March 15, 2008 — The board of trustees for the University of the Virgin Islands voted unanimously to create a criminal justice program at their first meeting of 2008 on St. Croix Saturday.
UVI will now offer Associate of Applied Science, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in Police Science.
There has been a police science and administration associate's degree program since 1967 or 1968, but it is small. Unsatisfied with the limited nature of the existing police study program, students and law enforcement organizations in the territory have requested full-fledged degree programs in Criminal Justice.
Act 6969, signed by Gov. John DeJongh Jr. on Oct. 10, 2007, gave UVI $250,000 to implement the program, which also offers scholarships for law enforcement officers. The first cohort of students in the revamped and expanded program is scheduled to begin in Summer Session I.
UVI President Laverne Ragster's term ends in June of 2009 and the board is preparing.
"As of this week we have truly formally launched the search process for the next president of the university," said board chairman Auguste Rimpel Jr. "The hope is that by the end of this year, a new person will be selected. But things happen for course and it could be earlier or later bay a few months."
The board unanimously approved a UVI operating budget for Fiscal Year 2009 with revenues and expenditures both at $51,776,783. They also authorized the University to request $39,218,859 from the V.I. Government's 2009 budget.
The board approved calling division heads "Dean of Division" instead of the current "Administrative Chair of Division." There was some discussion as to whether this change amounted to a disruptive restructuring of the institution, something some trustees felt has been a problem in the past.
UVI Provost Al Hassan I. Musah said no duties, powers or responsibilities are being changed, only the title. The titles were changed to make the nature of the position more clear to prospective new UVI hires. Musah said the old title is not used at other institution and has posed a major challenge for the university in its efforts to recruit qualified applicants for the positions.
The meeting was led by Rimpel, Ragster and board vice-chair Alexander Moorhead. The others present were: faculty representative Ededet Iniama; student representative Dwayne Petersen; Roy D. Jackson; Jennifer Nugent-Hill; Bernard Paiewonsky, Henry Smock; Audrey Thomas; Yvonne Thraen, Wesley Williams Jr. and Juanita Woods. All trustees except those on the board in an ex officio capacity were present.
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