As we exit this 2015, never to be seen again but sure to be the subject of many discourses, your university will begin in earnest preparations for the next strategic plan, 2017-2022. A new conception of our enterprise is required; one that addresses more than ever the pressing issues facing our communities at home and abroad.
My best wishes for the Holidays to all my fellow Pelicans wherever you are. For those of you who are so fortunate, may you be able to spend this season or part of it with your significant loved ones having fun and enjoying fellowship. I am told that it is now passé to make New Year’s resolutions, but if and when you do plan for 2016, I sincerely hope that you include being more connected with your alma mater. We need to hear from and about our alumni. We need you to be more involved and there are numerous ways in which you can “give back”.
GUEST POST by Dr E. Anthony Allen
I entered the University of the West Indies in 1960 as a medical student. This fledgling institution was then only twelve years old. During my time there I had the privilege of associating with other ‘students of the sixties’. As we walked the campus paths we prepared ourselves and dreamed of a future. Eventually, together with staff, relatives and well-wishers, we gathered in the Assembly Hall in June 1965 for a very special Valedictory Service. The Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would deliver the sermon.
The Christmas season is traditionally celebrated at the UWI with gatherings and concerts but most solemnly with one of four annual official services: the Festival of Nine Lessons with Carols which packs the University Chapel on the second Sunday of December at 7pm. The Cave Hill campus also celebrates it and,since 2008, there has been a similar service in Montego Bay, for the UWI Mona Western Jamaica Campus.