Stephen Charles Vasciannie (born 17 January 1960) is a

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 law professor. Formerly Deputy Solicitor-General and principal of the

Norman Manley Law School The Norman Manley Law School is a law school in Jamaica. Building and location The Norman Manley Law School is located on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, yet it is a distinct and separate institution. Its building, design ...

, Vasciannie served as Jamaica's Ambassador Extraordinary and

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

until he stepped down to return to academic life.

In politics and government

Vasciannie was one of the founding members of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) along with former Prime Minister of Jamaica

Bruce Golding Orette Bruce Golding (born 5 December 1947) is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to ...

. He served as Deputy Solicitor-General until 2007. The Public Services Commission recommended that year that he be appointed Solicitor-General, however, Golding, whose relationship with Vasciannie had deteriorated since Golding's departure from the NDM, did not accept Vasciannie's nomination; instead, Golding fired all the members of the commission, and the new commission members appointed chose Douglas Leys to assume the office of Solicitor-General instead. Preceding the People's National Party victory in the 2012 general election Vasciannie was named Jamaica's ambassador to the United States in June 2012, and succeeded Jamaican businesswoman

Audrey Marks Audrey Patrice Marks (born 30 April 1968) has served two terms as Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2012 and again starting in 2016. She is Jamaica's first female Ambassador to the US and the first individual to hold the pos ...

, who was appointed under the Golding administration.

Other activities

In 2006, when Dehring Bunting and Golding (DB&G) was purchased by the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (), operating as Scotiabank (), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five banks, it is the third-largest Canadian bank by deposits and ...

, the new owners appointed him DB&G's new

chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

. That year he was also elected to his first term as a member of the United Nations

International Law Commission The International Law Commission (ILC) is a body of experts responsible for helping develop and codify international law. It is composed of 34 individuals recognized for their expertise and qualifications in international law, who are elected by t ...

(UNILC). He was appointed principal of the

in July 2008 after the death of Keith Sobion. In 2010,

Anglican Diocese of Jamaica The Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a diocese of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. It was originally formed as the Diocese of Jamaica, within the Church of England, in 1824. At that time the diocese included th ...

Bishop Alfred Reid wrote to him to ask him to serve as chairman of the board of governors of Kingston College, which he accepted, succeeding Crafton Miller. He was elected to a second term on the UNILC in November 2011. He is also a professor of law at the

University of the 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 higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Personal life

Vasciannie did his secondary education at

Kingston College (Jamaica) Kingston College is a all-male secondary school located in Kingston, Jamaica. It occupies two campuses: The Melbourne Park campus on Upper Elletson Road and the larger North Street (Clovelly Park) campus. Some 1900 students are enrolled. The sch ...

, where he was

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

. He went on to the

, where he earned a B.Sc. in economics with first class honours, and was the recipient of the UWI Open Scholarship in 1978. He received a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

to study at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1981; he would later earn a B.A. in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

from Oxford, an LL.M. in

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

from

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

, and a Ph.D. in international law from Oxford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasciannie, Stephen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford Ambassadors of Jamaica to the United States Jamaican academics Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Jamaican Rhodes Scholars National Democratic Movement (Jamaica) politicians Academic staff of the University of the West Indies University of the West Indies alumni People educated at Kingston College (Jamaica)