SENIOR lecturer in the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus’ department of government, Dr Brian Meeks ,has been promoted to professor in the department.

The promotion was effective February 5.

Professor Meeks is a graduate of the UWI, St Augustine Campus, and holds the Bachelor of Science degree in Social Sciences with upper second class honours. He completed the Master of Science degree in Government at the UWI, Mona Campus, and then went on to obtain the institution’s Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.

He has also pursued Post Doctoral studies at Cambridge University on a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship.

Professor Meeks joined the staff of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, in 1983 as assistant lecturer in the department of government. He was promoted to lecturer in 1986 and senior lecturer in 1995. He was head of the department of government from 1997-2002.

Over the period, he has also been visiting professor in African New World Studies at Florida International University; visiting scholar at the Centre of Latin American Studies at Stanford University and visiting professor at James Madison College at Michigan State University.

Professor Meeks’ academic work has centered on the theory of revolution, comparative Central American and Caribbean politics; Caribbean thinkers and political thought, as well as hegemony, democracy and the state in theory and practice. The impact of his work extends through several disciplines — political science, history, political economy, sociology, Africana studies, Caribbean studies and Latin American studies. Over the years, he has developed an international reputation in these fields, evidenced by the numerous invitations that he receives to present his work at institutions in North America and the United Kingdom.

His work has addressed nearly every development in political methodology in the 20th century. He is regarded as a scholar who has tried to come to terms with the problems of the Caribbean in the post-cold war world. His co-edited reader, New Caribbean Thought (2001), and his most recent book entitled Narratives of Resistance (2002), have been hailed as significant and valuable contributions to the social scientific literature on the Caribbean, and to the study of insurrectionary political events in the region at the end of the 20th century. In these books, Professor Meeks examines the collapse of radical West Indian politics and its failure to transform Caribbean societies.