UVI Bulletin Board for February and March

All Bucs and Buccaneers home games are played in the Sports and Fitness Center on UVI’s St. Thomas campus. Admission for Saturday’s single game is $3 for adults and $1 for students. Children under 12 are admitted free. Admission Sunday, covering both the women’s and men’s games, is $5 for adults, $3 for students. Children under 12 are admitted free.

Members of the University community are encouraged to show their support for UVI’s student athletes.

UVI Opens LAI Action with ‘Past-Present,’ Celebrity Challenge Games — Presents $6,000 to Support Kidscope, Inc., Addelita Cancryn Gentleman’s Club UVI kicked off its fourth basketball season in the Intercollegiate Athletic League (LAI) on Saturday, Jan. 30, with the annual “Past-Present” game, featuring former UVI team members challenging the current Buccaneers men’s basketball squad. The 2010 Bucs struggled a bit early in the game, but came back strong to easily best the old timers in the second half. The UVI Athletics Department also raised $6,000 for two local non-profit organizations at a fundraising celebrity game prior to Saturday’s “Past-Present” game. V.I. community leaders, including members of the Virgin Islands Legislature, provided spirited competition and lots of laughs for appreciative fans. Following the game, the Athletics Department presented checks for $3,000 each to representatives from Kidscope, Inc. and the Gentleman’s Club of Addelita Cancryn Junior High. Funds for the presentations were raised by the sale of VIP seating for the “Past-Present” game. For more information on the effort, contact Sean Georges at (340) 690-1477 or Denelle Baptiste at 201-0739. Photos of the check presentation and of the celebrity team members are featured on the UVI Today Photo Blog… which is available from the UVI home page – www.uvi.edu.

Academic Leaders Convene at AASCU National Meeting in V.I. The Virgin Islands is the venue for the 2010 Winter Meeting of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Thursday, February 4 through Saturday, February 6, at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort on St. Thomas. The meeting, which is co-hosted by the University of the Virgin Islands and supported by the local government, brings together about 200 academic leaders to deliberate on the future of education in the 21st century.

The deliberations of the association’s focus groups will culminate with a Public Forum, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 5, at UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts. The Forum is scheduled for 3:15-4:30 p.m. A news release on the meeting is available from the UVI home page – www.uvi.edu

Expert to Speak on Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Friday, Feb. 5, at UVI In observance of Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, UVI’s Division of Student Affairs has invited Dr. Sir Prince Ramsey, a family physician in private practice in Antigua, to address the topic “HIV/AIDS in Caribbean Women and Their Offspring.” Dr. Ramsey will speak from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5, in the first-floor conference room of the Administration and Conference Center on the St. Thomas campus. His presentation will be featured via videoconference in Room 401 of the Evans Center on the St. Croix campus.

Dr. Ramsey has taken his personal and professional messages on HIV/AIDS to over 20 Caribbean countries and the United States. He is considered to be one of the region’s foremost experts on HIV/AIDS, and has been tagged as the “father of all AIDS fighters.”

The entire University community as well as the general public is invited to attend this event. The presentation is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, through the Minority Education Institution Initiative. It is sponsored by UVI’s Substance Abuse, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention Program in the Office of the Associate Campus Administrator for Student Affairs.

HIV/AIDS testing will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 8, at the UVI Bookstore parking lot on the St. Thomas campus. The testing is part of the local observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness. It is sponsored by the St. Thomas campus Health Services Center and HOPE Inc. For more information call Ronda Herbert at 693-1124.

UVI’s Reichhold Center for the Arts invites the entire University community to an evening of jazz under the stars at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6. The show features Grammy winners Patti Austin and Ramsey Lewis. Tickets are still available through the Reichhold Box Office by calling 693-1559. Visit www.reichholdcenter.com to sample music from these stars.

Call for Cooks Issued for 2010 Afternoon on the Green UVI’s Afternoon on the Green Committee has issued a “Call for Cooks” for the 2010 edition of the University’s annual “friend-raising” event scheduled for March 7 on the St. Thomas campus. Individuals interested in providing food dishes for the event and those who would like to work as volunteers are asked to call 693-1040.

VI-EPSCoR Issues Request for 2010 Incubator Grant Proposals The Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR) has announced its 2010 request for Incubator Grant proposals. VI-EPSCoR Incubator Grants support researchers in exploring new research directions related to the project focus on Integrated Caribbean Coastal Ecosystems (ICCE) as well as exploring research approaches for improving education and outreach outcomes.

Potential applicants should attend a one-day grant proposal-writing workshop scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Administration and Conference Center on UVI’s St. Thomas campus. VI-EPSCoR staff will be available to answer questions about the Incubator Grants Program. Limited assistance for travel is available for interested individuals on St. Croix. For more information, contact Program Coordinator Nick Drayton at 693-1239 or send e-mail to ndrayto@uvi.edu.

‘How to Pay for College’ Seminar Highlights Financial Aid Week on St. Croix The Office of Financial Aid on UVI’s St. Croix campus will conduct the annual Financial Aid Week Activities beginning on Monday, Feb., with an open house from 9 a.m. to noon in Evans Center Room 814. A highlight of the week will be a seminar titled “How to Apply for College” on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 6 p.m. at the Great Hall in the North West Wing. High school juniors and seniors, and their parents, are invited to attend. The seminar will provide valuable information on financial aid eligibility and programs such as grants, loans and scholarships. Assistance will also be providing for those who wish to complete the 2010-2011 Free Application for Federal Student Aid application.

See below for the schedule of Financial Aid Week Activities. For more information, call 692-4193.

Monday, Feb. 8 – Financial Aid Open House – 9 a.m. to noon. EVC 814

Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Promoting Financial Aid Office on Campus

Student Center Courtyard – 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Library Terrace – 3-6 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Seminar: “How to Pay for College” – 6-8 p.m. – NWW Great Hall

Thursday, Feb. 11 – Financial Aid One-on-One Workshop – 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. NWW 131. Registration is required as space is limited. To register call 692-4193 or 692-4251 or send e-mail to cferris2@uvi.edu or ajoseph2@uvi.edu.

RTPark Finance and Audit Committee to Meet Monday, Feb. 8 The University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park and the Research and Technology Park Protected Cell Corporation will conduct a meeting of the RTPark Finance and Audit Committee at 1 p.m. (AST) on Monday, Feb. 8. The session will take place at the RT Park office on UVI’s St. Croix campus. It will also be available via teleconference. To participate, or to get more information, contact Ingrid Santangelo at 692-4200. Seating is limited.

RTPark/RTPark-PC Executive Committee to Meet Thursday, Feb. 11 The University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park and the Research and Technology Park Protected Cell Corporation will conduct a meeting of the RTPark and RTPark-PC Executive Committee at 3 p.m. (AST) on Thursday, Feb. 11. The session will take place at the RT Park office on UVI’s St. Croix campus. It will also be available via teleconference. To participate, or to get more information, contact Ingrid Santangelo at 692-4200. Seating is limited.

St. Croix Friends of Denmark Offering Scholarship for Student Travel UVI students are invited to apply for a scholarship for travel and home stays in Denmark offered by the St. Croix Friends of Denmark. One scholarship for three weeks around July 24 to Aug. 14 for one student, between the ages 18-26, is available. This is a historical and cultural exchange in which the student will stay one week in Jutland and one week in Copenhagen. The student must have the intent of procuring a valid U.S. passport. All expenses will be paid. For application details, contact Dr. Aletha Baumann at 692-4177 at UVI. Finalists will be required to make an oral presentation in front of a panel of judges. The application deadline is Feb. 15. Applications must be mailed to the Friends of Denmark, P.O. Box 682, Christiansted, St. Croix, 00821. For further information, call 998-4147 or e-mail erezende@gmail.com.

UVI Students Invited to Apply Heyward G. Hill Scholarship UVI students have until March 1 to apply for the Heyward G. Hill Scholarship which is offered by the Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired (DACOR) Bacon House Foundation. The scholarship is opened to full-time students who are interested in the field of international affairs. Students must have a 3.0 grade point average, be at least a junior or senior and be an American citizen.

Applications are available at the Provost’s offices on both UVI’s St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses. For more information, contact Zaida Castro at 693-1200 (zcastro@uvi.edu) or Dr. Kula Francis at 692-4065 (kfranci@uvi.edu).

Additional Surveillance Cameras Installed on St. Croix Campus Additional security cameras were recently installed on UVI’s St. Croix campus. The cameras now provide an almost complete view of the exterior perimeter of the campus as well as the parking lots and outdoor tennis and basketball courts. The new cameras, which supplement existing indoor surveillance cameras, reflect a continuing commitment to campus security. They also follow the results of a campus survey in which safety was ranked the number one concern of students.

The cameras were funded partially by funds allocated during the Fiscal Year 2009 and this project was led by Security Supervisor Ralph Cook. For details call the St. Croix Security Office 692-4155, ext. 4444.

The Caribbean Writer Issues Call for Papers on Haiti; Deadline is Feb. 15 The office of The Caribbean Writer, which produces UVI’s annual anthology of Caribbean literature, has issued a special call for articles about Haiti. Accepted submissions will be featured in a special section to be included in Volume 24, the publication’s 2010 edition.

Individuals may reference their articles to Haiti’s on-going struggles and to how the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12 will impact their development. The deadline for articles on Haiti is Feb. 15. Articles should be prepared in the Microsoft Word or RTF formats and submitted via e-mail to: submit@thecaribbeanwriter.org. For more information, call 692-4152. Guidelines for submissions are available on The Caribbean Writer Web site – www.thecaribbeanwriter.org.

Application Deadline for Dell Thurmond Woodard Fellowship is Feb. 15 UVI students are reminded that the deadline to apply for the Dell Thurmond Woodard Fellowship is Feb. 15. This scholarship is for students interested in technology, public policy, ethics and diversity. The Dell Thurmond Woodard Fellowship, which is part of the Eben Tisdale Fellowship, is a summer internship available to undergraduate and graduate students. This Fellowship offers a $5,000 grant for students to intern in Washington D.C., where the latest in technology meets the public policy arena.

The Dell Thurmond Woodard Fellowship was created in memory of the late Thurmond Woodard, Dell’s former vice president of global diversity and chief ethics, privacy and compliance officer. The Summer 2010 Fellowship runs from June 14 through Aug. 6. The goal of the Fellowship is to create a supportive and collegial environment in which a new class of public policy professionals will be mentored to help ensure that the high-tech industry continues to have highly capable and well-trained individuals in both policy advocacy and senior management positions.

Those interested should use the Eben Tisdale Fellowship Application, available at www.tisdalefellowship.org, and follow the instructions for submitting an additional essay on ethics and diversity. For additional information, contact Jonathan Tilley at info@tisdalefellowship.org or call (202) 986-0384.

Big Read Program Offers Essay Contest for UVI Students The Virgin Islands Big Read 2010 program, part of a national effort to spur a return to reading, was launched Friday, Jan. 22, on St. John, where numerous supporters – including V.I. first lady Cecile deJongh and UVI President David Hall – were in attendance. (See photo in UVI Today… photo blog.)

One of the first activities of the program is an essay contest for UVI students. Students entering the contest will write an essay using one of the pre-selected themes from the novel “A Lesson before Dying.” The novel, by Ernest Gaines, is serving as the focal point of the campaign. Students have three weeks to register for the essay contest, from Jan. 25 through Feb. 12. The contest ends March 3. A free copy of the book is available for all registrants and the winner will be announced during UVI’s Charter Week. Registration forms and contest details are available in the Melvin H. Evans Center for Learning (library) on St. Croix and the Ralph M. Paiewonsky Library on St. Thomas.

As part of a national initiative to spur a return to reading, more than 100 free copies of the featured book are now available for pick up, while supplies last, at the Julius E. Sprauve Library. More copies will be available for loan from libraries throughout the territory. Community members will be brought together through a variety of related activities from now through the middle of June.

The Big Read Program is a partnership between the Department of Planning & Natural Resources – Division of Libraries and Museums, the University of the Virgin Islands’ Reichhold Center for the Arts and the IT Learning Resources and Student Technology Services Area, the Department of Education and the Virgin Islands Police Department.

UVI-Queen Mary 5K Walk/Run Slated for March 26 on St. Croix Members of the UVI community are advised that the 9th annual UVI-Queen Mary 5K Walk/Run will begin at 6 a.m. on Friday, March 26, 2010. For individuals who wish to park at the St. Croix campus, where the race concludes, transportation will be provided at 5 a.m. from the campus to Kmart, where the race begins. For more information, call 692-4236.

Spring Semester CLEP Test Dates Announced for St. Thomas Campus UVI students are advised that the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) test dates for the Spring 2010 semester has been finalized on the St. Thomas campus. CLEP will be administered on Feb. 3, March 2, March 18, April 7 and April 19, 2010, in the CATS computer lab (CA Building Room 123).

Students can register for the test at the Office of Access and Enrollment Services’ front desk, located on the first floor of the Administration and Conference Center. Test candidates must report to the test site no later than 9:30 a.m. on each test day with appropriate identification and form of payment. Acceptable forms of identification include a current driver’s license, state or Federal ID, a current passport, tribal ID card, naturalization card or certificate of citizenship.

The cost associated with CLEP is $72 (payable to College Board) per test and an additional administrative fee of $15 (payable to UVI prior to the test date). Payment must be made in the form of check, money order or credit card; cash will not be accepted. Students can email cmorris@uvi.edu for additional information.

Preparations Underway for Inauguration of Dr. David Hall The University of the Virgin Islands is preparing for the inauguration of UVI’s fifth President, Dr. David Hall, on March 6. Members of the Inaugural Steering Committee and Inaugural subcommittees are finalizing the arrangements for events that will take place throughout the month of March, including Dr. Hall’s Installation at the Reichhold Center for the Arts on March 6 at 6:30 p.m.

A number of public and VIP events are scheduled, which can be greatly enhanced by volunteer participation. Individuals who are interested in volunteering to assist with inaugural events and activities are asked to send an e-mail to: inaugvolunteer@uvi.edu

Inaugural information can be found by clicking on the INAUGURATION 2010 tab on the UVI home page – www.uvi.edu.

NSE Applications Available from Counseling Services Office Students interested in studying abroad through the National Student Exchange (NSE) program may obtain the NSE application and directory booklet from UVI Counseling Services office on the St. Thomas campus. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2010-2011 academic year. Interested students are encouraged to start the application process as early as possible. More information can be obtained from Counselor Supervisor Andrea Hamm, at 693-1136 or via e-mail at: ahamm@uvi.edu.

First Responders Sought for Advanced Incident Management Training In an effort to better prepare the territory in the event of any large-scale incident, the V.I. office of Homeland Security will offer a course in advanced incident management for emergency response supervisors and mid-to-upper level managers. The course – Advanced Incident Management/Unified Command (MGT-344) – will equip participants with the skills necessary to effectively plan for and manage large-scale incidents.

The two-day training will begin Thursday, Feb. 11, on St. Thomas and on Tuesday, Feb. 16, on St. Croix. Sessions will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the UVI-CELL Center on St. Thomas and the Charles Harwood Medical Complex on St. Croix.

The course addresses the most advanced incident management concepts, including multi-agency coordination, area command and other complex incident management solutions. Participants will learn to apply the Incident Command System’s Unified Command Concepts, and to how to manage a multi-agency response to an incident scenario.

The training is funded by a grant through the V.I. Office of Homeland Security and administered by the University of the Virgin Islands – Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning (UVI-CELL) Center, which serves as the official training center for the V.I. Office of Homeland Security.

For course prerequisites or to register, contact Ayopha Stalliard, UVI-CELL, at 693-1106 or Irvin Mason, V.I. Office of Homeland Security, at 626-2629.

Homeland Security Offers Threat, Risk Assessment Training Through UVI-CELL In an effort to better prepare the territory in the event of hazardous threats, the V.I. Office of Homeland Security will offer its three-day Threat and Risk Assessment (MGT-310) course through UVI’s Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning (UVI-CELL) Center on St. Thomas and St. Croix in February. The course will prepare emergency response managers and community leaders to conduct a comprehensive, capabilities-based threat and risk assessment for weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and hazards incidents.

On Thomas, the training will begin Wednesday, Feb. 17, and on St. Croix, it starts on Monday, Feb. 22. Course sessions will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the UVI-CELL Center on St. Thomas and the Charles Harwood Medical Complex on St. Croix.

The training is funded by a grant through the V.I. Office of Homeland Security and administered by the UVI-CELL, which serves as the official training center for the V.I. Office of Homeland Security. For course prerequisites or to register, contact Ayopha Stalliard at UVI-CELL at 693-1106 or Irvin Mason at the V.I. Office of Homeland Security at 626-2629.

UVI-CELL to Offer Course on Improving Test Taking Skills UVI’s Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning (UVI-CELL) Center will offer a new course in March designed to help individuals increase their chances of passing standardized tests and promotional exams. Test Taking Skills will be offered from 6-8 p.m., beginning March 1, at the UVI-CELL Center in Frederiksted, St. Croix.

The course is open to anyone with an interest in developing the confidence and skills needed to maximize their test scores. Participants will learn effective strategies and techniques to study for and take tests, the importance of pre-exam readiness, how to correctly interpret test questions, strategies for determining correct answers, and more.

Financial assistance may be provided for qualified individuals through the V.I. Department of Labor. V.I. veterans may enroll in the class free of charge. For more information or to register, call the UVI-CELL Center at 693-1100 or visit cell.uvi.edu.

UVI-CELL Offers Course in Massage Therapy on St. Thomas Residents of the Virgin Islands with an interest in learning massage therapy are invited to register for a course to be offered in March by UVI’s Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning (UVI-CELL) Center. Massage Techniques with Complementary and Alternative Therapy will be held 6-9 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday beginning March 2. Sessions will be held at the UVI-CELL Center on St. Thomas.

The course will provide participants with an opportunity to explore a variety of therapeutic massage techniques such as Thai, reflexology, Ayuvedic, herbal and aromatherapy. Complementary and Alternative Therapy will be offered as a separate session for individuals who simply wish to learn more about the science and health applications of quantum physics, the natural therapy of sound healing, energy balancing, internal martial arts and more. For more information, call 693-1100 or visit the UVI-CELL Web site at cell.uvi.edu.