Sir Kenneth a ‘practical visionary’
UWI salutes former principal, GG in renaming admin block
Published:Saturday | December 16, 2023 | 12:08 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
In a toast to a career dedicated to regional development on Thursday evening, the administrators of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, renamed the campus' administrative building in honour of former principal Sir Kenneth Hall.
Hall served a decade as principal and pro vice-chancellor of the Mona campus between 1996 and 2006 before retiring and taking up the post of governor-general.
Campus Registrar Dr Donovan Stanberry noted that it was only fitting that the building be named in Hall's honour, given that during his tenure as principal, he was determined to have all the Mona administrative arms under one roof and not spread across the campus as had been the case prior.
“I think Professor Hall has the distinction of being the only principal in the last 30 years to serve two full terms here at The University of the West Indies. That takes a lot of tenacity, a lot of patience, a lot of perseverance, and I hope that he would have set a trend, certainly an inspiration for our current principal, who has just taken on the mantle,” Stanberry said.
He applauded Hall for his vision of constructing the administrative complex even amid the tight financial situation the university found itself in during his tenure.
“And those of us who are here would know that that situation has lasted for a while,” Stanberry added, noting that he was now a beneficiary of the move and that he was pleased with the current set-up.
Professor Densil Williams, pro vice-chancellor and principal at the Mona campus, saluted Hall as a tremendous figure in the academic life of the campus, the region, and global academia.
“He's a visionary, but not just being visionary, he's a practical visionary, and he was able to balance vision and action in order to accomplish results ... It's a very rare characteristic, and for him to actually have displayed it, we say the heartiest of congratulations to Sir Ken,” Williams said.
He added that there is a broader context to Hall's work and vision.
“It draws me back to Peter Evans, who has a still fairly underdeveloped concept called 'embedded autonomy', but despite the underdevelopment of the concept from a very academic perspective, he made, in my view, a very germane observation, and this is what Peter Evans said, 'In order for countries to progress economically, institutional design plays a strong role in the success of most transitioning economies',” Williams told the gathering.
Left speechless
The celebrant for the night thanked the university for the honour, noting that he was left speechless despite spending most of his life as a professor, being able to speak without notes, and preparing three versions of what his response would have been on Thursday evening.
“The origin of that building started then – my first week at this campus ... The building came about mostly from a question I asked in my naivety, let me be clear. I noticed when there was a negotiation with the UAWU (University & Allied Workers Union), headed by then Dr Trevor Munroe, it was held off-site in a building somewhere, and I just couldn't understand it, so I asked one day quite naively, 'Why is this so?',” Hall recalled.
“The idea of having a centre, which would be orderly, which people could come and there would be the use of technology [was born],” he said. “And so this building is really a monument to the student-centred concept, but also a monument for the human resource side, and, for my side, it was the UAWU because when I heard you couldn't have a negotiation meeting with a large number of the staff on your campus in a place set out for them, I was just not able to absorb [that].”
Among the attendees were former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, former Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips, as well as other retirees and dignitaries.