Melvin Claxton returned to where
it all started.
On April 4, the Pulitzer Prize-win-
ning investigative reporter presented,
“Investigative Reporting and the Rigors
of Obtaining Information Here and on
the Mainland,” at the University of the
Virgin Islands.
His lecture was part of the week-
long Humanities Festival April 2-7. Held
on the St. Thomas campus, the lecture
was video-conferenced to the St. Croix
campus.
Claxton said the key to reporting is
being inquisitive. “You always have to question,” he said. “I
think that’s what got me in trouble in school,” he joked, “but it
got me a good education,” said Claxton who attended UVI
from 1981-85.
Investigative reporting, he said, “is getting to the heart of
the story, exposing something someone wants to keep hid-
den.” He writes about issues that will have a lasting impact,
such as those in his series, “Virgin Is-
lands Crime; Who’s to Blame,” which
won The V.I. Daily News the Pulitzer
Prize for public service in 1995. Claxton
said that some of his stories should be
revisited and followed up by the local
media because years later many of the
same problems remain unsolved.
Claxton, a senior investigative re-
porter at The Detroit News and former
reporter at the Chicago Tribune, has won
many other journalism awards.
“We (journalists) have tremendous
power and with that power comes great
responsibility,” Claxton said.
On the St. Thomas campus the Humanities Festival in-
cluded other lectures, a debate, poetry readings, a literary con-
ference, a journalism conference, a picnic, an award ceremony
and a musical recital.
On the St. Croix campus activities included roundtable
discussions and an award ceremony.
April 22, 2002 vol. viii, number 4
Celebrating Artistic Expression with the Humanities Festival
Career Exploration Day on April 10 on the St. Croix cam-
pus paired dozens of prospective employees with possible em-
ployers. Sponsored by the Counseling and Placement Office,
the all-day career fair included workshops, a film series, one-
on-one discussions and was highlighted with the launch of the
CareerWay.com website.
The interactive website guides students through career
choices and recommends fields that best suit each student’s
needs. Through a school-to-work initiative grant, the Coun-
seling and Placement Office purchased the license for the
site, waiving the fee that would normally be charged to each
student for the career mapping service.
Nila Sinha, a CareerWay.com consultant, was a guest
presenter at one of the workshops. Sinha, who holds a master’s
degree in industrial/organizational psychology, focuses on the
development of career and leadership tools.
Counseling and Placement Supervisor Miriam Osborne-
Elliott, who organized Career Exploration Day, was pleased
with the turnout of representatives in the public and private
sectors. There were more than 20 organizations in attendance,
with more than 30 individual representatives attending. She
was equally pleased with the students. “Students had pre-pre-
pared resumes and distributed them to on-site presenters,”
she said.
Osborne-Elliott said the fair is an opportunity for employ-
ers to recruit workers, volunteers and interns, and for stu-
dents to speak one-on-one with future employers.

	
	
Businesses Paired with Future Employees at Career Day
Pulitzer Prize winner and former UVI stu-
dent Melvin Claxton is greeted by UVI Pro-
fessor Dr. Teresa Hodge after his lecture.
Career Day continued on Page 2

UVI
The monthly newsletter of The University of the Virgin Islands
 April 26
UVI closed - Carnival recess
 May 11-12
Starfest 8 at the Reichhold
 May 19-20
Center for the Arts, St. Thomas
 May 18, 19
Commencement - St. Thomas,
St. Croix Campuses
	



2 John Brewer’s Bay
St. Thomas, VI 00802
GET CONNECTED TO UVI news, activities and accomplishments at . . .
www.uvi.edu
GET CONNECTED TO UVI news, activities and accomplishments at . . . www.uvi.edu
	


 is a production of the UVI Public Relations
Office. Contact us by telephone at (340) 693-1058
FAX: (340) 693-1055
A joint venture between the University of the Virgin Is-
lands and HOVENSA has resulted in a new Associate in
Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in Process Technology. The
degree is aimed at developing a workforce for HOVENSA
and training locals for technology-related careers. It is the
first degree proposed under the umbrella of the A.A.S., which
was approved by the UVI Board of Trustees in October 2001.
On March 28, UVI President Orville Kean, UVI Presi-
dent-Elect Dr. LaVerne Ragster and HOVENSA President
and Chief Operating Officer Rene Sagebien commemorated
the momentous signing of the memorandum of understand-
ing.
“This degree program allows us to put new members of
the community to work in ways that we had not been able to
before,” said Dr. Kean.
HOVENSA will supply laboratory space and equipment
and will support the salary of the process technology faculty
for two years.
Courses toward the degree begin in the Fall on the St.
Croix campus with specialty courses in Introduction to Pro-
cess Technology, Instrumentation I and Basic Electricity
Theory. Each course is three credits and students will be ex-
pected to complete 62 credits over a two-year period to ob-
tain the A.A.S. degree. Registration is August 14-19.
The University’s Annual Service Awards were held on March 18, in
The Theater of the Melvin Evans Center on the St. Croix campus
and on March 19 in the Sports and Fitness Center on the St. Tho-
mas campus. Russell Richardson, left, hails the audience after re-
ceiving an award for his 35 years of service on the St. Thomas
Campus. Dr. Erica Waters, right, is congratulated by UVI Presi-
dent Dr. Orville Kean for her 25 years of service on the St. Croix
campus. At the ceremonies Stevie Henry was named “Employee of
the Year” on the St. Thomas campus and Quilin Mars on St. Croix,
respectively.
UVI Offers New Degree Program
“Part of the students’ reason for coming to college is to
obtain gainful employment in the future,” Osborne-Elliott said.
“Part of the mission at the Counseling and Placement Office
is to provide on-going career development opportunities to all
students.”
Participants included the following:
• Channel 8
• HOVENSA
• U.S. Marshalls
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Labor Department
• Immigration and Naturalization
• Local attorneys
• Juan Luis Hospital
• P.C. Paradise
• Divi Carina Bay Casino
Contribute to the “Caps for Cash” campaign! Save the bottle
caps from Coca-Cola products and drop them off at either
campus of the University or a collection bin near you. For
each bin of caps collected, Coca-Cola will donate $1,000 in
scholarship money to UVI. Coca-Cola products include:
Coke, Minute Maid, Fruitopia, PowerAde, Sprite, Nestea
and Dasani Water.

	



Career Day