USC Celebrates its 94th Anniversary with Founders’ Day Weekend
Founded in 1927 the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), the longest serving higher education institution in the southern Caribbean, celebrates 94 years of providing transformative education. On the weekend of August 27-29, 2021, USC will climax with apposite fanfare the celebration of our 94th anniversary.
Hosted by our 29th president, Dr. Colwick M. Wilson, USC’s administration, faculty, staff, and students invite you to our Founders’ Day 2021 celebration. Our festivities this year, themed “Celebrating our Legacy: Reconnect, Recommit, Reimagine” will intentionally optimize the advantages afforded by virtual communication technology to tightly wrap the globe with rich opportunities for USCian patriotism, comradeship, exchange, sharing and the reunion of USC alumni and friends wherever they are.
Beginning on August 1, 2021, as we countdown to Founders’ Day 2021, our website, social platforms and other media will come alive with stories and memories of our alumni who are #USCSTRONG, tributes to our beloved alma mater, and visions of the present-day USC continuously moving Beyond Excellence!
For a schedule of the weekend’s activities and further initiatives, visit: usc.edu.tt/foundersday
- Published in Alumni, News, Office of the President
The University of the Southern Caribbean Welcomes its 29th President
The University of the Southern Caribbean welcomes Dr. Colwick M. Wilson as he assumes the role of the institution’s 29th President today, July 1, 2021. A seasoned leader, Dr. Wilson begins his presidency with many years of academic and higher education administrative experience.
Having served as Provost and Senior Vice President at Oakwood University since 2017, Dr. Wilson is excited for the opportunity to now lead his alma mater through this unparalleled time in higher education.
Dr. Wilson’s background as an academic, published researcher, and administrator – as well as his commitment to advancing USC’s philosophy of holistic development – will serve the University well into its 95th anniversary of transformative education delivery.
A visionary, innovative, and collaborative leader with an affable personality, Dr. Wilson looks forward to engaging with and listening to the students, staff, faculty, alumni and all other stakeholders as USC navigates this new beginning.
The University of the Southern Caribbean welcomes Dr. Colwick M. Wilson, his wife Dr. Deleise Wilson and daughters Chidinma and Corliss as we work together to take our beloved USC even further “Beyond Excellence”!
- Published in Corporate Communications, News, Office of the President
USC’s Virtual Graduation Weekend 2021
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic the University of the Southern Caribbean remains committed to celebrating the achievements of the Class of 2021!
The Class of 2021 has chosen as its theme: We Have Left the Bay; The Ocean Lies Before Us!
As they prepare to begin their next chapter, we officially invite you to virtually celebrate this milestone at our 88th Graduation Exercises on June 18-20, 2021.
Information on the Class of 2021 and streaming links for all events can be accessed at: https://usc.edu.tt/graduation/
Join us on Facebook and YouTube as we create history at USC’s first Virtual Graduation Weekend!
- Published in News, Office of the President
USC Dedicates and Commissions New University Auditorium and the School of Nursing & Allied Health Facility
The University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) is unwavering in its commitment to institutional progress in support of its mission to transform ordinary men and women into extraordinary servants of God to humanity. Consonant with this, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, USC officially dedicated and commissioned the building that houses the new University Auditorium and the School of Nursing & Allied Health.
In a virtual ceremony, 3,317 days after the fire which destroyed the previous auditorium, the USC Administration and Board of Trustees celebrated the completion of this priority project. This two-floor structure, with its architecturally modern glass-clad auditorium entrance marks the culmination of a nine-year journey of faith and determination.
On the top floor, the University Auditorium has a seating capacity of 2,600 and is well equipped to host conferences, concerts and student and community activities. The ground floor houses classrooms, labs, and offices for the School of Nursing & Allied Health.
In celebrating this historic development, the administration, faculty, staff and students extend sincere gratitude to the many generous benefactors who contributed over the years to the completion of this landmark project. As USC approaches its 95th anniversary of providing transformative education to the Caribbean region and beyond, we welcome your steadfast support continuing our legacy of Intellectual Curiosity, Cultural Diversity, Moral Integrity and Spiritual Nurture.
At USC we raise our praise to God as we remain faithful and grateful, for He has kept us triumphant as we continue our journey Beyond Excellence.
Photo (left to right): Dr. Johnson Frederick – Secretary, Caribbean Union Conference; Dr. Kern Tobias – President, Caribbean Union Conference; Phyllis Woolford – Director, Department of Nursing; Dr. Hilary Bowman – President, USC; Dr. Wanda Chesney – Provost, USC
- Published in Corporate Communications, News, Office of the President
New Dates for Graduation 2021
In light of the increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases and the recently updated public health regulations in Trinidad and Tobago, the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) has postponed Graduation Exercises for the Class of 2021 to take place during the period June 18-20, 2021.
This decision has become necessary as USC prioritizes the health and safety of its stakeholders, and in an effort to ensure that all graduating students are properly represented at the Class of 2021’s Graduation Weekend. Further revisions will be detailed in a virtual meeting with the Class of 2021 on Monday, May 17, 2021 at 6:00pm.
We welcome your cooperation and understanding as we work to deliver a Graduation Weekend befitting the Class of 2021. We encourage you to follow the COVID-19 protocols as outlined in your respective locations. Stay safe and save lives!
- Published in Corporate Communications, News, Office of the President
USC for SVG
It is with grave concern that the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) witnesses the unfolding natural catastrophe on the island of St. Vincent. Our value for human life and our Caribbean citizenship compel us to join the relief efforts directed at our distressed neighbours.
The USC for SVG relief initiative, in its first week, will deliver a substantial financial contribution, denominated in United States Dollars, for the procurement of critical relief supplies and amenities including but not limited to, water and storage tanks, shelter furnishings, personal protective equipment (PPE), detergents and personal care items. Our financial contribution will be matched by our parent organization, the Caribbean Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (CARU). Our goal is to ship a 40-foot container of these supplies to SVG by or before Friday 16th April 2021. Our corporate private sector partner, Trinebox/Trincargo Shipping has pledged logistical and freight support to this project. A detailed inventory of the supplies we intend to gather is available on or website usc.edu.tt/uscforsvg.
An online telethon hosted by USC’s Music Department is also being coordinated. Members of the public will be afforded an opportunity to pledge financial support to the USC for SVG Relief Fund. Appropriate donations in kind will also be welcome.
For more details on the USC for SVG Campaign, our further activities in the coming weeks and how you can partner with us to help to push back the distress of our neighbours, please visit the USC for SVG portal on the USC website www.usc.edu.tt/uscforsvg or contact Robert (724-5201) Onesi (688-4244), Josh (474-1181).
- Published in News, Office of the President
USC Stands with St. Vincent & the Grenadines
The University of the Southern Caribbean views the unfolding dramatic events in St. Vincent & the Grenadines with great concern for the Vincentian population in general and the students of this University in particular.
Our prayers are being offered continually that the evacuation process would go smoothly and that there would be no injuries or loss of life. We also pray for calm in the country and that God will continue to guide the Government as it endeavors to make the best decisions for its people in these stressful times.
The University of the Southern Caribbean stands ready to assist in whatever way it can to bring comfort to the people of St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
- Published in News, Office of the President
Dr. Colwick Wilson Elected the 29th President of USC
After an extensive international search and the diligent screening of candidates, the Board of Trustees of the University of the Southern Caribbean has voted to appoint Dr. Colwick Mervyn Wilson as the 29th President of USC. Dr. Wilson, an alumnus of Caribbean Union College (now the University of the Southern Caribbean) is of Guyanese heritage. His career journey has honed for him an impressive vita of academic and administrative experience and professional renown that robustly positions him to advance USC’s global reputation and stature.
Dr. Wilson is appropriately qualified for the challenge before him. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) Degree in Theology from Caribbean Union College, now USC, a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, a Master of Arts Degree in Leadership and Counseling, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dr. Wilson comes to us from our sister Seventh-day Adventist university, Oakwood University, Alabama where he has been serving as Provost and Senior Vice President since the fall of 2017. Before his appointment at OU, he also served in leadership and academic roles at Loma Linda University, California and the Ohio location of Kettering Health Network. He also possesses non-denominational academic experience, and served as an associate professor at the University of Michigan.
An ardent researcher, Dr. Wilson has a strong record of executing solo research projects and participating and leading research teams. His published work appears in several peer-reviewed journals and he has been quite active as a presenter and participant on the academic conference circuit particularly in the areas of social and health sciences. Dr. Wilson is also very experienced in successful proposal and grant writing and has served as the principal investigator for single and interdisciplinary grant awards.
Dr. Wilson is a visionary, innovative, and collaborative leader with an extremely engaging personality. He is the consummate professional and places premium value on the spiritual well-being of the people he leads and interacts with. This is not at all surprising, since his earliest academic degree was in the field of theology and in the nascent phases of his career he served as a pastor – a calling he has not since relinquished.
Dr. Wilson is married to Dr. Deleise Cole-Wilson. They have two adult daughters: Chidinma and Corliss.
Dr. Wilson is expected to assume duty on July 01, 2021. The USC family and constituency welcome Dr. Colwick Mervyn Wilson and his family and wish them God’s blessings as they take up the mantle of leading this illustrious institution “Beyond Excellence”.
- Published in News, Office of the President, Programs, Stories
International Women’s Day 2021 #ChooseToChallenge
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day (IWD). The administration, faculty and staff of the University of the Southern Caribbean wholeheartedly embrace this opportunity to celebrate the being and contributions of our women-folk to our families, workplaces, schools, churches, villages, nations, and the innumerable other physical and relational spaces where humans practice community.
The accepted origins of the celebration of IWD goes back to 1909 when at the suggestion of the Ukrainian-American labour-activist, writer and suffragette Theresa Serber Malkiel the Socialist Party of America – yes socialist and yes United States of America – observed what they called a “National Woman’s Day on the last day of the month of February that year, a Sunday. New York City was the epicenter of that antecedent observance. It was an election year, and as pervasive and bi-partisan as ‘progressivism’ had become to mainstream American politics, women’s rights, worker’s rights and that of minorities remained subordinate to affluent white patriarchy, leaving many in the US undone, disappointed and disenfranchised.
The historically busy Atlantic Ocean would transplant the idea to the European continent and on March 19, 1911 International Women’s Day – so named – was observed for the first time by more than a million people in several European countries. Like in the USA – where there continued for quite some time to be the celebration of National Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February – in Europe, too, the focus of the observances centered around protests against the political disenfranchisement of adult women, gender discrimination in the workplace and the inequality of opportunities to prosper.
Unsurprisingly, with the triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, IWD was accorded the status of a public holiday in that country. This pattern would accompany the national adoption of socialist-communist ideology in various other countries in Eurasia as the Soviets expanded their sphere of influence.
In the late 1960s and into the 1970s and 1980s with the rise of what is sometimes referred to as the second wave of feminism, when equal pay, the push back against violence against women, maternity benefits, sexual and reproductive rights and other such contemporary rights-issues for women and girls were being intellectually developed into their existing form, IWD was wrested from the social communist world and globalized. It was during this period that it was belatedly adopted by the United Nations in 1975.
For us in the Caribbean, grappling as we still are with emancipation and postcoloniality, living with our hard-wired histories that include conquest, enslavement, indentureship and the ruthless exploitations of our land and our labour by foreign capital interests, our appreciation of IWD must not be permitted to come from the artificial place of an adopted narrative of a comparatively recent exposure to abuses and troubles. It seems that our people, our women are, and will be, because they never surrendered and habitually and courageously “#choose to challenge”.
- Published in Faculty, News, Office of the President, Stories
A Tribute to the late Dr. Esther Simmons
The board of trustees, administration, faculty, staff, students and community of the University of the Southern Caribbean deeply mourn the recent passing of the late Dr. Esther Simmons. We express our heartfelt condolences to her husband, Dr. George Carlington ‘Charlie’ Simmons and to her living step-children of two marriages, Roselyn, Cynthia, Angela, George and Cheryl.
Our collective mourning is conjugated to this occasion to celebrate the life, work and legacy of this justly virtuous woman. Born into unpretentious circumstances in the British colony of Barbados on October 20, 1924, Dr. Esther Simmons nee Osbourne began her higher education journey at Caribbean Training College (now called the University of the Southern Caribbean). She was a proud member of the class of 1947, which marked the twentieth anniversary of this now ninety-three-year-old institution.
From this sure foundation, Esther Simmons through faith and perseverance, proceeded to go beyond excellence, to live a full life as an extraordinary servant of God to humanity. Her academic adventures led her to Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) in Huntsville, Alabama where she earned a BA in English with a minor in History. She then went on to Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan where she successfully pursued an MA in English. Howard University in Washington, D.C. next beckoned and she responded, carrying with her the cultivated habit to succeed and taking away from Howard University, a Doctor of Philosophy in English. She was not finished. She would also pursue post-doctoral studies at colleges of the prestigious Cambridge and Oxford Universities in the United Kingdom.
As an academic, educator and higher education administrator, she devoted the greater share of her career to Bowie State University, the oldest HBCU in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. There she served with distinction, earning her an enviable flight of appointments and promotions including, Professor of English, Chair of the English Department, Head of the Division of the Humanities, Vice President for Academic Administration, Provost and Assistant to the President. Her distinguished service also attracted citations and awards. Dr. Simmons was also actively involved in professional, civic and community organizations and with their work. At the time of her passing, she held the title Professor Emerita and Provost Emerita of Bowie State University.
Dr. Esther Simmons, was ceaseless in her fidelity, devotion, and generosity to what was most probably her favourite alma mater, the University of the Southern Caribbean. This affection for USC was something she and her husband ‘Charlie’ deeply shared. So deep it ran, that when in October of 2003, Caribbean Union College, as it was then known, suddenly required leadership, she and her husband furloughed the pleasures of contented retirement to assume the demanding roles of interim President and Assistant to the interim President respectively. The chronicles of the History of USC therefore records the very experienced Dr. Esther Simmons as the twenty-fourth President of our noble institution.
A decorated soldier of the cross has been called home to rest after serving distinguished tours of duty. Psalm 116:15 informs us that “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. The Lord counts it as “precious” that Dr. Esther Simmons is done with the troubles of this world.
May we allow this exemplary and virtuous life to inspire us.
The Memorial Service for Dr. Esther Simmons will be held on Monday, February 22, 2021 at 3:05pm.
View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j7f-61wilDo
- Published in Office of the President