Five well-known cultural and entertainment personalities were among students presented with the first-time master of arts in Carnival studies at the 2012 Presentation of Graduates of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) held at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday.
They were:
• Lutalo Masimba (Brother Resistance), president of the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (Tuco)
• Musicologist Merle Albino DeCoteau
• Dance instructor Eugene Joseph
• Nestor Sullivan, manager of Pamberi Steel Orchestra
• Steelband and calypso adjudicator Roy Edwards
Also graduating from the inaugural class were Maria Clarke-Hoyte, Annette Fitzpatrick, Glenda Rose-Layne, Nirmala Singh, Sandra Jean Solomon-Cole, Gillian Stafford, Charlene Alison Thompson, and Nadene Nicol Valentine. The Carnival studies programme focused on Carnival as both a cultural product and a cultural practice unique to the multicultural society of T&T.
It provided a lens through which students came to understand the richness, aesthetic beauty and depth of the festivities relevant to Carnival in particular and the folk traditions of Trinidad and Tobago in general. The courses dealt with mas, masking and the masquerade; the history and evolution of the music and the instruments; and the management, business, development and spread of Carnival at home and abroad.
According to Dr Hollis Liverpool (Chalkdust), programme professor at the Academy of Arts, Culture and Public Affairs at UTT, the institution was the first university worldwide, to offer the programme as a course of study. Another personality among the 1,583 graduates was popular calypsonian Brian London who received the bachelor in sport studies with specialisation in sport management and sport for development.
Curtis Manchoon, chairman of the board of governors, in an address, challenged the graduands to consider whether they would limit their degrees to personal achievements or give them further relevance in relation to the nation's future.
"Education is not static, but must adjust itself to suit the needs of its present reality," he said.
"Too long has the university been deemed an esoteric space of learning and academia, separated from action. Through the triple helix model approach which promotes interaction among government, academia and industry, UTT has, and continues to provide you with a firm foundation of learning and industry, and relevant competencies."
He urged them to engage in entrepreneurship, considered by many economists and educators to be a key factor in economic growth. "With new technologies, resources and opportunities comes an overwhelming potential for creativity and innovation," he said.
"Each generation has the mandate to use what it has been given to improve its time. As graduates of UTT you have been given access to free tertiary education, a privilege that is not enjoyed the world over. You are educated and enlightened and, as a result, you should be bold, brave and compassionate in spreading your knowledge for the empowerment of others."
Lauded and welcomed as the first graduate from UTT to become a doctor of philosophy in petroleum engineering was David Lawrence Alexander, a chemist and petroleum engineer. He has done extensive research in the area of carbon dioxide sequestration with respect to fault leakage, and presented the work in the international arena. Delivering the valedictory address themed Forge Ahead was Parbatie Balkaran, bachelor of education.