President's Scholars 2006
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Inside this edition Introducing the Fourth President of The College of The Bahamas ........ 2 Two New Industrial Agreements Signed . 5 From the School of English Studies Free Speech Project .............. 17 From the School of Social Sciences Scholars Weigh in on Censorship .... 20 Security Services Keeping COB Campuses Safe....... 23 Jazz Under the Stars ............. 25 Staff Spotlight .................. 29 COB/Texaco Partnership: Texaco Youth Spokesperson........ 33 President’s Scholars 2006 Delia Ferguson Neucasha Greene Christa Lowe Amina Sarr Introducing the Fourth President of The College of The Bahamas Photograph copyright 2006 P. Neko Meicholas Photograph copyright 2006 P. Dominic Stubbs Aqueela Thompson The College of The Bahamas :: 1 :: The Snapper . August 2006 Highlights Jan.-Aug. 2006 Introducing the Fourth President of The College of The Bahamas The College of The Bahamas has the birth of the University of begun a new and exciting page in its 32- The Bahamas.” year history. After weeks of speculation The Minister thanked and rumour, the Minister of Education, Dr Rhonda Chipman-Johnson, Science and Technology, the Honourable Acting President, for her “steady Alfred Sears, on Sunday, 21st May, leadership” during the past announced the name of the institution’s academic year and Mr Wilson Neko Meicholas Photograph copyright 2006 P. fourth President to culminate what added that she had accepted Chairman of the College Council, the position of Executive Beyond the boundaries of COB she acted Franklyn Wilson, termed, “a momentous Vice-President and Chief as Reading Consultant in Workshops week for The College.” Operating Officer for the coming year. in Literacy Pedagogy and coordinated a In a packed Executive Boardroom in The new President took up her volunteer literacy programme for women the COB’s Michael H. Eldon Complex, appointment on July 1st, 2006 on a prisoners at Fox Hill. Minister Sears told the assembled three-year contract and spent her first In her native Canada she was Principal media and college personnel that he was weeks in making the acquaintance of and (President) of Bishops ‘University in pleased to announce that the Council of receiving briefs from internal and external Quebec for nine years, 1995 - 2004. At the The College had selected Janyne Hodder stakeholders. time of her appointment Bishops was a to head the institution and that the Our new president is a bilingual liberal arts undergraduate institution that Cabinet had accepted the Council’s Canadian with strong ties to The Bahamas had not experienced growth in enrollment selection. Minister Sears also spoke of and a rich background in higher education. for many years and was struggling to raise Mrs Hodder’s rich nexus to The Bahamas In the early 1970s she voyaged to funds. Mrs Hodder worked creatively with and The College, having lived here for 12 The Bahamas to teach at Queen’s College staff, union, policymakers, the private sector years in the 1970s and 80s, and lectured at and later accepted a post as a lecturer at and the local community to improve the COB for most of those years. San Salvador Teacher’s College. From organizational structure of the University Over the years Mrs Hodder has there it was a natural step to become one and to heighten its profile locally and maintained close links with The Bahamas of the original faculty at the newly formed internationally. She was so successful that and in an email sent after she heard of the College of The Bahamas when it opened enrollment blossomed and the university appointment, she thanked the Council its doors in 1975. She later became the raised $18 million in scholarship funds. and pledged her commitment to the Head of the Reading Department in the More recently she has been Vice-Principal faculty, staff and students of the institution Teacher Education Division. (Inter-Institutional Relations) and interim “which shaped my career and nurtured me She served on many committees Vice-Principal (Development and Alumni in the cause which has inspired my entire while lecturing at the College, including Relations). professional life.” Mrs Hodder ended the committee preparing the core Prior to taking up her position her email by inviting “all Bahamians to curriculum for the new institution, and at Bishop’s University, she worked at be our partners as we build on what The was coordinator of COB’s Literacy Clinic Quebec’s Ministry of Education, rising College has already done to make possible for adolescents at risk of dropping out. The College of The Bahamas :: 2 :: The Snapper . August 2006 to the position of Assistant Deputy She made it clear that she considered enhance the quality of their lives. My goal Minister in Services to the English necessary and was inviting partnerships is to seek support from all Bahamians in the Speaking Community. She has also in every sector and constructive criticism. service of this ideal and to make dreams come served as an educational consultant to She emphasized that The College must true. Canadian universities and to the Canadian play a role in creating national prosperity The College will need support to meet this International Development Agency on and improve the quality of life for all who goal. It will need champions and critics alike- the development of education systems call The Bahamas home. Following is an to make sure we set the right course and to help in countries such as Kosovo and South extract from Mrs Hodder’s remarks: us through any treacherous shoals we find on Africa. The College of The Bahamas is greater our journey. We will also need strong financial Mrs Hodder is ideally suited to develop than any of us. Quality education is one of the support and look forward to counting on the and strengthen the three fundamental essentials of nation building. Standing as it generosity of Bahamians and others who care pillars -Teaching, Research and Service - does at the apex of the education system of The about this country. We will need strong ideas, that underpin the future of the University Bahamas, The College is one of the bulwarks varied expertise and a good dose of creativity, of The Bahamas. She has demonstrated of the national enterprise. The institution risk-taking and innovation. Most of all, we a clear ability to work in harmony with must be respected and supported as such. will need faith, hope and charity coming to all stakeholders of an institution in We must all learn to say “Our College” and us from all quarters. I have no doubt we will creating and sustaining an environment “Our University”, and preserve, protect and find these in our work and partnership with of scholarship; she has shown a sharp promote COB as one of the nation’s dearest the Bahamian people. understanding of how to work effectively possessions. Its continuing development must Right now, the College community is with governments to promote favourable be the subject of collective focus and effort. engaged in refining the Strategic Plan for educational policy; and she has exhibited One of the first goals I have set for the University. We will be soliciting input an understanding of the important role my tenure is to demonstrate clearly that from as many sources as possible to ensure universities play in shaping the local and every single person, every family, every life that the institution, in its newest form, is national community. In addition, she has a throughout the country should feel the positive fully capable of responding fully to the needs proven track record of being able to raise impact of The College of The Bahamas. of the community. It is my intention to build money. Everything that we do, every programme strong communication within The College Let us respond positively to her we develop should reflect the fact that this community and between The College and invitation, sent in an email after she learnt is an island nation with its people residing the wider community. I will strive to keep of her appointment, to be partners as in widely scattered communities. Every the lines of communication open, so that the we build on what her predecessors and Bahamian–man, woman and child–is a exchange of ideas and information between The College at large have already done to shareholder in this enterprise and our efforts the University and the people it serves will make possible the birth of the University are on their behalf. be continuous. I hope that you will be our of The Bahamas. It is my intention to make sure that partners in this respect and assure you of my Mrs Hodder’s husband, Garfield there is not a single family across The availability to keep you well-informed about Mullins, a writer and the retired head of Bahamas whose life is not touched by the developments at The College. a large technical and vocational institution work of The College-soon to be University. The Bahamas and The College of in Canada, has accompanied his wife to Whether because someone in the family is a The Bahamas are often spoken of small, but The Bahamas. Mrs Hodder is mother to full or part-time student in a certificate or “small” is a relative term. Both country and three highly accomplished adult children, degree programme, or whether someone is college have aspired beyond the limitations two of whom were born in The Bahamas. participating in an outreach programme of their physical size and have accomplished of which we must develop more, or because great things. There are also numerous highly the research we do is improving the quality regarded universities located in relatively small President Hodder’s of life–in marine science, in the hotel and contexts-universities that have successfully tourism sector, in the financial services sector, defined their niche and their mission.