Tributes - Professor Ajai Mansingh and Professor Aggrey Brown
Professor Ajai Mansingh
Professor Ajai Mansingh, affectionately
known to his graduate students as ‘The
Chief’, joined The UWI, Mona in the
Department of Zoology (now Life Sciences)
as a Senior Lecturer in 1973. Originally from
Fatehpur, India, Ajai Mansingh always stated
that he chose to make Jamaica his home
because of the opportunity it afforded him
to act on his innermost reverie, thus making
the contribution to mankind which he
considered an obligation.
For some 30 years, Professor Mansingh made
a significant contribution at Mona through
teaching and research in the fields of
entomology, and pest and pesticide
management. His research activities on
the environmental adaptations in insects,
the epidemiology and management of
various arthropod pests in Jamaica, pesticide
pollution and management, pesticide
ecotoxicology and the fate and persistence
of pesticide residues, contributed
significantly to the body of knowledge
in these areas.
After retiring from his post in Life Sciences,
he was appointed the first Executive Director
of the newly created Natural Products
Institute at UWI in 1999 and served in this
capacity until 2003. During his tenure,
he was instrumental in the establishment
of the International Society for the
Development of Natural Products and
served as the Founding President and
later as President Emeritus.
 |
His impact on the scientific community
will transcend generations because of his
role in guiding the development of young
minds in the field of science. He had a
unique and special relationship with each
of the 35 MPhil and PhD students that he
supervised. Being his student meant being a
part of his family and he was able to bring
out the best in his students through
tempered agitation glazed with subtle
praise. All his students were encouraged
to believe in themselves, associate with a
cause and not be afraid to push for
improvements that would redound to
the benefit of others. Students could rest
assured that even if they strayed into an
area with which he did not agree, they
would have his guidance and support in
realigning those thoughts and actions. This
extended to students who were not directly
assigned to his supervision but who were
strengthened by the encouragement which
he provided.
Those who interacted on a professional and
personal level with Ajai Mansingh were
often astounded by his forthrightness,
bedazzled by his astuteness and amazed by
his tenacious adherence to what he
considered a principled stance. This aspect of
his character earned him some derision but
far more admiration. He was never afraid of
controversy and frequently caused unease
among those with whom he interacted. As
his grandson, Atishai, said
in a tribute to him, “those who were not
bothered by him, were those who did not
know him.” Yet, it is this unease that spurred
many to find the inner strength
to change the course of their lives.
Professor Mansingh became known to many
undergraduate students as the Lecturer of
many stories. He always had a story or
personal experience that left some in awe
and inspired many through challenges they
were facing. He had an unusual way of
convincing the most doubting students that
they could pass his course. At no time did
he consider lowering the bar; instead, he
convinced them that with his guidance,
they could rise to the bar. As a Lecturer in
Entomology, he often had to deal with
entomophobia among students and had
some peculiar ways of helping them
overcome this. While others thought these
methods were strange and sometimes risky,
many past students attest to the success of
these tactics in helping them to overcome
their fear.
Professor Mansingh willingly shared his
wealth of knowledge and experience. He
served as consultant to the World Bank
in the development of policies for the
management of pesticides and toxic
chemicals in Central America and the
Caribbean; to the Caribbean Environmental
Trust, where he guided the training of
stakeholders in the management of
pesticides in the environment; and as a
director on various committees and
statutory boards.
In recognition of his contributions to science
and the wider society he was appointed a
Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (India),
awarded the National Silver Musgrave Medal
for contributions in the field of Science and
Environment in Jamaica and the National
Trust of Jamaica Award for heritage
publication.
Ajai Mansingh was passionate about Indian
heritage and culture, dedicating 40 years
towards promoting an awareness of these in
the Caribbean. He influenced the perception
of Hinduism and Indians in general, through
several writings on Indian heritage in
Jamaica and its influence on Jamaican
society. His most extensive work on this was
the book “Home Away From Home - 150
years of Indian presence in Jamaica”, coauthored
with his wife, Laxmi Mansingh.
He frequently stated that his publications on
these issues were written with the sole aim of promoting Inter-racial harmony in
Jamaica, through knowledge and
understanding.
Professor Mansingh has made a significant
and lasting contribution and subsequent
generations will benefit from his body of
work. We hail Professor Ajai Mansingh, an
adopted son of Jamaica and an outstanding
member of the UWI community.
Professor Aggrey Brown
The UWI, Mona deeply regrets the
passing of former Director of CARIMAC
and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities & Education, Emeritus Professor Aggrey
Brown, on Wednesday, November 24, 2011.
A graduate of Cornwall College, Brown
obtained the BA degree in Political Science at
the Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota;
and, by 1973, he was also the proud recipient
of the MA and PhD degrees in Political
Science from the prestigious Princeton
University. Before completing the doctoral
degree, however, he had held various
teaching positions at the following tertiary
institutions in the United States: Howard
University, The State University of New Jersey,
and the City University of New York.
Equipped with these academic qualifications
and experiences, Aggrey Brown joined the
Extra-Mural Studies Department (Eastern
Jamaica) of the University of the West Indies
in 1974. He worked there until 1979 before
moving to the Caribbean Institute of Media
and Communication (CARIMAC) as Professor
and Director. His remarkable contributions to
the scholarship of Media and Communication
Studies were accomplished between 1979
and 2002 when he was in CARIMAC in that
dual capacity. The curricula in Media and
Communication Studies currently available at
the Mona Campus of the UWI are traceable,
directly or indirectly, to his academic and
administrative leadership of CARIMAC. Here is
one fitting recognition, among others, of his
contributions to the development of this
discipline by one of his former students:
“Through your pioneering work in media and
communication in the Caribbean, media and
communication education, the impact on
culture of communication, the role of
communication in development, the role of
media in development and the role of media
in informing and educating, you have
influenced significantly the direction of
research and policy formation related to
media and communication in the Caribbean.”
 |
Professor Brown was successful as a teacher
in part because he was also an efficient
researcher who contributed several refereed
journal articles and book chapters, including
sole authored and co-authored books, to the
advancement of scholarship in Media and
Communication Studies. Given his acclaimed
pioneering successes as an academic and
administrator at CARIMAC, he was
subsequently appointed Dean of the Faculty
of Humanities and Education in 2002. In that
capacity, he continued to offer academic and
administrative leadership in curricula
development in the various disciplines within
the Faculty of Humanities and Education. In
recognition of his competencies in Communication
Studies, including his robust, broad
and holistic understanding of the scholastic
enterprise beyond the Faculty of Humanities
and Education, Brown was appointed the
Public Orator of the Mona Campus between
2002 and 2005. His performances as Public
Orator, especially during graduation
ceremonies, delightfully demonstrated his
erudition as a communication specialist and
an academic who understood fully the
University’s role and place in society.
Professor Brown was also a practising
journalist and a social critic who always
sought to reform society through his craft.
Between 1974 and 1989, he was a regular
Commentator/Talk-Show Host (“The Public
Eye”) on Jamaican Radio and Television, as
well as a Newspaper Columnist with the
Jamaican Daily News. He was also a TV
Cameraman and a Radio Announcer at
different points in his illustrious career as a
communication practitioner. In this sense,
Brown was able to make the connection
between the theories of Communication,
which he taught effectively in the classrooms,
and the professional practice of journalism as
a newspaper reporter, a radio announcer, and
a TV cameraman, all rolled into one. He was
indeed an exemplar and trail blazer in the
communication discipline and profession in
Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.
His contributions to nation-building through
public service were equally impressive. Since
1981 Brown has always been consulted by
national, regional, and international agencies,
such as CARICOM, CBU, and UNESCO, on
matters relating to media and media
development in the Caribbean. His
reputation, however, went beyond the
Caribbean. In December 1981, for example,
he was the expert advisor to the UNESCO
Monitoring Group for Communication in
Latin America and the Caribbean, including
Quito and Ecuador. Here at home, Brown’s
services and expertise have been engaged by
the Government of Jamaica at different
times. He has been, among others, a member
of the Public Education Committee, ODPEM,
between 1999 and 2006.
In 2002, in recognition of his contributions
to nation-building, Aggrey Brown was
conferred with a badge of honour by the
Government of Jamaica, Commander of the
Order of Distinction (CD); while the Mona
Campus, after his retirement in 2007,
befittingly conferred on him the title of
Professor Emeritus. The entire University
Community mourns the passing of this
illustrious son of Jamaica and wishes to
express its sympathies to his wife, Dr. Suzanne
Francis-Brown, and other members of his
family.
|
