Cabinet Approves Appointment of Burchell Whiteman to Utech Council

Cabinet has approved the appointment of Ambassador Burchell Whiteman to the Council of the University of Technology (UTech).

The Council is the supreme university body and has legal responsibility for all appointments and promotions, and for the maintenance of standards.

Minister with responsibility for Information, Senator the Hon. Sandrea Falconer, told Wednesday’s (July 9) Jamaica House press briefing that the vacancy had been created on the University Council as a result of the secondment of Professor Errol Morrison to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining.

Professor Morrison will serve as Chairman for the National Commission on Science and Technology (NCST).

Ambassador Whiteman is currently the Acting President of UTech and will serve on the Council until February 2015 when Professor Morrison’s contract expires.

Ambassador Whiteman, a past principal of the Brown’s Town Community College in St. Ann, is saluted as one of the pioneers of the community college system in Jamaica.

He was also credited for seeing to the provision of the necessary academic, administrative, and support staff the colleges needed to expand their programme offerings, while he served as Minister of Education.

He is also former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) and current advisor to Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller.