Express ( Trinidad and Tobago )
29 June 2020 ( Page 16 )
8 promoted to professor at UWI
THE University of the West Indies has appointed eight new professors in the areas of tourism, economics, accounting, social psychology, management, political and social psychology, agriculture, marine biology, cultural studies, plant pathology and petroleum engineering.
The academics were promoted from senior lecturers to professor, the highest rank at the regional university, The UWI stated in a media release last week.
'These promotions follow a review of their records of teaching, research, public service and other professional activities by internal and external assessors,' The UWI said.
The appointments were subsequently approved at a meeting of the University Finance and General Purposes Committee (UFGPC).
Effective as of February 2020, Dr Philmore Alleyne of Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, was promoted to Professor of Accounting, while Dr Troy Lorde, also at Cave Hill, was promoted to Professor of the Economics of Tourism, while at the St Augustine Campus, Dr Raffie Hosein was promoted to Professor of Petroleum Engineering.
Distinguished achievement
As head of The UWI St Augustine's Department of Chemical Engineering, coordinator of MSc Reservoir Engineering programme funded by BPTT and a chartered petroleum engineer, Professor Hosein is 'a recognised professional and educator in his field', The UWI said.
A large percentage of Hosein's research work focuses on oil and gas extraction in Trinidad and Tobago. More recently, his research has diversified to novel methods for improving heavy oil recovery and new research on radio frequency heating of oil sands combined with solvent injections.
'The latter, according to one assessor, is an area with '...potential for developing innovative and new technology',' the university said of Hosein's work. In 2018, Hosein was awarded the Regional Distinguished Achievement Award for distinction in classroom teaching and research contributions to the petroleum engineering profession by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
Chartered accountant
Alleyne is a chartered accountant and lectures in accounting at The UWI, whose research interests are notably wide and include accounting and auditing, taxation, business, professional ethics and whistle-blowing among public accountants.
The UWI said Alleyne's work 'provides welcomed additions to literature, particularly in the context of developing and emerging countries'.
In 2018, Alleyne presented on 'Corporate Governance and Corruption' to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament in Barbados and currently serves as a member of the editorial boards for
The Accounting Educator's Journal, the Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting (Emerald Journal), and the Inter-American Journal of Psychology.
Alleyne received the Cave Hill Campus Principal's Award for Excellence for Research and Publications in 2013 and in 2018, also won the Emerald Literati Award from Emerald Publishing, and the Cave Hill Campus Award for the Most Internationally Successful Research.
Department of Economics
Professor Troy Lorde started his career at The UWI, Cave Hill, as a teaching assistant in 1998, going on to join the campus in 2004 and working his way up to head of the Department of Economics, a position he has held since 2018. Lorde's primary research interests include Tourism Economics Trade and Growth and Development.
'His research is both ground-breaking and practical. One assessor noted that he leads the research in tourism demand modelling and forecasting,' The UWI stated.
A well-published researcher, Lorde has 43 peer-reviewed publications in top tier journals including Tourism Management, Energy Economics and the Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Economics.
His work is also considered valuable to policy-makers and the public alike, The UWI said.
May 2020 appointments
Effective May 2020, Dr Christopher Charles, at Mona Campus, Jamaica, was promoted to Professor of Political Social Psychology.
At Cave Hill, Dr. Dwayne Devonish was promoted to Professor of Management and Organisational Behaviour, while Dr Aaron Kamugisha was promoted to Professor
of Caribbean and African Thought.
At St Augustine, Dr Judith Gobin was promoted to Professor of Marine Biology, while Dr Duraisamy Saravankumar was promoted to Professor of Plant Pathology.
Marine biology expert
The public is likely familiar with the work of Dr Gobin, an internationally-recognised marine biology expert.
Currently head of the Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology at The UWI, St Augustine, her marine research career spans more than 38 years, during which she made significant contributions to the knowledge of marine biodiversity in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. Gobin's work on almost 300 new marine scientific species and records for the Caribbean have been published and, in 2018, she launched with NIHERST a book and five-part DVD series, Deep Sea Wonders, featuring footage from an expedition by the E/V Nautilus.
The UWI noted one external assessor's comment that Gobin's 'scientific excellence and her international connections make her have a huge global reach and influence. As such, she is an incredible ambassador for The UWI and for Trinidad and Tobago'.
High level
Saravanakumar was recognised for work on the molecular plant pathogen inter-action seeking for biological agents able to enhance the host plant resistance.
'The high level of his contribution in many scientific events must be appreciated and recognised by the senior academic community,' The UWI said, noting his 15 years of experience in developing microbial-based novel formulations for the management of plant health, including post-harvest diseases.
Saravanakumar is currently engaged in research on the development of molecular diagnostics of tropical plant pathogens and bio-formulations for the sustainable management of plant diseases, and served as an international consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to develop the certification protocol for the production of disease-free planting materials in ginger in Jamaica.
He has also received externally- funded research grants to the value of TT$3,100,000 as principal investigator and key expert from funding agencies such as GEFFAO, European Union, UWI-TT RDI Fund, Campus Research and Publication Fund and UNU-BIOLAC - United Nations University.