Pictured from left to right following a meeting with Ms. Dorothea Antonio, Senior Director for Internationalization Services with NAFSA: Association of International Educators, on Monday are: Mr. Elgin Smith, COB Chief Information Officer; Dr. Carlton Watson, COB Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences; Ms. Davinia Blair, COB Vice President (Interim) of Advancement; Dr. Rodney Smith, President of the College of The Bahamas; Dr. Christina Smith; Ms. Antonio; Mr. Soren M. Peterson, Assistant Director, International Education, NAFSA: Association of International Educators: Dr. Dion Hepburn, COB’s Director of Research; Mr. Chet Neymour, Deputy Chief of Mission, Bahamas Embassy; and Mr. Mikhail Bullard, Third Secretary, Bahamas Embassy.
Included in the COB President’s delegation were Ms. Davinia Blair, Vice President (Interim) of Advancement; Dr. Dion Hepburn, COB’s Director of Research; Dr. Carlton Watson, Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences; and Mr. Elgin Smith, Chief Information Officer. Dr. Smith was also accompanied by his wife, Dr. Christina Smith.
On Sunday afternoon, November 8, the delegation met for a briefing session with His Excellency Dr. Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, and His Excellency Dr. Elliston Rahming, Bahamas Ambassador to the United Nations and Bahamas Permanent Representative to the OAS, in the Ambassador’s office at the Embassy, 2220 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Also participating in that meeting were Mr. Chet Neymour, Deputy Chief of Mission; Miss Krissy Hanna, Second Secretary, Bahamas Embassy; Miss Tracee Dorestant, Second Secretary, Bahamas Embassy; and Mr. Mikhail Bullard, Third Secretary, Bahamas Embassy.
Later on Sunday, the COB President addressed a group of Bahamians in the Diaspora in the conference room of the Embassy on “The Role of the University of The Bahamas in National Development,” during which he noted that the “university is going to position the country to grow, develop and advance.”
Dr. Rodney Smith, President of the College of The Bahamas, addressing a group of Bahamians in the Diaspora Sunday in the conference room of the Embassy of The Bahamas on “The Role of the University of The Bahamas in National Development.”
“We are going to create six campuses in six islands, which will be campuses of excellence,” Dr. Smith declared.
In addition to a campus in Grand Bahama, Dr. Smith said the University of The Bahamas will also have campuses in Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma, and San Salvador.
The COB President also outlined plans to position the University to receive international recognition through accreditation like major universities abroad.
On Monday morning, President Smith and his delegation met with Ms. Dorothea Antonio, Senior Director for Internationalization Services with NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a leading professional association dedicated to international education.
Then on Monday afternoon they met at the OAS main office building in downtown Washington with executives of the OAS Department of Human Development and Education (DHDE), including Ms. Abigail Castro de Perez, Coordinator of Education, Ms. E. Juliet Mallet Phillip, Senior Specialist and Coordinator of OAS Scholarship and Training Programs; and Ambassador Sonia M. Johnny, Saint Lucia’s Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS).
Later on Monday, President Smith and his delegation met with executives of the Institute for International Education (IIE), including Maria de Los Angeles Crummett, PhD, Executive Director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES); Nicole Johnson, Director of Global New Program Development, Office of Strategic Development; and Jonah Kokodyniak, Deputy Vice President, Strategic Development.
On Tuesday morning the delegation met with officials of the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department and later that morning with Ambassador Neil Parsan, OAS Executive Secretary for Integral Development, at the OAS main building prior to President Smith addressing the OAS Council on Integral Development (CIDI).
On Tuesday afternoon, President Smith and his delegation had a luncheon meeting with Mrs. Paulette Zonicle, Bahamas Consul General to Washington, D.C., at the Bahamas Embassy Consular Annex, 1025 Vermont Avenue, N.W., and later met with Dr. William Wegert, Dean of International Student Programs at Liberty University, and Dr. Robert Nettey, Executive Director, Center for Global Studies and International Education, Morgan State University.
The purpose of the working visit was to sensitize potentially relevant US-based entities to the vision for the University of The Bahamas and drum up support for accreditation, internationalization and faculty capacity building initiatives as the College transitions. This working visit is the first of its kind for COB under President Smith’s tenure and is a tangible demonstration of the College’s desire to “sprint towards the starting line” for university status and the Embassy’s mandate, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, to support the work of Bahamian policy-makers and officials in the United States.
The engagement with the OAS, in particular, has the potential to produce beneficial technical assistance in the areas of accreditation and internationalization and enhanced opportunities for faculty capacity building through scholarships and exchanges and has already resulted in the signing of an agreement to help develop a Peace Leaders Initiative to enhance citizenship competencies in children, adolescents and youth, and Bahamian society in general, through the training of educators.
