 ug press holds first editorial board meeting and charts course ahead ug press holds first editorial board meeting and charts course ahead ug press holds first editorial board meeting and charts course ahead webmaster tue 1302018 1923 the editorial advisory board of the recentlyestablished university of guyana press ugp held its inaugural meeting on saturday january 20 2018 at duke lodge duke street kingston georgetown and laid the foundation for its work this year and beyond the board which is headed by professor george ken danns of the university of north georgia and a former lecturer at the university of guyana ug is comprised of distinguished scholars and respected professionals from within and beyond guyana ugp was established in 2017 following the signing of a partnership agreement between the university of guyana and ian randle publishers of jamaica in addition to the local members the meeting was attended by members from belize jamaica barbados trinidad and tobago and from new york georgia and florida in the united states members from nottingham in the united kingdom jamaica and new york and connecticut in the usa joined the meeting by skype among the key outcomes of its work the board crafted ugp s vision mission and what we do statements to facilitate its operations and decided on 13 publication themes namely education for sustainable development ict economics trade and public policy public health and policy indigenous knowledge systems integrated natural resources management institutions and society food security social protection and policy climate change energy and the green economy globalization poverty and inequality restorative justice and disaster vulnerability and resilience each theme has subthemes in outlining its work plan for 2018 and beyond the board agreed to publish four sets of products books monographs scholarly journals and digital materials in relation to books the first is expected to be  dynamics of caribbean diaspora engagement people policy practice  which is one of the outcomes of the diaspora engagement conference hosted by the university in july 2017 his excellency president david granger has agreed to write the book s foreword in addition to manuscripts submitted for consideration ugp will also solicit works in keeping with its themes and reprint classics of guyanese history politics literature and other areas as regards journals it was decided to put on a firm footing the longstanding and respected university of guyana journal called  transition  which has had a chequered publication history working papers and occasional papers will be core monograph publications with the renaissance papers being a part of the occasional papers series the 2018 renaissance papers will publish the lectures delivered at the distinguished lectures named for distinguished professor cy thomas professor emeritus sister noel menezes and dr ulric trotz as well as the professorial lectures delivered by professors michael scott and paloma mohamed to boost ug s work in biodiversity and its support of the government s green state initiative the board decided to launch a new journal to be called  the guyana shield  and it established a task team to help implement the decision the team is headed by professor percy hintzen of florida international university and it includes dr ulric trotz of the caribbean climate change centre dr paulette bynoe and mr alim hosein from ug and dr david singh of conservation international the journal is expected to be a multilingual publication in addition to vicechancellor ivelaw griffith and board chair george danns the meeting was attended by ms christine randle ian randle publishers professor percy hintzen florida international university dr paulette bynoe ug professor gomathinayagam subramanian ug mr alim hosein ug dr annette insanally uwi mona dr kimani nehusi temple university dr keith nurse uwi cave hill professor olajide oladipo city university of new york dr david singh conservation international dr kelwyn thomas morehouse school of medicine dr ulric trotz caribbean community climate change centre dr joseph tyndall university of florida college of medicine and dr fitzgerald yaw ug while dr dennis canterbury eastern connecticut state university professor stafford griffith uwi mona dr penelope seibert university of nottingham and mr vivian williams vivian williams and associates new york joined the meeting by skype ian randle publishers managing director christine randle led the meeting s review of the work done so far on the ugp website which is expected to be released at the end of february a competition for a permanent ugp logo will be held soon as well vicechancellor griffith announced that the university of guyana press office will be staffed by the office of strategic initiatives with ms danniebelle mohabir serving as manager ugp also has a management advisory board which is headed by ambassador ronald austin director of the foreign service institute that board will hold its inaugural meeting soon board members applauded the formation of the press with several of them noting that it had long been promised indeed mr alim hosein recalled that his first job at ug in 1984 was to work with a ug press that never materialised according to vicechancellor griffith ugp is a historic milestone in the maturation of the university it is an integral part of project renaissance and it is intended to boost the institution s research enterprise and overall credibility he also noted that the research and publishing pursuits will not be limited to academic staff but will include postgraduate and undergraduate students especially those in the undergraduate research programme  ug in brief with a current enrollment of some 8000 students the university of guyana ug has graduated more than 20000 students who have gone on to successful careers locally regionally and internationally the university is also a major contributor to the national economy and to business and industry established in 1963 on a parttime basis with shared space at queens college ug moved to its own campus at turkeyen in 1970 and expanded in 2000 with the addition of the tain campus it now offers more than 60 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes including engineering environmental studies forestry urban planning and management business entrepreneurship tourism studies education creative arts economics law medicine optometry and nursing several online programmes are available and ug also offers extramural classes at four locations through its institute of distance and continuing education idce the ug also offers the opportunity for student engagement in debating sports and cultural religious and professional activities public relations division january 29 2018 press release university of guyana press 