Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Marina Ramkisoon is doing what she always wanted; lecturing and researching.

Marina Ramkisoon is doing what she always wanted; lecturing and researching.

Ramkisoon is 31 years old, and among the few young lecturers at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Trinidadian by birth, she attended the UWI St Augustine campus, in Trinidad, where she completed her bachelor's degree in sociology. After graduating with first-class honours, she got her first job at the university as a teaching assistant. A year later, she moved to Jamaica where she also worked as a teaching assistant at the UWI, Mona campus.

In 2001, she moved up to assistant lecturer. She is currently a lecturer and undergraduate coordinator in the psychology unit.

She notes that the type of work she does at the university is consistent with her personality. However, as with any job, there are challenges. Her main one is the lack of resources, but her reward is being able to impart her knowledge to students. "Also, to do meaningful research gives me some personal satisfaction," she said.

She notes that she uses a participatory mode of teaching in her lectures. "I never go to a class and just lecturer for a whole two hours or so; I get the students involved".

Ramkisoon has also worked on several research projects since her tenure at the university. They include; racial identity in Jamaica, pattern of child shifting (moving between homes) and a child's perspective of their father (being absent or present in the home).

She is currently completing her PhD in sociology at UWI, with her paper focusing on barriers to organisational learning. As it relates to her future, she sees herself continuing to become a professor in her field, and helping with the development of the psychology and sociology unit at the university.