Profs Boxill, Webber, named Grace Kennedy Foundation chairs at UWI
PROFESSORS Ian Boxill and Dale Webber have been named Grace Kennedy Foundation chairs at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Professor Boxill will assume the Carlton Alexander Chair in Management Studies and Prof Webber is the James S Moss Solomon Chair in Environmental Management.
The chairs are the latest to be funded by Grace Kennedy Foundation, which also provides scholarships and bursaries to students at UWI and other tertiary institutions .
The Vice Chancellor of the UWI, Prof E Nigel Harris hailed the more than two decades-old partnership between the Grace Kennedy Foundation and UWI, which he said “brought the university stars” like Prof Gordon Shirley”, the first holder of the Carlton Alexander Chair in Management Studies and Prof Elizabeth Thomas-Hope, previous holder of the James S Moss Solomon Chair in Environmental Management.
Prof Shirley in introducing the two chairs at an event at the Mona Visitor’s Lodge at UWI on Monday spoke of contributions already made in the fields of social sciences and environmental management, respectively.
Prof Harris, in the meantime, said that both Boxill and Webber “have the intellect, track record and commitment to translate the research they have done and will do into policies and strategies that will redound to the collective benefit of Jamaica and the region we serve.”
Professor Boxill will preside over the Centre for Tourism & Policy Research (CPTR) in the Faculty of Social Sciences, which aims to advance research and training in the areas of tourism studies and more broadly, development policy making and analysis in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Research and policy analysis will be the main activity of the centre.
Prof Webber will be based in the Department of Life Sciences in the Faculty of Pure & Applied Sciences and will oversee the development of a Centre for Environmental Management at Mona, in collaboration with other scholars in environmental management across the UWI.
Grace Kennedy Chair & CEO Douglas Orane said that, “the practical work to be undertaken by the two chairs will bring two very important areas together and allow the creation of a new industry for Jamaica.
