Elsa Ann Leo-Rhynie OJ (née Fairweather) is a retired

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n academic and university administrator who is a

professor emerita ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

of the

University of West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the Tertiary education, higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking Country, cou ...

(UWI). She is a former principal and pro-vice-chancellor of its

Mona, Jamaica Mona is a neighbourhood in southeastern Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, Saint Andrew Parish, approximately eight kilometres from Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. A former sugarcane Sugar plantations in the Caribbean, plantation, it is the sit ...

, campus.

Early life

Leo-Rhynie was born at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. She grew up in

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

, and attended the St Andrew High School for Girls. Leo-Rhynie completed her undergraduate education at the University of the West Indies (UWI), graduating with a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in botany and zoology. She later completed a graduate diploma in education and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the same institution. Until 1977, she worked as a high school science teacher, spending periods at

Haverstock School Haverstock School (formerly Haverstock Comprehensive School and Haverstock Hill School), is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located on Haverstock Hill in Haverstock, London, England. It is opposite Chalk Farm Un ...

(in England) and Meadowbrook High School (in Jamaica).

Academia

In 1977, Leo-Rhynie became a lecturer in educational psychology at the UWI School of Education. In 1987, she was appointed executive director of the Institute of Management and Production. She became the regional coordinator of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies in 1992, and in that capacity was co-author of the Jamaican report to the

Fourth World Conference on Women The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. At this conference, governments from around the ...

in 1995. Leo-Rhynie was appointed deputy principal of the Mona campus in 1996 and principal in 2006 – the first woman to have held both positions. She became pro-vice-chancellor and chair of undergraduate studies in 2002, and retired in 2007 as a professor emerita.Order Of Jamaica Awardee, Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie Tells Female Academics At UWI To Step Up To The Plate
''Jamaica Gleaner'', 20 October 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2017.

Honours

Leo-Rhynie was made a Commander of the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction (OD) is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Ac ...

in 2000 and inducted into the

Order of Jamaica The Order of Jamaica is the fifth of the six orders in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and it is considered the equivalent of a knighthood in the British honours system. Membership in the Order can be conferred upon ...

in 2015. In 2013, UWI named a new residence hall in her honour, the Elsa Leo-Rhynie Hall. In July 2017, she was awarded the UWI Chancellor's Medal – the first woman to receive the honour and only the sixth recipient overall.Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie awarded Chancellor's Medal
''

Jamaica Observer The ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by ...

'', 3 July 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leo-Rhynie, Elsa University of the West Indies alumni Academic staff of the University of the West Indies Academics from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican psychologists Jamaican women psychologists Jamaican educators Jamaican women educators Jamaican academics Educational psychologists Jamaican women academics