The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is pleased to announce the conferral of the title of ‘Emeritus’ on 7 retired Professors.
The decision on the conferrals was made during a virtual University Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held in late October. ‘Emeritus’ designation is given to persons who retired in the rank of ‘Professor’ — in recognition of their distinguished and exemplary careers—and generally allows these individuals to retain their titles. The list of new Professors Emerti includes Grenadian Professor the Most Honourable Violet Eudine Barriteau.
Professor Barriteau retired in 2020, after having served The UWI and the region for over 35 years with exceptional visionary leadership. Her UWI career includes 6 years as Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Cave Hill Campus; one year as Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Open Campus; 6 years as Deputy Principal of the Cave Hill Campus; 4 years as Cave Hill Campus Coordinator of Graduate Studies and Research and 15 years as Head of the Gender and Development Unit, Nita Barrow Unit, Cave Hill Campus.
During her tenure as Principal, Professor Barriteau proposed and established the inaugural Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts at the Cave Hill Campus in August 2020; in 2021 established a UWI-University of Ghana approved preclinical medical degree programme for the training of Ghanaian students; proposed and established in 2018 the Centre for Biosecurity Studies — a one-of-its-kind in the Commonwealth Caribbean; introduced the Smart Campus Initiative in 2017, pioneering the ongoing digital transformation of the Campus’ operations and pedagogical practices; led the Cave Hill Campus in gaining the maximum 7-year reaccreditation period (2019 -2026) and led the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Cave Hill Campus in gaining Accreditation from the United States Department of Education’s National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation in 2016.
Professor Barriteau has edited/co-edited 5 books, including Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean, which received The UWI’s Press Inaugural Award for the best-selling textbook for 2004; as well as the pioneering and foundational text The Political Economy of Gender in the Twentieth Century Caribbean, published by Palgrave International. She has published 79 articles, book chapters and conference papers in international refereed journals and edited conference proceedings, and was an International Fellow at the Centre of Excellence in Research on Gender (GEXCEL) at Örebro University, Sweden, in 2008, 2010 and 2013.
Professor Barriteau is a globally recognised scholar in Feminist Theory and a Professor in Gender and Public Policy, who has applied her expertise to developing and institutionalising Gender and Development Studies at the Cave Hill Campus by focusing on the study of gender systems and the political economy of gender. She developed the curriculum for the Nita Barrow Unit’s flagship outreach programme Caribbean Institute in Gender and Development and taught in it since 1994 and established the Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy programmes to build Caribbean Feminist scholarship at the campus. She has supervised 3 doctoral theses, 2 MPhil theses and one Master of Arts thesis. She has also delivered over 50 lectures worldwide.
Professor Barriteau has also provided advisory and consulting services to governments and international agencies including Caricom and UNIFEM. She was the lead organiser of the Inaugural Gender and Development Forum at the 15th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 15) held this year.
Professor Barriteau has received many honours for her service and pioneering leadership in the region. They include: The Order of Grenada Gold Award for Excellence; The Order of Freedom of Barbados, the country’s highest national honour and the Gold Crown of Merit and also the 10th Caricom Triennial Award for Women (2011).
The UWI
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