Awarded 2018
Hazel Simmons-McDonald (St. Lucia) is the former Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus, a post which she held from August 1, 2007 until July 31, 2014 when she retired. Prior to that, she served as Head of the Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature, Deputy Dean of Outreach, Deputy Dean, Planning, and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the Cave Hill Campus. She was also the Co-Chair of the UWI Cultural Studies Initiative. She is a UWI Professor Emerita and her field of specialization is Applied Linguistics.
Professor Simmons served on the SCL Executive Committee as President from 2006-2008 and Secretary from 1996-2002.
Research Profile
Professor Simmons-McDonald's research interests include second language acquisition, the development of literacy by Creole and Creole Influenced Vernacular speakers and vernacular literacy within the formal context. She served for several years as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Caribbean Linguistics, as its Vice President for one year, and a two-year stint as President of the Society from August 2008. Her research interests and publications include articles and book chapters on second language acquisition, vernacular literacy, language education policy, literacy development, language and culture, and open and distance learning. She has also co-edited books on Creole influenced vernaculars in education. She collaborates on writing French Creole instructional texts for native speakers of Antillean French Creole and has also published several English language texts for use at secondary and tertiary levels. She was a member of the International Council of Distance Education Standing Conference of Presidents (ICDE-SCOP 2008- 2014) for which she led workshops and presented papers on lifelong learning and selected aspects of Distance Education. She was also an honorary advisor of the Commonwealth of Learning from 2009-2014.
She writes fiction and poetry as a hobby and has published poems in several journals, including The Malahat Review, The Literary Review, The Atlanta Review, Poui, Pathways, Calabash, BIM and a few selected anthologies. Her short fiction has been published in BIM, Poui and 2018 Thicker than Water Peekash Press Anthology. Her first collection of poems, Silk Cotton and other trees was published by Ian Randle Press in 2004, and her first collection of short fiction, Shabine and Other Stories, has recently been submitted for publication.
Consultancies
Professor Simmons-McDonald currently undertakes assignments occasionally as an education consultant and has worked on projects for the ECERP/CIDA, UWI/DFATD Legal Impact Project, CXC, the OECS Early Literacy Project and the Erdiston Teachers' College Literacy Diagnostic and Early Intervention training programme.
Recognition/Awards/Distinctions
Order of the British Empire (OBE) for contribution to education - 2012.
Award for outstanding contribution to Education from the World Education Congress - 2014.
Creative Writing
2nd Prize 2018 Frank Collymore Literary Awards for Collection of Short Fiction - 2018.
Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry. The National Library of Poetry, USA - 1998.
CWSI Poet's Residence Award, University of Miami June-July 1996.
3rd Prize Winner, poetry for entry: Strange Wheat.
National Library of Poetry, Owings Mills, USA - 1995.
Select Publications
Books
Writing in English: A Course book for Caribbean Students. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 1997. (With Linda Fields & Peter Roberts).
Writing in English 2nd Edition, 2013. Revised with additional chapters.
Edited Books
Exploring the Boundaries of Caribbean Creole Languages. University of West Indies Press. - With Ian Robertson. 2006.
Perspectives on Language and Language Education in Creole-Influenced Vernacular Situations - With Ian Robertson. University of the West Indies Press. 2014.
Higher Education in the Anglophone Caribbean. (With Ed. Brandon). UNESCO/IESALC Journal, Special Edition. IESALC VOL.14:2, June 2009.
Edited Text Books - Secondary Level
A World of Poetry for CXC: An anthology for Secondary Schools Forms 4 & 5 (with Introduction, notes, questions, sample answers). 3rd Edition, 2017. Hodder Education, an affiliate of Hachette UK. Co.
A World of Prose for CXC: An anthology for Secondary Schools Forms 4 & 5 (with Introduction, notes, questions, sample answers). 3rd Edition, 2017. Hodder Education, an affiliate of Hachette UK. Co. (With Mark McWatt).
Instructional Manuals for teachers at secondary level
Integrated Approach to English: Teachers' Guide for ? Let's Work with English Bks 1-3. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers (including recordedadditional resources), 2002. (With L. Down, L. St. Juste-Jean and J. Stewart).
A Manual for Teachers: Let's Work with English ? Book 4. Oxford: Heinemann. (Includes recorded resources), 2005 (With Rod Ellis).
Home Language Why it Matters. In Transformative Pedagogical Perspectives on Home Language Use in Classrooms. Belgrave, K. & Jules, J. (Eds.). (Forthcoming, 2020) In press. IGI Global.
'Symbols of Solidarity and Truth?" Vernaculars in Literature. 2019. In Festschrift for Professor John Rickford (Stanford University); London & New York: Routledge.
Language, Identity and the Politics of Cultural Erosion. 2017. In The Road to Mount Pleasant: Selected Essays on Saint Lucian Culture. Saint Lucia: Mgsr. Patrick Anthony Folk Research Centre; pp.187 - 208.
Educating to Create CARICOM's Ideal Caribbean Person. In Commonwealth Education Partnerships; 2015/2016; Pages 53-56. Nexus Strategic Partnerships Ltd. For the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Policy and instructional models for vernacular contexts: the case of St. Lucia. In I. Robertson and H. Simmons-McDonald (Eds). 2014. Perspectives on Language and Language Education in Creole Influenced Vernacular Situations; pp. 119-150.
Revisiting notions of 'deficiency' and 'inadequacy' in Creoles from an applied linguistics perspective. In I. Robertson and H. Simmons-McDonald (Eds.) 2014. Perspectives on Language and Language Education in Creole Influenced Vernacular Situations; pp. 43-62.
Language, Identity and Freedom: A Creolist Perspective. In Trajectories of Freedom, A. Cobley and V. Simpson (Eds.). 2013. Lexington Press, University of Mississippi pp. 156-169.
In support of Afrogenesis: a study of Saint Lucian French Creole proverbs. In J. Allsopp and J. Rickford (Eds). Language, Culture and Caribbean Identity. Kingston Jamaica: Canoe Press; 2012. Pp. 93-106.
Delivering the Inaugural Kamau Brathwaite Lecture entitled "Literature, Culture and Politics of Deprivation", March 2015, UWI Cave Hill. Uploaded by ArtsEtc.
"An incredibly warm personality. That's the first thing that strikes you about Hazel Simmons-McDonald. Something in her voice invites you in. What touches you the most, though, is the depth of her humility." Nation Newspaper, Barbados, 28/09/2014. Read article »
"TOP SPOT at the Frank Collymore Literary Awards went to Hazel Simmons McDonald on January 5, 2019. Simmons-McDonald ... took second place in the 2018 competition. She won for her manuscript A Collection of Short Stories". ArtsEtc, Barbados, 2019. Read article »