On the occasion of her 90th birthday, the Social Welfare Training Centre wishes to honour the indelible contribution Mrs. Sybil Francis has made to the inception and development of the Centre by naming the large refurbished classroom The Sybil Francis Seminar Room.
On Thursday June 17th at 11.00 a.m., the Vice-Chancellor Professor the Hon. Rex Nettleford will speak at the naming ceremony for the seminar room at the Social Welfare Training Centre, opposite the University Health Centre on Gibraltar Way. Mrs. Francis will be in attendance and Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Lawrence Carrington will chair the ceremony.
Mrs. Sybil Francis was the first Staff Tutor at the Social Welfare Training Centre inaugurating its programmes for students in 1963 with the pioneering Four Month Course in the Principles and Practice of Social Work. Many senior welfare officers and social workers in the Caribbean region commenced their professional training on the Four Month Course, and the development of Social Work as a profession owes much to Mrs. Francis’ contribution to high quality training in the early years of the Centre.
Mrs. Francis has received numerous regional and international awards in recognition of her contribution to the teaching and practice of Social Work. It is fitting that present and future generations of students should be equally aware of her role in their professional development when they take their first steps in training in the seminar room that will bear her name. For further information please contact Carol Clarke or Dorothy Miles at 927-2478, 935-8482 or ext. 2482.