Annual CERC Institute to Focus on Ending Health Disparities in Caribbean Set for Oct. 17-19 “Ending Health Disparities: Health, Environment and Social Justice in the Caribbean and Beyond” is the theme of the 5th Annual Health Disparities Institute set at Sugar Bay Resort & Spa on St. Thomas, on Oct. 17, 18 and 19. The Institute is sponsored by the Caribbean Exploratory NIMHD Research Center for Excellence (CERC) at UVI’s School of Nursing.
CERC Director and Principal Investigator Dr. Gloria Callwood invited persons interested in the effort to end health disparities in the Caribbean and beyond to attend the conference. Researchers and policy makers from across the country will join local administrators, health care providers, environmentalists and policy makers who will share their insights on health, the environment and social justice as panelist and presenters.
Interested persons can register for the institute on line at the CERC Web site –http://cercuvi.com – or in-person at the conference. Full conference and daily passes are available. Special rates are available for UVI students, faculty and staff, as well as local residents. General registration fees are good through Friday, Oct. 12. After that, late and on-site rates will apply.
UVI Students Invited to Information Session on 13D Entrepreneurship Competition on Oct. 18 All UVI students are invited to an informational meeting for the second annual 13D Student Entrepreneurship Competition, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18. The session will be available via videoconference, in the UVI Administration and Conference Center on St. Thomas and in the Great Hall on St. Croix. $60,000 in funds is available for this year’s competition. Student teams on both St. Thomas and St. Croix will be invited to enter two rounds of competition. The prizes for first, second and third place in the competition are $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000, respectively.
Funding is provided by a $5 million gift to UVI from investment strategist and entrepreneur Kiril Sokoloff, the founder of 13D Research, which is now based on St. Croix. Four UVI students were awarded a total of $60,000 to support their start-up business ideas last year in the inaugural 13D Competition. A total of 72 UVI students in 21 teams participated. Details are available from UVI business professor Dr. Glenn Metts by calling (340) 693-1303 or sending e-mail to gmetts@uvi.edu.
UVI RTPark Slates Real Estate Administration Committee Meeting for Oct. 19 A meeting of the Real Estate Administration Committee of the UVI Research and Technology Park is scheduled for 11 a.m. (AST) on Friday, Oct. 19, at the RT Park Offices on UVI’s Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix. Seating is limited and the session is available via teleconference. For more information or to participate, call the RT Park at 692-4200.
‘Motown & More’ Up Next at UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts on Oct. 20 Get ready for sharp harmonies and dazzling choreography Motown style when UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts presents "Motown & More: The Power of Music from the 60s, 70s and 80s at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. The Virgin Islands Lottery and UVI’s Music Division will collaborate on the presentation. The VI’s top singers and dancers will be performing in a tribute to the music of the 60s and 70s. The production features the works of music giants and songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, the Temptations, Quincy Jones and more. The evening will also showcase members of the UVI Summer Youth Music program.
Tickets are available from the Reichhold Box Office at 693-1559 and online at www.reichholdcenter.com and from this direct link. Tickets are also available at the UVI Bookstore.
Puerto Rico Symphony – Superior Court Rising Stars Show Postponed Until Nov. 2 The joint performance of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the Superior Court Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra, originally scheduled for Oct. 13, was postponed due to the threat of a tropical storm. The show has been rescheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2. Ticket holders who are unable to attend on the rescheduled date can receive a refund by presenting their tickets at the Reichhold Center Box Office. Details are available by calling the box office at 693-1559.
The show will feature more than 100 performers on stage as the two orchestras collaborate on a number of musical selections. Then each will present their individual brand of music. The symphony, under the direction of Chilean Maestro Maximiano Valdés, will conclude the evening with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
The Caribbean Writer Issues Call for Submissions for Volume 27 The Caribbean Writer, the University of the Virgin Islands’ international, refereed, literary journal with a Caribbean focus, has announced a submission call for its 27th edition. Issues unique to the Caribbean should be central to the work, or the work should reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience or perspective. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 30, 2012.
Besides the usual poetry, short fiction and essays, Volume 27 will pay special tribute to Caribbean musicians and visual artists. Interviews with and personal narratives on the Caribbean’s leading musicians and visual artists, at home as well as in the diaspora, are welcomed.
For more information, visit “The Caribbean Writer” Web site at www.TheCaribbeanWriter.org or send e-mail info@thecaribbeanwriter.org. A news release is also available from the UVI homepage – http://www.uvi.edu – and from this direct link.
Save the Date: UVI to Launch New Strategic Plan on St. John, St. Croix and St. Thomas UVI will launch its new strategic plan – Pathways to Greatness – with special events on St. John, St. Croix and St. Thomas on Oct. 22, 23 and 24, respectively.
Monday, Oct. 22 – St. John Academic Center, Room 103 – 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 23 – Albert A. Sheen Campus, Great Hall – 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 24 – St. Thomas Campus, Administration and Conference Center, first-floor conference room – 1 to 3 p.m.
Dr. Vincent Cooper Appointed Director of the UVI Honors Program UVI’s Office of the Provost has announced that Dr. Vincent Cooper has been appointed Director of the UVI Honors Program. Dr. Cooper served on the initial task force that researched and designed the UVI Honors Program. He also acted as Interim Director during the early stages of the program and has more recently taught one of the core courses in the program.
Dr. Cooper, a tenured faculty member of UVI’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and a former Fulbright Scholar, holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and has taught English and Linguistics at several universities in North America. He is also a widely published linguist and poet who has been invited to lecture at various universities in Central America, North America and Europe.
The Honors Program has plans to attract academically talented students from the Virgin Islands as well as from national and the international communities. For more information please contact Dr. Cooper at vcooper@uvi.edu.
UVI Soccer Match Postponed; Schedule Revised Due to Weather A UVI soccer match at UPR-Ponce, scheduled for Oct. 13, was postponed due to the forecast threat of a tropical storm. The match will be made up later this month. The Buccaneers take on UPR-Mayaguez at 2 p.m. (time tentative) on Wednesday, Oct. 17. The game will be played in Paul E. Joseph Stadium in Frederiksted. UVI, takes a 2-4-1 LAI record as it moves into crossover divisional matches. The matches will determine if the squad qualifies for the LAI playoffs which are set to begin Nov. 3.
UVI Soccer Schedule
• Oct. 17: UPR-Mayaguez at UVI on St. Croix (Paul E. Joseph Stadium-Frederiksted) – 2 p.m. tentative
• Oct. 20: UVI at InterAmerican or University of Turabo – in Cayey at 2 p.m.
• Oct. 27: UPR-Cayey at UVI on St. Croix – time TBD
Some matchups to be finalized after make-up games are completed.
Submissions, Letters Sought for UVI 50th Anniversary Time Capsules Since announcing plans for UVI 50th Anniversary Time Capsules on both campuses, many suggestions and some forwarded items have been received. The Time Capsule Subcommittee of the Golden Jubilee Committee is again asking members of the University community to submit items for inclusion in each time capsule. "The sky is the limit on what can be placed in the time capsule," said Subcommittee Chair Raquel Silver. "Be imaginative." The time capsules will be capped in January, 2013, not to be opened for 50 years – in 2062.
The committee is also seeking letters from students, staff, faculty and alumni describing what UVI will be like in 50 years. Please submit items and/or letters for inclusion in the time capsules by Nov. 30, 2012 to the following individuals:
• Albert A. Sheen Campus – St. Croix: Raquel Silver / rsantia@live.uvi.edu / ext 4061
• St. Thomas Campus: Dr. Angela Dikou / adikou@live.uvi.edu / ext 1284
AES Researcher to Present Seminar on St. Croix on Oct. 26 UVI’s Agricultural Experiment Station will sponsor a seminar on assessing changes in the immune system of beef calves after stressful events from 2 to 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26. The seminar will be held in Room 133 of the Research and Extension Center on the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix. The presenter will be Whitney Preston, a research specialist in the AES Animal Science Program. Her topic – "Immunological status of beef calves at birth & weaning as shown through gene expression of the Toll-Like Receptor pathways" – is based on a research project for her recently completed Masters of Science degree at the University of Hawaii. For more information contact Dr. Bob Godfrey at 692-4042 or send e-mail to rgodfre@uvi.edu.
Do You Know This week’s ‘We Are UVI’ contributor? To see this week’s “We Are UVI” contributor visit http://weareuvi.blogspot.com. “We Are UVI” is our Golden Jubilee blog. It features people sharing CVI/UVI stories from the past 50 years. A new submission is added each week.
This submission was posted Sunday, Oct. 7. It joins stories from Sinclair Wilkinson (’72), Rafe Boulon, Jr. (’76), Carmie Thompson (’10), Frank Mills (’67), James Rakocy, Arah Lockhart (’78), Utha Williams (’82), former UVI President LaVerne Ragster, Marthious Clavier (’02,’08), John Lucas, Maxine Nunez, Rosary Harper, Yegin Habtes, Gloria Callwood, Laurent Javois (’76), Helen Dookhan (’79, ’84, ’98), Curtis Gilpin (’80), Carolyn O’Neal-Morton (’85), Ali McClean (’93), Constance Gumbs (’87, ’91), Malcolm Kirwan (’67), Sharleen Fahie (’86, ’93), Sam Hall Jr., Richard Lippke, Randy Brown, Paul Flemming (’95, ’98, ’99), Kishma Allen (’09), Lawrence Lewis (’73), Aimery Caron, Quilin Mars (’08), Alvincent Hutson (’76), Vincent Cooper (’72), Dennis Parker, UVI President Emeritus Orville Kean, Richard Schrader, Albert Bryan (’04), Jerome McElroy, Velma Tyson (’80, ’83), Marchelle D. Clarke Brown (‘82), Anita Gordon Plaskett (’74, ’78) and Nanyamka Farrelly (’99, ’06).
UVI to Host 15th “Islands in Between” Conference on St. Thomas Nov. 8-10 The University of the Virgin Islands will host the 15th annual "Islands in Between" conference celebrating the languages, literatures and cultures of the Eastern Caribbean. Noting that UVI is celebrating its 50th anniversary, conference organizers slated this year’s event for Nov. 8 to 10 at UVI on St. Thomas.
Keynote presentations will be made by Dr. Lois Hassell-Habtes and Mary Ann Christopher. The event will also feature the launch of the Virgin Island Caribbean Cultural Center (VICCC) at UVI’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Conference topics to be featured include: language, literature, culture and education in the US Virgin Islands; Creole linguistics and the Creolization of languages in the Eastern Caribbean; and Eastern Caribbean art, popular culture, carnivals and performance traditions, politics and economics.
“Islands in Between” 2012 is dedicated to Drs. Marva Sprauve-Browne, Marvin Williams and Gene Kenneth Emanuel – all former members of the UVI faculty. Admission is free to UVI students, faculty and VI community members.
Registration is $50 for professors and faculty presenters and $30 for student presenters. The conference is organized by the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, the University of the Virgin Islands and the Per Ankh Institute of the Virgin Islands. For more information or to pre-register (free for non-presenters of UVI and our VI community) please email islands conference@gmail.com and perankh@me.com.
29th St. Thomas-St. John Ag Fair Set Nov. 3-4; Booklet Articles and Ads Needed by Oct. 19 The 29th Annual St. Thomas-St. John Agriculture and Food Fair is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 3-4, on the grounds of UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts. Vendor applications can be obtained from the V.I. Department of Agriculture offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix, UVI’s Cooperative Extension Service, Sea Chest and the Natural Livity Kulcha Shop. The deadline for submitting AgFair Booklet articles and advertising copy is Oct. 19.
The fair committee is seeking participants and judges for the best tasting sweet bread, maubi and Ital contests. Call 693-1080 for details on how to register as either a participant or a judge. A new coal pot lighting contest is planned this year. Interested persons are encouraged to enter to win a chance at one of five spots in the contest.
Raffle tickets are available now. Books of 11 are sold for $10. Raffle prizes include: a 200-gallon water tank, 20 pounds of local lamb (dressed), a 100 pound bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer, two local chickens (dressed) and one bottle each of local honey and honey pepper sauce. For more information, email dcooper@uvi.edu or call (340) 693-1080 or 774-5182. Join the CES Facebook event (UVICES) to stay updated and watch the Wednesday, Oct. 17, edition of "Face to Face" on Channel 12-WTJX-TV.
Public Asked to Mark their Calendars for UVI’s ‘Golden Gala’ Fundraisers The final public event of UVI’s 50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee celebrations will be Golden Gala fundraisers on St. Thomas and St. Croix. The entire community is invited to celebrate with UVI at the black-tie events. On St. Thomas the Golden Gala will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1. at Marriott’s Frenchman’s Reef Resort. On St. Croix the Golden Gala will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, at the Divi Carina Bay Beach Resort and Casino. The public is invited to mark their calendars for “A Grand Affair to End the Year.” Ticket prices and locations will be announced shortly. For more information contact Liza Margolis at 693-1053 or lmargol@live.uvi.edu.
CELL Training Series to Feature Microsoft Excel on Oct. 20 The next course in the Basic Computing Skills Series offered by UVI’s Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning (CELL) Center – Introduction to Excel – is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. Sessions will be held at the UVICELL Center on the St. Thomas campus and in Room 133 of the North West Wing on the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix. In Intro to Excel 2010, participants will learn to insert data into spreadsheets, utilize functions and formulas, design charts and more. For more information call 693-1100 or visit UVICELL on-line at http://cell.uvi.edu.
SGA-St. Croix to Host Virgin Islands Senatorial Forum on October 23 The Student Government Association on UVI’s Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix will sponsor a Senatorial Election Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The forum, to be held in the Great Hall, is designed to give students, faculty, staff and members of the Virgin Islands community the opportunity to become better acquainted with the 2012 senatorial candidates. The evening begins with a meet-and-greet session at 6 p.m., with the forum beginning at 7 p.m. During the forum, candidates will have the opportunity to make a short presentation, discuss his or her platform, and address concerns raised by the audience.
For more information, call SGA President Kevin Dixon at 692-4191 or send email to sgastx@myuvi.net. Information is also available from Student Activities Supervisor/SGA Advisor Hedda Finch-Simpson, at 692-4228 or 692-4191 or via e-mail at hfinch@uvi.edu.
UVI St. Thomas Campus to Mark Red Ribbon Week Oct. 23-26 Students on UVI’s St. Thomas campus will be participating in a series of traditional National Red Ribbon Week activities from Oct. 23 to 26, marking the fight against drug and substance and honoring deceased Drug Enforcement Agency agent Enrique Camarena, who was killed in 1985 in the line of duty. Highlighting the week of activities will be Walk/Rally and Speak-out Against Substance Abuse and Crime scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25. Members of the public and school groups are invited to join in the march from the main turnoff to Cyril E. King Airport to the UVI Recreation Center on the golf course of the St. Thomas campus.
Students and other participants will be invited to join the speak-out following the march.
Other Red Ribbon Week Activities
• Oct. 23 – Wear Red & Pledge Against Drugs Day.
• Oct. 24 – Drug Free Area Decoration Contests – University offices and organizations are encouraged to participate.
Groups must register with the Dean of Students at the Student Affairs Office. Judging will take place at 10 a.m.
• Oct. 25 – Walk/Rally and Speak-out – 5 p.m. Concludes at UVI Recreation Center.
• Oct. 26 – Karaoke in the Dining Pavilion – 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Workshop on Advantages of Hiring Individuals with Disabilities on St. Thomas Set for Oct. 24 A workshop on the advantages of hiring individuals with disabilities from an employer’s perspective will be held by the VI University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (VIUCEDD) from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 24. The session will be held at the VI Small Business Development Center at Nisky Center on St. Thomas. Presentations are scheduled by a regional manager of a local business and a local attorney discussing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The workshop is being held as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. For more information, contact Pauline Lee at 776-4303. Registration is available on line from the SBDC Web site – www.sbdcvi.org.
English Proficiency Exam Scheduled at UVI for Oct. 25 on St. Thomas and St. Croix UVI will administer the English Proficiency Exam (EPE) on Thursday, Oct. 25, at the following locations:
• St. Thomas: Sports and Fitness Center rooms 223, 224 and 225
• St. Croix: Evans Center on the 300 level
Eligible students should register for the exam on BanWeb. Access is available from the myCampus web portal at https://mycampus.uvi.edu. Students should be in place for the exam by 8:30 a.m.
For more information, students may contact Dr. Vincent Cooper on St. Thomas at 693-1351 or via email at vcooper@uvi.edu or Dr. Valerie Combie on St. Croix at 692-4126 or via email at vcombie@uvi.edu.
UVI Board of Trustees to Meet on St. Thomas on Oct. 27 The next regular meeting of the UVI Board of Trustees is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27. It will take place on the St. Thomas campus.
UVI Accepting Applications for 2013 MA Program in Psychology-Counseling; Oct. 30 Deadline The University of the Virgin Islands Master of Arts in Psychology with a Counseling Concentration Program is accepting applications for the Spring 2013 semester. The program is designed to provide students with the necessary academic knowledge base, problem solving skills and experiential opportunities to work in a variety of social service and counseling settings. Program overview and admission criteria are available online from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences section of the UVI Web site – http://www.uvi.edu – and from thisdirect link. Interested applicants on St. Croix and St. Thomas should submit admission applications by Oct. 30, 2012 to be considered for the spring 2013 semester.
For more information, contact Dr. Lucia DiMeo at 692-4264 or ldimeo@uvi.edu.
