University of Guyana

University of Guyana
Entrance to the University of Guyana
Established	1963
Type	Public University
Chancellor	Bertrand Ramcharan
Location	Georgetown, Guyana
Colours	Green
Nickname	UG
Affiliations	IHSE
Website	www.uog.edu.gy

The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is a public university established in 1963 by the Guyanese government.

History

Cheddi Jagan, then Premier of British Guiana, considered that the University of the West Indies, to which his government had contributed since 1948, was not meeting the demand of his countrymen for higher education. On 4 January 1962, Jagan wrote to Harold Drayton, then in Ghana, to ask him to seek the advice of W.E.B. DuBois on starting a new university.^[1][2]

Drayton returned to British Guiana in December 1962, and it was on his advice that Jagan wrote to socialist scholars in the United Kingdom and United States, including Joan Robinson at the University of Cambridge, Paul Baran at Stanford University, and Lancelot Hogben at Birmingham to involve them in the recruitment of staff.^[3]

The University opened on the grounds of Queen's College in late 1963. Its first chancellor was Edgar Mortimer Duke and its first Principal and Vice-Chancellor was the British biologist and mathematician, Lancelot Hogben.

Organisation and structure

The university is divided into a number of faculties:

• School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Director - Shanomae Rose

Coordinator - Linda Johnson-Bhola

• Faculty of Natural Sciences

Dean - Gary Mendonca

Assistant Dean - Medeba Uzzi

• Faculty of Social Sciences

Dean - Paloma Mohommed

Assistant Dean - Sharon Roopchand Edwards

• School of Education and Humanities

Dean - Claudette Austin

Deputy Dean - Bonita Hunter

• Faculty of Health Sciences

Dean - Emanuel Cummings

Assistant Dean - Davon Van-Veen

Director - Madan Rambaran

• Faculty of Technology

Dean - Verlyn Klass

Assistant Dean - Elena Trim

• Institute of Distance and Continuing Education
• Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

It also contains the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education.^[4]

Notable people

Alumni

• Mahadai Das, Guyanese writer
• M. Jamal Deen, FRSC FCAE FINAE, Professor and Senior Canada Research Chair, McMaster University, Canada
• Odeen Ishmael, Guyanese ambassador Venezuela, formerly to the United States and the Organization of American States
• Denis Williams, Guyanese painter and archaeologist

Faculty and administrators

• Prem Misir, Pro-Chancellor and Professor in Public Health
• Joyce Sparer Adler, American critic, playwright, and teacher, as well as a founding faculty of the University in 1963
• Joel Benjamin, former deputy Librarian and archivist at the University
• Derek Bickerton, former lecturer, now Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at University of Hawai'i, Honolulu
• Janette Bulkan, Guyanese professor and activist of international environmental human rights; visiting professor at Colby College
• Harold Drayton, key advisor to Jagan on the founding of the university, Guyanese scientist, former Deputy-Principal and Professor of Biology
• Michael Gilkes, Guyanese writer and academic
• Stanley Greaves, Guyanese painter, former head of Creative Arts at the University
• Richard Hart, Jamaican lawyer and politician
• Lancelot Hogben, English zoologist and geneticist
• Abdur Rahman Slade Hopkinson, Guyanese writer and professor at the University (1966–68)
• Basdeo Mangru, Guyanese historian; current faculty of City University of New York, York
• Ali Mazrui, African and Islamic studies academic
• Dr Mark Pelling, Reader in Human Geography, King's College, London
• Marie Philipneri, M.D., M.P.H. Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Director of Outpatient Dialysis Program, Saint Louis University School of Medicine
• Clem Seecharan, Guyanese writer
• Bertrand Ramcharan, current Channcellor of the University
• Shridath Ramphal, former Guyanese foreign minister (1972–75) and the second Commonwealth Secreteary General (1975–90)
• Walter Rodney, Pan-African writer and political theorist
• Rupert Roopnaraine, Guyanese writer, politician and academic
• Dr Joycelyn Loncke, Guyanese Linguist, teacher of French Language.

See also

• University of Guyana Berbice Campus

References

External links

• University of Guyana official website
• Institute of Distance and Continuing Education Official Website
• Establishment of the University of Guyana (Guyana.org)
• The Mittelholzer Foundation

v t e Education in Guyana Secondary Schools List of schools in Guyana Anna Regina Multilateral Berbice High Bishops' High Hindu College (Cove and John) Mackenzie High North West Port Kaituma President's College Queen's College Santa Rosa St Rose's St Stanislaus Private Secondary Schools Marian Academy Georgetown International Academy School of the Nations Universities and colleges List of universities and colleges in Guyana Cyril Potter College of Education Guyana School of Agriculture The Business School Guyana University of Guyana Initiatives Guyana Education Access Project

Coordinates: 6°48′44″N 58°07′02″W / 6.81225°N 58.1171°W / 6.81225; -58.1171