Monrovia– The United Methodist University of Liberia (UMU), in partnership with the Blue Action Network (BAN), will launch a new college named Patrizia Ziveri School of Marine Sciences at United Methodist University on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, in the city of Monrovia Hall in Sinkor, Monrovia. The college will teach and train students with the basic skills of managing the marine environment inside and outside Liberia. Dr. Yar Donlah Gonway-Gono, President of UMU, said her leadership would engage the global academic community in bringing those fields of study that seem far and distant to our people in Liberia. Furthermore, we will connect with all well-meaning educators around the world to ensure that Liberia is not left behind in modern education,” she affirmed. Dr. Gonway-Gono pointed out that under his leadership, the university will expand the educational space in the country.

She said UMU will not only teach science, but also apply science in the daily lives of the Liberian people, adding, “Through professional actions, we will keep the ocean safe and make food available through what we will be teaching.” Further, the UMU President indicated that through collaborative efforts with other educators at home and abroad, the university will educate Liberians in age to go to school on how to create jobs after graduation. She further shared that now the United Methodist University of Liberia is setting up courses that will empower people.

The School of Marine Science is the university’s way of addressing the threat facing Liberia’s ecosystem. “We want to make sure that before the oceans take over any of our coastal communities, we will have people on the ground to defend those communities,” Dr Gonway-Gono said. The school will be part of several departments of the United Methodist University of Liberia.

Blue Action Network Executive Director, Ms. Miatta Sonie Sherif, said marine science is a rich discipline that combines studies on various topics to understand the marine environment, marine life and their interactions with communities. “Marine science plays a central role in the quest to understand our world and manage its resources,” she said. Ms. Sherif noted that students attending UMU’s School of Marine Science would be able to communicate effectively through their written and oral presentations and demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the marine environment, including the relationship between biology, geology, chemistry and physics.

“The marine science program will also provide solid preparation for immediate employment in marine-related industries, government agencies, education and non-profit sectors,” Ms. Sherif concluded.

The School of Marine Sciences is named in honor of Professor Patrizia Ziveri. She is a research professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain. She began working on global marine change in the 1990s, initially focusing on the impacts of El Niño climatic oscillations on phytoplankton in the eastern Pacific. After a post-doctorate at USC, USA, she moved to Vrije University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and joined the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) in 2014 at ICTA-UAB. She was Scientific Director of the ICTA-UAB “María de Maeztu” Center of Excellence from 2015 to 2020. In addition, she coordinates the Marine and Environmental Biogeosciences Research Group that catalyzes research on natural and anthropogenic marine processes dealing with important global change and sustainability challenges.