Message from The Vice Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith “I was and still am that same ship which carried me to the new shore, the same vessel containing all the memories and dreams of the child in the brick house with the toy tea set. I am the shore I left behind as well as the home I return to every evening.” – Lusia A. Igloria Whether or not any Guyanese in the Diaspora grew up in brick houses or had toy tea sets, the essence of the reflections above by distinguished Filipina-American poet and scholar Luisa Aguilar Igloria is as pertinent to the realities of the Guyanese Diaspora as it is to the Filipino Diaspora, in which context it was made. Guyanese who left the shore behind, for whatever reason, generally are not just caught in the shore-home whirlpool, but often are passionate about aiding people and practices back home. Yet, quite often the passion is manifested more in platitudes, with dreaming, and less in practices, with doing. The gap between dreaming and doing often derives from insufficient institutional facilitation of the shore-home engagement. This is a Guyana reality, as it is one in many other places. This conference—and the Centre to be established—reflect our University’s willingness to help address the shore-home engagement gap, to help enable our nation to move beyond Dreaming Diaspora Engagement to Doing Diaspora Engagement, and to do so mindful of our racial, political, demographic, and socio-economic realities at home and abroad. Welcome, then, to DEC 2017—this historic Dreaming and Doing Engagement Experience! I encourage you to make full use of the opportunities offered this week. This is a week of many moving parts—academic and policy conversations, community give backs, a Know Guyana Day, the second meeting of our Education Resource Ambassadors, my investiture—the first time a UG Vice Chancellor will be officially installed as Chief Executive and Chief Academic Officer—and a cultural extravaganza. Needless to say, DEC 2017 would not be a reality had it not been for the incredible work of the planning committee, the business and governmental cosponsors, university staff, and volunteers. I extend thanks to one and all! 2017 DIASPORA ENGAGEMENT CONFERENCE 1 Diaspora Engagement Conference Team Professor Ivelaw Griffith Dr Fitzgerald Yaw Mr Donald (Danny) Ainsworth Mr Chetwynd Bowling Principal and Vice-Chancellor Director, Office of Strategic Assistant Director Director, Slingshot Funding Inc. The University of Guyana Initiatives, Vice-Chancellery National Community Guyana/Russia Guyana The University of Guyana Development Council (NCDC) Guyana Guyana Mr Michael E. Brotherson Ms Christina Bynoe Professor Emeritus Vibert Ms Sophia Darlington Head of Diaspora & Planning Officer Cambridge Foreign Service Officer (FSO) Principal Foreign Service Officer I Office of Strategic Initiatives School of Media Arts and Diaspora Unit of the Ministry of Diaspora Unit of the Ministry of Vice-Chancellery Studies Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs The University of Guyana Ohio University Guyana Guyana Guyana Ohio, USA Mr Wayne Forde Ms Shoba Gaymes Mrs Gwyneth George Mr Alim Hosein Business Development General Sales and University Librarian Senior Lecturer Consultant & Credit Analyst Management The University of Guyana Department of Language and Tampa, Florida, USA Joel Clarke & Son Jewelry Cultural Studies Mississippi, USA Faculty of Education and Humanities The University of Guyana Guyana 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA Mr Andrew Kendall Mr Daren Khan Dr Lear Matthews Dr Indianna Minto-Coy Special Assistant, Planning Officer Professor Senior Research Fellow Office of Strategic Initiatives, Office of Strategic Initiatives Department of Community & Mona School of Business Vice Chancellery, Vice-Chancellery Human Services and Management The University of Guyana The University of Guyana State University of New York, USA University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica Ms Danniebelle Mohabir Dr Wazir Mohamed Dr Keith Nurse Ms Paulette Paul Senior Assistant Librarian Professor Senior Fellow Public Relations Officer Main Library Indiana University East, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social Public Relations Division The University of Guyana Indiana, USA and Economic Studies The University of Guyana & the World Trade Organisation Guyana Chair University of the West Indies Barbados Ms Tamika Profitt Mr. Komal Singh Administrator Managing Director Office of Strategic Initiatives Gaico Construction and Vice-Chancellery General Services Inc. Guyana The University of Guyana Ms Melanie Smith Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar Strategic Consultant Director, Resource Management Haynes Inc. Toronto, Canada and Training Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, Guyana Mr Keith Waithe Mr Gerald Willabus Award Winning Flautist Interim Head of Resourcing Leader of the Macusi Players Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Ms Gillian Williams United Kingdom Trust Consultant London, United Kingdom Felix-Williams Consulting Toronto, ON, Canada 2017 DIASPORA ENGAGEMENT CONFERENCE 3 ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE millennium saw the formation of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES), born of the merger of the The University of Guyana is Guyana’s sole national higher Geography Department and the Environmental Studies Unit. education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the Also created were the Biodiversity Centre, which is pertinent to following Mission: “To discover, generate, disseminate, and the activities pursued by SEES, the Faculty of Natural Sciences, apply knowledge of the highest standard for the service of the and the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, and a Centre for community, the nation, and of all mankind within an atmosphere Information Technology (CIT), which serves the entire university. of academic freedom that allows for free and critical enquiry.” The University of Guyana expanded in 2000 with the addition It began its operations in October of the same year at Queens of the Tain Campus in Berbice. In October 2016, as part of a College, the nation’s premier secondary school, before moving broader reorganisation, which is discussed below, SEES was to the Turkeyen Campus in 1970. At first, programmes were transformed into the Faculty of Earth and Environmental confined to the Arts, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. A Studies, with a Dean, rather than a Director, as academic and Faculty of Education was created in 1967, and this was followed administrative head of the unit. by the Faculty of Technology in 1969, the Institute for Distance The University of Guyana now offers more than 60 under- and Continuing Education (IDCE), in 1975, the Faculty of graduate and graduate (post-graduate) programmes, including Agriculture in 1977, and the Faculty of Health Sciences in 1981, in Natural Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Studies, the latter as an outgrowth of Natural Sciences. Forestry, Urban Planning and Management, Tourism Studies, A Forestry Unit was established in 1987 and it subsequently Education, Creative Arts, Economics, Law, Medicine, Optometry became part of the Faculty of Agriculture, and in 2003 the and Nursing. The 2017-2018 academic year will witness the Faculties of Arts and Education merged to become the School introduction of several new undergraduate and graduate of Education and Humanities. Additionally, the turn of the programs, including ones in Psychology, Agro-technology 4 THE UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA “To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the highest standard for the service of the community, the nation, and of all mankind within an atmosphere of academic freedom that allows for free and critical enquiry.” and Business, Entrepreneurship, Supply Chain Management, reorganisation plan aims to create greater levels of efficiency and Visual Communications and Social Work. Several online and effectiveness and set the stage for innovation in academic programmes are available, as are extra-mural classes through and non-academic areas. The changes, which became effective the IDCE at four locations--in the city of Georgetown and the on October 1, 2016, entail having Dr Michael Scott, until recently towns of Anna Regina, Essequibo, Region 2; Linden, Upper Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, become Deputy Vice- Demerara, Region 10; and New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region 6. Chancellor (DVC) of Academic Engagement. In addition to the The institution has a 2017 enrollment of just over 8,600 students Faculties within his portfolio, Dr Scott has oversight over several from all 10 administrative regions and from 33 countries, and it new units. Two of them—a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and has graduated more than 22,000 students, who have gone on Learning and a School of Graduate Studies and Research—are to successful careers locally, regionally and internationally in all being developed. The third unit is the Office of Undergraduate professional fields of endeavor. The University also is a major Research, which is headed by mathematician Dr. Troy Thomas. contributor to the public and private sectors and to the national The reorganisation also established the position of University economy. Legal Counsel. The University of Guyana offers certificate, diploma, associate The former DVC of Academics, Dr Barbara Reynolds, became degree, undergraduate degree, graduate (post-graduate) degree, DVC for Planning and International Engagement, a new entity and professional degree programs. These programmes are intended to streamline the