education and his commitment
to increasing his embassy's
contributions to The College of
The Bahamas. Without hesitation,
the Ambassador accepted to give
the principal address at COB's
Commencement Exercises on
May 25, 2006 at the request
of Dr Chipman-Johnson, who
was conveying the consensus of
her whole team. To the further
delight of the COB group, Mr
Rood revealed that Florida
Governor Jeb Bush was planning
a Spring visit to The Bahamas
and was keen to see how he could
open doors to COB in his State
and help The College to forge
more mutually beneficial ties with
institutions of higher learning
across the Gulf Stream.
 Mr Rood told the COB
leaders that, while he had a
number of ideas of his own
as to how he might assist The
College of the Bahamas, he
preferred having them present
him with a "dream list". The
invitation was accepted readily.
In addition to the Acting
President, the managers giving
input were Dr Linda Davis, VP
Academic Affairs; Dr Pandora
Johnson, VP Research, Planning
& Development; Mr Colyn
Major, VP Student Affairs; Mr
Denton Brown, VP Finance
& Administration; I r Rubie
Nottage, VP & General Counsel;
Ms Janice Cartwright, Special
Assistant to the President and
Mrs. Patricia Glinton-Meicholas,
Council Secretary and Acting VP
Institutional Advancement.
 Topping the list of
possibilities for assistance
from the State Department
and Governor Bush was the
implementation of a


programme that would facilitate
student exchanges, including
internships, between COB and
Florida universities. Both sides
considered desirable and feasible
periods of attachment for COB
administrators, especially those in
new offices such as Institutional
Advancement, which will
play an important role in the
"College to University" process.
Those taking part would have
an opportunity to gain valuable
insight from counterparts in
already established units of similar
focus, thereby building capacity.
VP Academic Affairs focused on
forging partnerships for bringing
more collaborative post-graduate
degrees of various kinds to The
Bahamas and eventually creating
the necessary infrastructure to
allow COB to award its own
master's and doctoral degrees. Of
particular interest, she said, would
be a partnership for post-graduate
professional certificates in legal
studies.
 Dr Pandora Johnson
appealed for assistance
in amassing the
collection of books
and other print
material for the Harry
C Moore Library post
construction. She was
interested in Mr Rood's
promoting The College's entry
into a university consortium
that would permit COB to buy
library books for its holdings
at more favourable rates. There
was mention also of seeking
partners among American
universities, who could benefit
from conducting marine and
environmental research, using The
College's two research centres-
Bahamas Environmental


Research Centre on Andros
and Gerace Research Centre
on San Salvador. Dr Johnson
also brought to notice COB's
imminent move to developing its
Northern Bahamas Campus on
Grand Bahama.
 Mr. Rood also
expressed confidence
in the quality of COB's
main product-its
students. He spoke of a
quiet, unofficial visit he had
made to an English class at The
College a short while before at
the request of COB lecturer,
Dr Virginia Purvis-Smith. He
said he had been "incredibly"
impressed by the students, finding
their questions highly intelligent
and their demeanour far more
polite and receptive than that of
college students he had met with
back home. He said that, based
on what he experienced in Dr
Purvis-Smith's class, he believed
COB students could compete
successfully anywhere. N
















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