Professor Barriteau named as incoming principal of UWI’s Open Campus

The University of the West Indies has announced Professor Eudine Barriteau as the incoming principal of The University’s Open Campus.{{more}}

Professor Barriteau’s nomination was approved with acclaim by The University Council at its Annual Business Meeting in April. She assumes office on August 1, 2014 – the start of the new academic year, succeeding Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald.

Grenadian by birth, with a distinguished record as a Caribbean scholar and administrator, Professor Barriteau has served in various roles at The University of the West Indies for more than 30 years. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Howard University, an MPA in Public Sector Financial Management from New York University and a BSc, Upper Second Honours in Public Administration and Accounting, from The University of the West Indies. She also holds a professional certificate in editing and scholarly publishing from the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, the Philippines.

In 1993 Professor Barriteau assumed the headship of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at The UWI, a position she held for 15 years. In 2004, she added first female campus coordinator of the School for Graduate Studies and Research to her portfolio, and served for four years, until becoming the second female to be appointed deputy principal at the Cave Hill campus, in 2008. In that role, two of her major accomplishments were serving as chair of the Cave Hill Campus Institutional Accreditation Exercise, which resulted in full accreditation of the campus for six years and serving as chair of the 2011 UWI Games Organising Committee.

Professor Barriteau has received a number of national, regional and international awards and recognitions. In celebration of Barbados’ 47th Anniversary of Independence in 2013, the Barbados Government awarded her the Gold Crown of Merit, the country’s third highest honour, in recognition of her invaluable contribution to gender and development. In July 2011, she was bestowed the 10th CARICOM Triennial Award for Women at the Opening Ceremony of the 32nd Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in St Kitts. Professor Barriteau served as the president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) from 2009 to 2010. She was an inaugural International Research Fellow at the Centre for Excellence in Gender Research, GEXCEL, Orebro, Sweden, in April 2008, and returned in November 2010 and March 2013 by special invitation. In 1997 she had the honour of being the Inaugural Fellow of the Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Women in Development Visitor Programme at the University of Toronto. She was awarded a Howard University Doctoral Fellowship in 1992 and was a LASPAU/Fellowship scholar at New York University 1982 – 1984. In 1992, she became a scholar of the American Association of University Women and prior to that, the first Caribbean scholar to be awarded the Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund Scholarship in 1991.

Professor Barriteau will build on the platform established by outgoing pro-vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald and her imperatives will include overseeing the expansion of on-line, distance education, particularly those linked to programmes provided by residential campuses, garnering solid links with The UWI’s Single Virtual University Space System and broadening the delivery of face to face, professional programmes at The University’s more than 46 Open Campus sites.