The University of the West Indies, Mona is pleased to announce the promotion of Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Faculty of Humanities & Education, Dr. Halden Morris, to the rank of Professor, effective September 23, 2015. 

Dr. Morris holds a diploma in Technical Education from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, the Bachelor of Science (BSc), Hons, in Electrical Technology (1981), the Master of Science (MSc) in Technical Education (Electrical) (1982), and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Occupational Education (1986)   from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA.

Since joining the staff of the Institute of Education (now integrated into the School of Education) in 1992, Dr. Morris has made an outstanding scholarly contribution in his field of expertise, particularly in the area of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Workforce Development.  

Building on his professional qualifications as an engineer and academic qualities as a researcher, Dr. Morris has produced a steady stream of research outputs that focus on TVET and workforce development in the Caribbean. His work has appeared in well-known journals in the field of technical and vocational education, providing information for a more practitioner-oriented audience and also with strong implications for policy makers and stakeholders involved in programme planning and implementation in the field. 

 His publications cover a wide spectrum including several peer-reviewed journal articles, chapters in six books, and he is the joint author for the peer-reviewed book, Fundamentals of Fault Current and Grounding in Electrical Systems.  He is also the editor of several journal and books including Issues in Career, Technical Vocational Education and Training: Lessons for the Caribbean.    He has contributed to awareness of the need for greater attention to be given to TVET at all levels of the education system to meet current and future development needs.

Through the Joint Board of Teacher Education (JBTE), Dr. Morris has provided a range of quality assurance and professional development services in TVET to teacher training institutions in Jamaica and the Western Caribbean region.  Dr. Morris is also an international quality assurance practitioner.  He serves as a PEV (Programme Evaluator) for ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology) in the USA since 2012. 

As an academic, Professor Morris has made a very strong contribution to undergraduate and graduate teaching programmes. He developed and taught the first TVET course at masters level at the Mona Campus in 1995.  More recently, Dr. Morris provided leadership in the development of the Master of Arts in Leadership in TVET and Workforce Development which is now offered at both Mona and St. Augustine Campuses.  Dr. Morris has also developed graduate courses for students who wish to pursue TVET research in the MPhil/PhD in Education programme at UWI.   He has an impressive record of supervision of research at the graduate level. He has, to date, supervised six candidates to the completion of their PhD and more than 40 Masters in Education candidates to completion of their research projects.

Dr. Morris has also provided wide-ranging service to the University. He has served as Head of the Institute of Education, Chair for the Joint Board of Teacher Education (JBTE) Examinations and Accreditation Committee; Chair of the Mona Energy Conservation Project and member of the Grounds, Buildings & Premises Committees, Appointments and Promotion and the Information and Communication Technology Committees. One of his more outstanding achievements is the organization and management of the first UWI/UNESCO Caribbean Conference in TVET and Human Capacity Development in 2012 which led to his assumption of several key roles in the Third UNESCO-UNEVOC International Congress on TVET held in China in May 2012. 

Dr. Morris’ public service includes membership of a number of boards of public institutions and organizations.  In recognition of his outstanding service to education and TVET in particular, he has received a number of noteworthy awards, among them being the Jamaica Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education (2009), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – USA Professional Service award (2008) and the IEEE-USA Regional Professional Leadership award (2007).