The Council of the College of The Bahamas is hoping to choose a new president for the tertiary level institution “as soon as possible and move further ahead with its goal to attain university status within the next two years.
Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt on Monday cut the ribbon to officially open a new COB complex as college officials and invited guests look on. Council Chairman Franklyn Wilson gave that assurance yesterday as he noted that the process is one that is very deliberate and very careful.
“So far, all of the stakeholders of the institution – namely students, faculty, middle management, the support staff and the Northern Bahamas campus – all these people have had an opportunity to interview the candidates and offer points of view,” Mr. Wilson said.
“The point is we are being very deliberate and we will soon as we possibly can advise the country of our final decision.”
According to Mr. Wilson, two candidates have applied for the top post – the college’s Acting President Dr. Rhonda Chipman-Johnson and Vice President of Research, Planning and Development, Dr. Pandora Johnson.
“We advertised, but they were the only two people who responded to the ad,” Mr. Wilson explained.
“So the point is we are considering those two candidates. Of course, there are all sorts of implications that we could consider and that’s what we are doing-But we hope today demonstrates for all to see that life at the College of the Bahamas continues. The institution is being well led.”
Mr. Wilson gave that update to the press only minutes after the official opening of COB’s new complex just opposite the institution’s main campus on Thompson Boulevard.
Bringing the keynote address at the event, Education Minister Alfred Sears expressed hope that those who take advantage of the complex’s services will do so cognizant of the fact that they are part of an investment.
“Because adequate library and other print and electronic learning resources and services are essential to teaching and learning in modern societies, an education institution must ensure that the requisite resources are available to all faculty members and students wherever the programmes or courses are located, and however they are delivered,” Minister Sears said.
“Additionally, the institution must ensure that all students and faculty members have access to a broad range of learning resources to support its purpose and programmes.”
The refurbished tri-purpose education complex houses three of the college’s major new revenue growth projects: a two-storey bookstore called Chapter One; a specialty café named First Edition; and a business centre named Copy Right.
Officials said together these will increase the college’s ability to expand academic enterprise, provide services to the community and generate new revenue.
The bookstore will feature a collection of some 25,000 holdings and an author-signing section. It will also have available newspapers, magazines, novelty items, artwork, COB’s logo items, office and schools supplies.
The Business Centre will be a one-stop shop for copying, binding and laminating, according to officials. There are three conference-type rooms and two lecture theatres for short-term rental.
Housing seven conventional classrooms, the newly acquired space will be occupied by faculty and staff of the schools of Education and Social Sciences and a Department of Graduate Studies. They will benefit from 34 faculty offices, four administrative offices and support staff and an office for the President Emeritus Dr. Keva Bethel.
Provision has also been made for children and their parents through a children’s centre – Little Pages – to enjoy two-hour stints of activities, reading, browsing and shopping.
Property for the new college complex was acquired at a cost of $3.2 million, diverted from capital expenditure reserves.
When COB completed its purchase of the former Boulevard Building, the institution became a landowner for the first time in it 30-year history. Previously, all properties occupied by the institution were vested in the Public Treasury.
Dr. Chipman Johnson announced that “very early in the new year”, the complex will be officially named in honour of Archbishop Michael Eldon, who has given much to the advancement of the growth and development of the college.
The acting president also stressed the importance of the college reaching its goal of attaining university status in two years – an idea she said that is not the expensive and wasteful dream of academics, but one that it is essential to the high quality growth and development of the country.
“A university offers a wider range of programmes, a wider range of post-graduate degrees, a stronger research base with commensurate output in publications and other yields, greater access, greater cultural diversity,” Dr. Chipman Johnson explained.
“Most important a university is a stronger brand than a college in the marketplace and will attract more persons and more of the dollars we need to accomplish the foregoing list of needs.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
