 kara lord kara lord ms kara lord the newly elected deputy dean of the faculty of education and humanities is elated at the completion of her masters in instructional design and technology from the university of the west indies cave hill campus barbados in june 2018 ms lord s educational journey began at st gabriel s primary school in queenstown georgetown after which she pursued her secondary education at the st joseph high school also in georgetown like any other teenager her journey through secondary school had its challenges however she remembers a wonderful english teacher ms michelle montooth who became her mentor she was like a second mom to me she inspired and always encouraged me to work hard the early part of her childhood ms lord lived in kitty and later in north ruimveldt i lived a very sheltered life the only girl among four brothers and my parents were very protective of me she said generally i was not a spoilt child only spoilt with things related to school such as books however i was a happy child as a lecturer ms lord loves her students and her classroom interactions especially the day she walked into her class to find ms montooth that was a full circle moment for me she said with a smile the teacher had become the student and the student the teacher among her other mentors are her mom ms gillian lord she inspires me she is honest she is real and tells me like it is and she is very funny and professor paloma mohamed deputy vicechancellor philanthropy alumni and civic engagement at the university of guyana i aspire to one day be like her she is a young ambitious vibrant and a very strong leader she also draws inspiration from friends colleagues and students once it s something that i can learn from to guide my life s path i use it outside of academia she has lived a full life in 2011 she participated in the miss guyana universe pageant and won that same year she represented guyana at the miss universal pageant in brazil i try to live a balanced life she said during my leisure time i cook relax and spend time with my family i love to take my son to the movies  fulfilment and purpose having left secondary school the deputy dean wanted to become a counsellor so she pursued a bsc in psychology at the university of the guyana from 2006 to 2009 she didn t plan to be a teacher it just happened she joined the university of guyana family in 2011 as a parttime psychology lecturer and served in that capacity for approximately two years from 2011 to 2013 before becoming a fulltime member of staff from 2015 to 2016 ms lord pursued a postgraduate diploma in concentration higher education and immediately afterwards a masters in work and organisational psychology at nottingham university in the united kingdom from 2016 to 2017 i love what i do she enthused i have grown to love the profession and i am happy to work at the university of guyana some of the courses she currently lectures are psychology of adolescence and adult learning adolescence psychology guidance and counselling psychology of learning and development she also supervises undergraduate research she spoke positively of the opportunities to grow as a member of university staff by pursuing further education and research however she lamented the lack of awareness of psychology in guyana and believes more programmes are needed promote awareness of the diversity of the field she is passionate about the field of psychology i don t just want to be remembered as being nice and kind she said i want my legacy to be one where i will be remembered for having contributed to the enrichment of the lives of others but more so for having made great contribution to the development of psychology at the university of guyana and in guyana as a whole she believes in giving back to the community and contributing to the development of others i am inspired by purpose and being purposeful in life i want to give back and do things that will benefit other people my fear however is that i will not be able to do all the things i want to do because of time her solution is to take a onedayatatime approach the newly elected deputy dean is humbled by the confidence bestowed on her by her colleagues and hopes to bring a fresh approach to the operation of the faculty my vision for the faculty of education and humanities is harmony she explained there needs to be standardisation and harmonisation in order for us to function effectively i hope that we can set the standard as the experts on education and lead by example her recently completed masters also provided handson experience that will assist in the effective development of online courses as any university moves towards an online campus personnel with the necessary training capabilities and support mechanisms are required to provide online learning she explained it will also help to provide support to core fundamental knowledge courses such as evaluation and curriculum development on behalf of the vicechancellor the renaissance team and staff of the university of guyana congratulations are extended to kara lord on this special achievement  editor s note dr roslin khan is the new deputy dean of the faculty of education and humanities with effect from august 1 2019   copyright august 2019 by the public relations division university of guyana reprint permission must be requested from the public relations officer university of guyana  webmaster fri 8092019 1325 ms kara lord i am inspired by purpose i want to give back and do things that will benefit other people staff deputy dean of the faculty of education and humanities  