Nigerian-born professor Jacob Opadeyi was yesterday selected to be the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG).
The decision came when the University Council gathered to review the recommendations made by the selection committee. A member of the committee, who preferred to be unnamed, said that Opadeyi was unanimously selected on Tuesday by the interview panel but the final decision had to be made by the council. The council last evening approved the recommendation and it was confirmed that Opadeyi was selected to take the office of the Vice-Chancellor. An official press conference to declare the results has been scheduled for today.
Opadeyi, who is a naturalized citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, is a Professor of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management. He is the Deputy Dean, Enterprise Development and Outreach, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
He obtained his qualifications at the UWI, where he was awarded an Executive MBA; The University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada, where he gained a PhD in Surveying Engineer-ing. Opadeyo also attended the University of Lagos, in Lagos, Nigeria, where he was awarded a M.Sc. in Surveying and also the B.Sc. (First Class Hons.) in Surveying. He also acquired a Higher National Diploma (Upper Credit) Land Surveying from the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Nigeria.
Opadeyi also has several publications, including, “A Systematic Approach to GIS Education and Training in the English-Speaking Carib-bean,” “Geographic Informa-tion Systems: an information management tool,” “The Land Surveying Degree Pro-gramme at the University of the West Indies: A Modular Approach” and “Geographic Information Systems, Expert Systems, and Computer-Aided Design: modern tools for data analysis, data management, decision making, and engineering design.”
UG union members told Stabroek News last evening that they are willing to work with Opadeyi and they are hopeful that he is bringing to UG a game plan.
The other candidates were Guyanese-born Professor Rory Fraser, Dr. Jaipaul Singh and Dr. Muniram Boodhoo.
Fraser is currently Profes-sor of Forest Economics and Policy at Alabama A & M University.
He is a graduate of the Uni-versity of New Brunswick, Canada, and Pennsylvania State University and has spent 34 of the last 38 years in the UK, Canada, Jamaica, and the USA either attending or teaching at universities and working in forestry-related fields. Since September 2009, he has worked on a number of projects related to the University of Guyana.
According to his bio-data, posted on the University of Central Lancashire website, Dr Singh gained a BSc (Major Biology and Minor Chemistry) degree from the University of Guyana in 1971. In September, 1970, he started the Postgraduate Diploma in Science Education and Management and was awarded with the Dip Ed in 1972 from the University of Guyana.
In 1974, he joined the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he did his PhD on a thesis entitled ‘Evidence for the involvement of intracellular cyclic nucleotides in the control of myocardial contractility’. He joined Preston Polytechnic (now University of Central Lancashire) in 1984. He gained professorship in 1993.
Meanwhile, Singh attended UG, where he acquired a BSc in 1971 and his Dip ED in 1972 before moving on to a teaching career. Singh left Guyana in 1974 for St Andrews University in Scotland and completed his BSc (Hons) in one year and his PhD in 1978. He then went on to complete his post doctoral research at St Andrews, Dundee and Liverpool universities.
