Bridging the Gap with the Community” is the theme of a three day conference being organised by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Mona Campus from September 11 – 14.
The conference aims to bring the UWI and the communities with which it has worked to assess and discuss this work. It will examine the history, methods and consequences of UWI’s community work with a view to strengthening it, as well as to develop scholarship. The discussion will help the UWI to take stock of its community involvement, streamline, document and analyse these for academic purposes as well as strengthen the knowledge, efficiency and delivery of this involvement.
Other objectives are to examine the work of other universities locally, regionally and internationally in this field, to review the literature on community engagement and service learning as part of the process of developing and strengthening the academic/intellectual side of community work and volunteerism.
The official opening of the conference takes place on Thursday, September 11 at 6.00 p.m. at the Undercroft of the Senate Building at Mona. Keynote speaker will be Professor the Hon. Gerald Lalor, Director General of the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS), which was responsible for the community health initiative which resulted in the cleaning up of serious lead pollution in Kintyre in St. Andrew. The conference continues on Friday, September 12, at the Social Sciences Lecture Theatre, beginning with a plenary session at 9.00 a.m. Plenary speaker will be Professor Theodore Alter, Director of Cooperative Extension and Associate Vice President for Outreach at Pennsylvania State University in the United States of America. The session will be chaired by Professor Barry Chevannes, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences.