Government nominates Professor Nigel Harris for UG Chancellor

JUNE 30, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

The University of Guyana (UG) operations without a Chancellor for a few years could soon be remedied if Government is allowed to have its way.

Professor Nigel Harris (left) in the company of Minister Rupert Roopnaraine

A statement out of the Ministry of Education yesterday said that Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, has announced that it is the Government’s intention to have Professor E. Nigel Harris, nominated through its representative on the Council to serve as Chancellor of the University. Professor Harris served as Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (UWI) from 2004 to 2015. Prior to serving as VC at UWI, he was Dean and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. He has held several leadership posts including Chairman of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) (2006 -2014); Chairman of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (2011-2013), and he is currently President of the Caribbean Association of Universities, Colleges and Institutes (UNICA) and administrative board member of the International Association of Universities (IAU) –a consortium of over 600 universities around the world. He is a rheumatologist who is best known academically for identifying with collaborators a disorder called the Antiphospholipid Syndrome and for developing the test for its diagnosis – he has published extensively on these subjects. While he was Vice Chancellor, UWI sent several teams to UG to assist in areas such as Strategic Planning, updating the Library and ICT system, an audit of UG’s finances, restructuring the Human Resource Department, and curriculum reform. UWI also collaborated with UG to win grants from the Europe Union and to deliver a few postgraduate programmes. Professor Harris is Guyanese by Birth and was educated at Queen’s College (1955 -1964); Howard University (BS-Chemistry (1965-1968)); Yale University (M.Phil- Biochemistry (1968-1970)); University of Pennsylvania (MD (1973-1976)) and the University of the West Indies (DM -(1977-1981)). He is married to Dr. Yvette Williams-Harris, who is Guyanese by birth. They have three children and five grandchildren. The last Chancellor of UG was Professor Compton Bourne who was appointed in 2009. This marked the appointment of the eight UG Chancellor. Although he was re-elected to the position in 2012 he resigned days after his appointment amidst protest by staffers who claimed that he was inefficient.