Professor Densil A. Williams is the new Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal at The UWI Five Islands

Regional
Headquarters Jamaica. Tuesday, May 19, 2020.
The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is pleased to announce
the appointment of Professor Densil A. Williams as Pro
Vice-Chancellor and Principal of its Five Islands Campus, located in
Antigua and Barbuda. His appointment was approved by the University
Council at its meeting on May 13 and the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda has indicated its keenness to work with Professor Williams in
advancing the Five Islands Campus as a key objective within The UWI’s
strategic plan. His appointment is for a period of three years,
commencing the 2020/2021 academic year and he has accepted the
position in addition to his current portfolio as Pro Vice-Chancellor
for Academic, Industry Partnerships and Planning at The UWI.

This decision of
assigning this dual role is part of The UWI’s cost-cutting and
containment strategy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The regional
university is reviewing the structure and cost of leadership at the
campus level and the selection of a new principal for Five Islands
Campus is central to this review. In this instance, the merging of
portfolios for Professor Williams will allow him to integrate the
future of the Five Islands Campus within a broader “ONE UWI”
strategy.

Prior to his
appointment, Professor Williams was one of the lead authors of The
UWI Five Islands Campus’ feasibility study which was approved by
the University Council. He has remained active in the affairs of the
Five Islands Campus and is Chair of its Infrastructure Committee,
which negotiated with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for a
grant of over US$20million to build out the Campus’ infrastructure.

During his tenure
as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, Professor Williams will
provide leadership on multiple strategic objectives, including
project management in order to maintain compliance with the business
model on which the Campus was established; maintaining effective
operations; and collaborating with the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda in building out a cost effective infrastructure and HR
architecture.

Professor Williams
succeeds Professor Stafford A. Griffith who took on the role as
Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal from August 15,
2019. Professor Griffith’s tenure ends on July 31, 2020. The UWI
extends its gratitude to Professor Griffith for his superb
contributions to the establishment and running of the Five Islands
Campus over the past year.

More about
Professor Densil A. Williams

Professor Densil A.
Williams has built a career in business and academia for almost 20
years. A UWI alumnus, he completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s
degrees at the Mona Campus. He graduated with a B.Sc. (First Class
Honours) in Economics and Management Studies in 1999, an M.Sc. in
International Business in 2001 and then moved on to the University of
Manchester in the UK to pursue his Ph.D., which he earned in 2006.

Following a stint
in the private sector, Professor Williams served The UWI since 2007
in a number of roles at the Mona Campus. Among these include as
taskforce member on the Response to The UWI Strategy 2007-2012 at the
Department of Management Studies; a member of the committee which
designed and implemented the M.Sc. in Agricultural Entrepreneurship
offered jointly by the Department of Management Studies and the
Department of Life Sciences; Chairman for the Research Committee in
the Department of Management Studies; Head of Department of
Management Studies; Deputy Executive Director and then Executive
Director at Mona School of Business and Management. More recently,
since 2016, he held the portfolio of Pro Vice-Chancellor, Planning,
which involves oversight of The UWI’s Strategic Plan and
institutional research to enhance the operational and strategic
direction of the regional University.

At the same time,
Professor Williams taught undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral
level courses and provided postgraduate research and supervision to
many students. He has also developed new courses in corporate
strategy and international entrepreneurship at Mona. In addition to
teaching and administration, throughout his tenure at the University,
he has contributed to extra departmental service, participating,
chairing and co-chairing a wide range of committees.

He holds over a
dozen awards for scholarship, research and publications. He was a
Government of Jamaica Exhibition Scholar, a Jamaica Flour Mills
Scholar, A Lome IV Scholar and a Commonwealth Scholar. He has also
earned two Principal’s Awards for ‘Most Outstanding Researcher’
in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Mona.

Professor Williams
boasts an impressive record of public service, research and scholarly
work. His general area of academic specialisation is international
business and he has authored five books, over 30 refereed journal
articles, 27 peer reviewed papers conferences and scientific papers,
a book chapter and an edited collection. He is also a member of
several regional and international associations. Outside University
life, he has served on a number of boards of state entities, private
sector boards and committees, regional as well as international
editorial boards.