Jerome Miller-Vaz, head of the Western Region Open Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), and immediate past president of the Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel Association (CTLPA), has been recognised as a Diamond Honoree by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Foundation for her exceptional contribution to education.

Through its Diamond Honoree programme, the foundation annually recognises a small group of educators who have made significant contributions of leadership and scholarship to their institutions, to ACPA and to students.

One of 15 honorees

Miller-Vaz is one of only 15 individuals to be recognised as 2010 Diamond Honorees. In the words of one of her nominators: "The work done by Jerome while she was president of the Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel Association is significant and strongly reflects the core values of ACPA. She was instrumental in getting CTLPA represented on the Research Board at the University of Technology (UTech) Jamaica. This was a first for the Association."

Miller-Vaz is the first CTLPA president to launch two new chapters (Jamaica and Trinidad). She also saw to the beginning of the formation of a third chapter in The Bahamas.

Central monitoring body

During her tenure as president, she also did the initial work on establishing the headquarters for CTLPA. She stressed the importance of the stability this would bring to the association when there is a central body monitoring activities in territories thousands of miles apart.

Miller-Vaz has been assessed on her ability to educate and develop the total student and, as a result, she was recently promoted from senior administrative officer and head of the Ocho Rios centre to head of the western region of Jamaica, with responsibility for the total development of students in seven parishes and three divisions. She also assisted in the establishment of the UWI Western Jamaica Campus and is currently involved in the expansion of Open Campus.

The foundation is affiliated with ACPA College Student Educators International, an international association of 8,500 members. Through its programmes and annual appeals for funds, the ACPA Foundation supports ACPA's priorities for promoting student learning and helping to prepare students for a lifetime of learning and leadership.

CTLPA is an international arm of ACPA, started approximately 12 years ago at the University of the West Indies, Mona, as a professional organisation for student affairs/services practitioners in higher education in the Caribbean. Since its 'birth' the organisation has focused on training and development of student services/ affairs personnel, as well as helping to formalise student services as a discipline in tertiary-level institutions across the region.

The island nations of the Caribbean are among the most vulnerable countries to global environmental change e.g. sea-level rise and climate change. Jamaica, along with Cuba, Haiti, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, have set out to develop a computer model that can be used to describe and predict the impacts of development and climate change on coastal resources such as coral reefs, sea grass, beaches and coastal forests.

Located at Florida International University, the Caribbean Coastal Scenarios Project is largely funded by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) in collaboration with several global environmental interests.

Predictions possible

Scientists at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, are busy collecting information on the seasonal and yearly water flow, sediment loads (e.g. levels of earth washed into the river) and amount of pollution released into the sea. Orville Grey, a PhD student in the department of life sciences, is conducting the research under the supervision of Dr Dale Webber, principal investigator and director of the Centre for Marine Sciences, UWI, Mona. With the inputs from The Nature Conservancy and the National Environment and Planning Agency, the scientists, using their models, will be able to predict - with a great degree of accuracy - the likely effects of proposed developments on land and coastal resources.

As climate change occurs, it gets difficult to predict its impact on the environment. So things that the scientists know will happen as a result of climate change are also being fed into the model. Some of the things they include are rainfall, where and how much; by how much the sea level will increase; and how the increase in sea level will affect coastal properties.

The information currently being fed into the model is not limited to the information being collected, but will be supported by information from previous investigations conducted all across the island.

All the information gathered from these sources will be used to test the basic model located at FIU. The modified Jamaican model will then be used by UWI scientists to predict what will happen in the Jamaican setting.

With the help of local stakeholders (farmers, government and private owners), deliberate modifications in land use will be conducted while information is being gathered on any changes in water quality, sediment load and pollutants.

Project will increase understanding

The use of a credible model will therefore improve understanding of what happens to our coasts and the potential impacts from development as well as climate changes.

At the end of this investigation, scientists should understand and predict the impact of any changes made on land to the health and survival of our coastal resources. It means that very soon, scientists in these countries will be able to inform governments about the consequences of converting agricultural areas to housing developments or changing land use from sugar cane to citrus.