Notwithstanding his frequent forays into other spheres of endeavours, the world of academia is Gordon Shirley's domain where he has reigned with quiet distinction.
However, The Gleaner honour awardee has refused to bask alone in the glory of glowing accolades being heaped on him.
The principal of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus. never seems ruffled and he did not appear to be the least bit bedazzled by the latest honour.
He was as composed as ever with only the most fleeting glimpse of a smile betraying the pride he felt as he chatted about the last two years at the university. Prof Shirley took over the mantle of principal on September 1, 2007, but has already distinguished himself as a remarkable team leader.
This has earned him the coveted Gleaner Honour Award, in the category education, for 2009.
He has been recognised for his accomplishment in expanding the medical and law faculties; improving student relations and facilitating greater accountability among academic and other staff.
Support team
However, Shirley is not willing to take all the credit for the advances made at UWI, Mona campus. He maintains that his support team is worthy of special recognition and acknowledgement for the roles they have played in UWI's accomplishments.
"I am fortunate to be part of an excellent team committed to the growth of the university, Jamaica and the region," he asserted.
Shirley characterised UWI Registrar, Dr Camille Bell Hutchinson, as "first-rate". He described as outstanding, the dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor Archie McDonald. He also hailed Professor Ishenkumba Kahwa, dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences; Dr Swithin Wilmot, dean of Faculty of Finances and Education; and Dr Mark Figueroa, dean of Faculty of Social Sciences.
Committed to Jamaica
Clearly electrified by his stint at the JPS, new opportunities surfaced, enabling Professor Gordon Shirley to continue to broaden his horizons.
However, the academic arena was ready to re-embrace him. "I became the head of the Mona School of Business," Shirley reminisced.
He was soon to be greeted with another big surprise.
The P.J. Patterson administration appointed him Jamaica's Ambassador to Washington, DC, in 2004.
Again, the University of the West Indies (UWI) was called on to lend its dedicated servant to answer yet another lofty call.
Prof Shirley recalled that he assumed the position at a time when Jamaica's relationship with the most powerful country was awkward, with the Aristide controversy raging.
"I was heading up the School of Business and had to interact with various ministers and entities," Prof Shirley recalled. "I was asked in late 2003 to consider the post. I really thought long and hard about it."
It was a period when UWI was sensitised to the importance of the diaspora and "to the future growth of the country" and the professor embraced the new challenges.
Equipped with the exposure gained from his stint in Washington, DC, Prof Shirley headed back to Jamaica and UWI.
Very important
Prof Shirley recalled how Professor Kenneth Hall, his mentor, friend and the then principal of the UWI, as well as others, encouraged him to take up the vacant position.
The rest is history.
"Although Washington was a valuable experience for me, I think there is a sense in which I view myself as an academic and wanted to contribute to the growth of the institution. It was also a time when the university was undergoing important changes and I felt that the experience and the exposure would help to reposition the university," he told The Gleaner.
By his pronouncements, Prof Shirley will not be sitting on his laurels as he looks to the days ahead.
"I think that we are at a very important point in our independence - there is the need for a transformation of our economic system, the ability to earn our way in a global context - UWI will have to play a role in all of this."
'Intellectual leadership'
When Professor Gordon Shirley returned to Jamaica at the start of the 90s, the limelight gently reached out for him and, before he knew it, he was ushered into the public glare.
"I came back to Jamaica in 1991 to try to make a contribution to the country in anyway that I could," he reminisced.
However, the University of the West Indies (UWI) principal confessed to not having inkling of what was in store, with no prior designs on any of the enviable positions he has held for the better part of two decades.
Intellectual development
Prof Shirley recalled he was invited back to Jamaica by then principal of the Mona campus, Professor Leslie Robinson, and Vice Chancellor Sir Alistair McIntyre. "They asked me to come and make a contribution to the development of the Department of Management Studies, which had a very large student body, but needed intellectual and leadership development."
Prof Shirley remembers the period as challenging as he was still relatively young as an academic. "My research was in progress when at UCLA," he recalls.
In addition to his tasks as head of department management studies, he was asked to head a tariff committee at the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) which was up for divestment.
Prof Shirley believes he was considered for the job at the light and power company because of his background in engineering and operations management. He and his team may well have been considered heroes of sorts because they actually produced a shocker, turning down the JPS's request for a tariff hike.
"We took a while and looked carefully at the recommendations and decided that the Government should not grant the increase immediately because JPS ought to extract some additional efficiency from their operations," he recalled.
Longer relationship
Little did Prof Shirley know that this decision would have influenced a longer relationship with the public utility company. "I was asked to assist with that transformation, to get some of those efficiencies in anticipation of privatisation, and so I went on secondment from the university, to serve as executive chairman at the JPSCo in 1996."
Even while he was busy trying to fix the JPS, he never abandoned his first love. "While I was at JPS, I continued to be actively involved on campus in doing both teaching and research," he shared.