CFBC Board of Governors chosen; closer to university status

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH the establishment of a Board of Governors, the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) is a step closer to becoming an autonomous, full-fledged university.

The Ministry of Education announced today (June 26) that the CFBC Board of Governors has been constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College Act 2008. The move is in keeping with a deadline mandated by the Ministry of Education’s White Paper on Education Development and Policy, which provided for the Board’s establishment by June 2009.

Under the Act, the CFBC is expected to shift from community college status to full-fledged, university status within the next seven to 10 years. The Act also provides for stringent staff recruitment standards and the school’s eventual transition from a government institution to an autonomous tertiary institution.

Dr. Frank Mills, a Kittitian-born Professor of Social Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands, has been appointed Chairman of the Board. Dr. Hermia Morton-Anthony, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and past CFBC Principal, will serve as his Deputy.

A Ministry of Education communiqué revealed the identity of the Board’s other members, who will all be officially installed at a ceremony next month. 

It read: “Other members are Dr. Robertine Chaderton, Chairwoman of the Accreditation Board; Olivia Edgecombe–Howell, Head of the Federation’s UWI Open Campus; Dr. Bronte Gonsalves from the Ministry of Education in the Nevis Island Administration; Tapley Seaton, Q.C. of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce; Rev. Isaiah Phillip, Chairman of the St. Kitts Christian Council; Sonya Parry of the St. Kitts and Nevis Bar Association; Patricia Martin, CFBC Staff Representative and Calvin Duggins, CFBC Student Representative.”

The release further informed that a representative from the Ministry of Finance would be designated to serve on the committee. Osmond Petty, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, and Sonia McPhail, Acting CFBC Principal will be ex-officio members.