Female Firsts at the University of the West Indies (UWI) are in focus in the Spring 2019 issue of the Kreol international magazine, and the UWI Museum gets a look-in.
The article is titled First Ladies of the UWI, and it notes the outstanding contributions of Caribbean women in many spheres and at many levels – not least in advancing the development of the UWI; starting with the stalwart efforts of the first Chancellor, British princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. In her inaugural address at the UWI’s founding Mona campus in Jamaica, in 1950, Princess Alice noted her preferment as a first in the history of universities.

Kreol lists several women who have led the way at the UWI, through being first in a range of positions or through pioneering various initiatives or otherwise blazing trails, picking five to feature: Prof. Marlene Hamilton, first woman to be a UWI Pro-Vice-Chancellor; Prof Elsa Leo–Rhynie who was Principal of the UWI Mona Campus; Cultural Activist Carolyn Cooper who has broken bounds in areas relating to popular language and music; historian Verene Shepherd who heads the UWI’s Reparations Research Unit; and founding UWI Museum Curator Suzanne Francis-Brown. Click the link below to visit Kreol online and take a look:
“First Ladies” – of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica