New & Updated Items posted Jan. 22, 2008

General Meeting of UVI
Staff Council Being Rescheduled

The general meeting of the UVI Staff Council, originally set for Jan. 22, 2008, is being rescheduled for another date due to the extensive involvement of some of the officers in the preparation for the 2008 Agriculture and Food Fair on St. Croix, according to UVISC Chair Raquel Santiago-Silver. The UVI staff community will be informed of a new meeting date as soon as possible.

Denisa Wattley Named Coordinator
for Administration and Conference Center

John D'Orazio, executive administrator for UVI's St. Thomas campus, has announced the appointment of Denisa Wattley as the new building coordinator for the St. Thomas campus Administration and Conference Center effective today (Jan. 22). She can be reached as follows -- phone: 693-1259, fax: 693-1175, or email: djordan@uvi.edu.

First Public Meeting of USVI Guts
Project Scheduled Jan. 26 at UVI

The first public meeting for the project reviewing the state of knowledge concerning guts in the USVI is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 26, on the campuses of the University of the Virgin Islands. The session is expected to focus on three areas: 1) an update on the "state of knowledge" report, 2) issues to be addressed in a proposed Guts Management Plan, including appropriate strategies and implementation arrangements, and 3) a review of the scope and focus of the proposed demonstration project, including proposed sites and implementation arrangements. The meeting will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 302A of the Evans Center on the St. Croix campus and in room 213 of the Teacher Education Building on the St. Thomas campus.

Individuals planning to participate are asked to confirm by phone or email to Lloyd Gardner, by Wednesday, Jan. 23. Call 693-1208 or send email to lgardne@uvi.edu.

Reichhold Seeking Volunteers
for Playing Ring: In De Yard

UVI's Reichhold Center for the Arts is seeking volunteers from the University community to assist with the Playing Ring: In De Yard event scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30. Playing Ring: In De Yard will bring Virgin Islands cultural bearers and young people together. Students from all three islands are expected to attend. They will have the opportunity to learn about traditional toys and games -- such as jacks, tops, cocks and toe-toe-tom -- as well as storytelling. Volunteers, who will assist the cultural bearers, will need to be at the Reichhold Center at 7:30 a.m. Lunch will be provided. For details or to sign-up, call the Reichhold at 693-1550 or send email to ffenton@uvi.edu.

Playing Ring: 'A Fungi Jamboree'
Coming to UVI's Reichhold Center

UVI's Reichhold Center for the Arts offers the third installment of its wildly entertaining, educational and successful Playing Ring series on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008. "Playing Ring: A Fungi Jamboree," will take over the Reichhold grounds with the traditional marketplace – featuring local foods, arts and crafts – beginning at 6 p.m. The show, celebrating music and dance indigenous to the Caribbean, begins at 8 p.m. It will feature scratch bands from the Virgin Islands, as well as St. Lucia and Dominica. For details, to become a season subscriber, or to purchase show tickets, visit the Reichhold Center web site: www.reichholdcenter.com. A news release is available from the UVI home page - http://www.uvi.edu - or from this direct link.

Food, Arts and Crafts Vendors
Sought for Feb. 2 Playing Ring Fair

UVI's Reichhold Center for the Arts is seeking food and arts and crafts vendors to participate in the Playing Ring: Market Place Arts Fair scheduled for Feb. 2 on the Reichhold grounds. To participate, call Tasida Kelch at the V.I. Council on the Arts at 340-774-5984.

Miss V.I., UVI Student Janeisha John
Featured in 'Miss America' TV Program

Miss Virgin Islands Janeisha John, a student on UVI's St. Croix campus and former Miss UVI Ambassadorial Pageant contestant, is being featured in a four-part reality TV special that is following 52 beauty queens as they prepare to compete in the 2008 Miss America Pageant. Titled "Miss America: Reality Check," the program premiered on Jan. 4, on The Learning Channel (TLC). The show continues each Friday at 10 p.m. ET (11 p.m. local time) through Jan. 25. Details and a promotional video are featured on the TLC web site. The program is designed to entice viewers to TLC's live two-hour broadcast of the 2008 Miss America Pageant on Saturday, Jan. 26.

Members of the UVI Community who wish to support Janeisha John can do so by casting "viewer's choice" votes for her on The Learning Channel website: www.tlc.com/missamerica.

Upward Bound Offers After-School
Centers on St. Croix, St. Thomas

The Upward Bound Program at the University of the Virgin Islands will host After-School Homework/Computer Literacy Centers for high school students and their parents starting later this month. Assistance with English, math and science homework, and instruction in the basic principals of computer use will be offered. The centers will be open Mondays through Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the St. Thomas campus and from 5:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the St. Croix campus. Spaces are limited. Applications are available from the Upward Bound Offices on both campuses. For details, call 693-1133 on St. Thomas or 692-4182 on St. Croix. The center is funded by a Community Development Block Grant, through the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

St. Thomas 2008 Senior Class
Meeting Slated for Feb. 3

The next meeting of the 2008 Senior Class on UVI's St. Thomas campus is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 3 in room B-110. For details, contact Class President Gaetan Gentius at 277-0035 or send email to gaetanpresident@gmail.com.

Other Current Items ...

Application Deadline of Jan. 22
Set for UVI Calypso Competition

Tuesday, Jan. 22, is the deadline for members of the UVI community - students, faculty and staff on both campuses - to apply as a contestant in the 2008 UVI Calypso Competition scheduled for Feb. 29 on the St. Thomas campus. Cash prizes of $800, $500 and $400 will be presented to the first, second and third place winners, respectively. For details, contact the St. Thomas campus Student Activities Office at 693-1111.

Human Resources Releases
New Hires List for December 2007

UVI's Human Resources (HR) office has released the New Hires, Promotions, Change in Titles and Separations report for December 2007. The list has been posted on the UVI web site and is available from the HR link on the UVI Announcements web page - http://announce.uvi.edu - or from this direct link. These web pages are only available to individuals accessing the Internet via the UVI computer network.

Other Current Items ... (Cont.)

St. Croix Campus Affairs Forum
Scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 23

A St. Croix Campus Affairs Forum is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23, in the NWW Great Hall. Among the agenda items are searches to fill student affairs and student activities positions, new capital projects, a new health and wellness initiative, a prospective First Bank ATM on campus, an overview of spring orientation and institutional security enhancements. The forum is open to all students, faculty and staff. Light refreshments will be served.

Blackboard Training Offered
on St. Croix Campus on Jan. 24

A one-day series of Blackboard training workshops will be offered on UVI's St. Croix campus on Thursday, Jan. 24. (Workshops were held on Jan. 11 on St. Thomas.) To register, indicate by email to sdarrow@uvi.edu which workshop(s) you would like to attend.

NOTE: Access to UVI's Blackboard online course management system is available from this link: http://blackboard.uvi.edu.

Jan. 24 -- St. Croix workshops:
Venue - the Faculty Resource Room (Library 2nd floor):

• 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. -- Blackboard Basics: General overview for users with no prior Blackboard experience
• 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. -- Blackboard Basics
• 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. -- Blackboard Advanced: Overview of advanced features including the Gradebook, creating online tests and quizzes, the Discussion Board and plagiarism detection tools
• 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. -- Blackboard Advanced
• 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. -- Blackboard Drop In Session: Stop by with your questions and concerns.

VIMAS to Sponsor Blue Planet
Film to Mark Year of the Reef

In honor of the 2008 International Year of the Reef, the UVI-Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service (VIMAS) will sponsor a movie night featuring the Blue Planet film "Coral Seas" from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25, at the Great Hall on UVI's St. Corix campus. The public is invited to view this film which features beautiful underwater footage of coral reefs from around the world. The viewing is free. Free popcorn will be available and snacks will be offered for sale. The movie night will be an opportunity for the UVI and St. Croix communities to learn more about the International Year of the Reef and how to get involved in the local celebration of this worldwide event. Contact Emily Tyner at 692-4144 for details.

Spring Semester CLEP Tests Offer
Chance to Earn College Credit

CLEP - College Level Exam Program - tests will be administered five times during the spring semester at the University of the Virgin Islands. Successfully completing a CLEP test allows a student to earn college credit, saving money and cutting the time it takes to earn a degree. The tests are offered in more than 20 areas of study, ranging from accounting to chemistry to English literature. A complete list is available on pages 26 and 27 of the 2007-08 UVI Catalog - available online at http://www.uvi.edu/pub-relations/cat_07-08/index.html.

The next series of CLEP tests will be administered on January 30 on the St. Thomas campus. The registration deadline is January 28. Details for the St. Thomas campus tests are also available from this CLEP 2008 direct link.

The schedule for spring semester CLEP tests on the St. Croix campus will be announced as soon as it is confirmed.

Students can register for the tests at the Access and Enrollment Services Office in the Administration and Conference Center on the St. Thomas campus or the Academic Services Office on the St. Croix campus. The cost is $65 per test, plus a $10 administrative fee. Only checks, money orders or credit cards will be accepted for payment. For more information contact the UVI Admissions Office at 693-1168 on St. Thomas or the UVI Academic Services Office at 692-4103 on St. Croix.

UVI Prof. Linda Wymer Wins
Clute Institute Best Paper Award

UVI Humanities Professor Linda Wymer won a best paper award from the Clute Institute for Academic Research for her presentation at a recent conference in Florida entitled "Coordinating and Assessing English 100-WAC 011, Writing Across the Curriculum, and English 101-RCA 02, Reading in the Content Areas, as Developmental Interdisciplinary Courses at the University of the Virgin Islands." Wymer attended the College Teaching & Learning Conference held from Jan. 2-5 in Orlando. UVI professors Dr. Patricia Harkins-Pierre and Pat Hector also attended the conference. Prof. Wymer's paper is being reviewed for possible publication in one of the Clute Institute's eleven academic journals. The institute's conference is designed to provide a forum for faculty and administrators to share proven and innovative methods in teaching at the college level. For details, visit the Clute web site: www.cluteinstitute.com.

UVI CELL Notes ...

UVI-CELL to Launch Management
Workshop Series with AMA in February

The University of the Virgin Islands' Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning (UVI-CELL) Center will launch its newly developed Management Skill Series in February. The series is designed to help managers develop and refine the skills needed to manage the workforce more effectively. The first workshop in the ten-part series -- entitled "Leadership Skills for Managers" -- will kick-off Feb. 1 on both St. Thomas and St. Croix. All workshops will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the first Friday of every month. On St. Croix, workshops will be held at the Joseph A. Simpson Building, #23A Hospital Street in Frederiksted. On St. Thomas, the workshops will be held at the UVI-CELL Center on the St. Thomas Campus.

Participants will learn to: build teams; coach, mentor and reward employees; foster and develop new leaders; provide direction to turn an organization's vision into reality; stay the course in troubled times; and manage change.

The workshops are offered in collaboration with the American Management Association (AMA). Participants who complete six of the workshops will obtain a Certificate in Management Skills in the Workplace from UVI and the AMA. For details or to register, call 693-1100 or visit UVI-CELL on-line at http://cell.uvi.edu.

Taxi & Tour Certification
Program Set for February

Taxi and Tour Operators who wish to join their peers in receiving certification have the opportunity to once again qualify for certification through a six-week program offered by UVI's Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning Center (CELL). The next session is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, on St. Thomas. The program covers customer service, V.I. history and culture, points of interest and presentation skills. Training costs $250 and includes materials. Graduates are eligible for membership in the Certified Taxi and Tour Guide Association.

The certification program was developed by UVI-CELL and is endorsed by the USVI Hotel and Tourism Association and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. To register, call the UVI-CELL Center at 693-1100 or visit http://cell.uvi.edu.