PM honours Prof Emeritus Kenneth Julien

The Prime Minister says the naming of the UTT’s administration building at the Tamana campus after Prof Emeritus Kenneth Julien will serve as an enduring testament to Julien’s legacy at the university.

Dr Rowley said it will be a permanent reminder to future generations of students of the profound impact Julien has had on the lives of all in TT.

Rowley paid tribute to Julien at the building's dedication and honouring ceremony on Tuesday at the UTT Tamana Campus, Tamana InTech Park, Wallerfield.

“TT’s history should document the first prime minister, Dr Eric Williams, as the great visionary and Julien as the architect-builder, who along with a team of dedicated public servants, created the modern TT and our quality of life, yes, with its glitches and setbacks, but comparatively, much better than many other countries in the world.

“Now that Prof Julien has retired from public life in his golden years, there is a deeper symbolic significance of this event given the magnitude of his prodigious achievements over the years.

“Indeed, many eminent persons in this country would echo my sentiments that this country owes Prof Julien a debt of gratitude for laying the foundation for decades of economic prosperity.”

Rowley listed some of Julien’s accomplishments, including being the first local engineering lecturer at the UWI St Augustine Campus, the first West Indian dean of the engineering faculty, head of the electrical engineering department from 1970-1996, and the first Caribbean national to attain the rank of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in the US.

In the energy sector, Rowley said Julien and Williams collaborated and “spearheaded the development of policy aimed at transitioning our economy from a withering plantation agricultural-based one in the post-independence period (1970s and 1980s) to an energy-based one.”

He said Julien was appointed chairman of the energy co-ordinating task force in 1974, and one of his most notable accomplishments was related to establishing the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in the 1970s and 1980s.

“He also conducted pioneering work in natural gas processing and in developing innovative technologies for the extraction, purification, and liquefaction of natural gas. He also spearheaded research projects aimed at harnessing solar power to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, promoting sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.”

After his work with the task force, Julien chaired the first board of directors of the National Energy Corporation. He served on the NGC from 2002-2010, chaired Trinidad Cement Ltd from 2006-2011, served as chairman of Evolving Tecknologies and Enterprise Development (eTecK), served on the board of directors of T&TEC from 1964-1986, holding the post of chairman from 1975-1986, was appointed to the Standing Committee on Energy (SCE) in 1996, and was part of the establishment of the largest LNG plant in the western hemisphere in Pt Fortin in 1999 and the development of the country’s first Greenfield LNG Project, Train 1.

Rowley said he was tutored by Julien when he became leader of the opposition.

He said it was not surprising that Julien was credited with being the driving force in the development of the national energy sector and has been labelled the country’s energy tsar and father of the downstream energy industry.

He said Julien was awarded the Chaconia Medal Gold and the nation’s highest award, the Trinity Cross, in 2003. In 2008, he was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of British Columbia, where he got his PhD.

Rowley said the culmination of Julien’s educational contributions to the country was his service as the founding chairman and president of UTT, TT’s first national university.

“He provided yeoman service, particularly during the university’s embryonic stages from 2004 to mid-2010 and again, in a second stint as chairman, from November 2015 up to 2019. The university has evolved into a symbol of national pride and has proved to be a strategic investment in the socio-economic development of the country.”

Julien chaired the steering committee in 2003 to prepare a proposal for establishing UTT, which was accepted by government, and UTT was established in 2004.

“While Prof prioritised producing ‘ready to work’ graduates aligned to industry needs, it was equally important to him that UTT graduates had exposure to ‘service learning’ so that they would value the importance of giving back freely to their communities.”

He said Julien encouraged learning not only in areas of engineering and technology such as science and engineering, process and utilities, information communication technologies, construction, manufacturing and criminology, among others, but also piloted new and creative programme offerings, including maritime, biosciences, agriculture and food technologies, the performing arts, fashion and design, animation, arts and letters, and sports and leisure studies.

Rowley said UTT was now a success story, operating from ten locations, including Tobago, and growing from 1,650 students in 2005 to 20,000 in 2020.

He said Julien is an extraordinary exemplar and citizen and gift to the people of TT and is leaving an enduring legacy.

“Prof Julien’s career has been a sterling example of ‘country before self’. He has been widely acknowledged for his decades of unwavering, tireless and dedicated service and the advancement of our country’s energy, engineering and education sectors.

"He has been appropriately described by many as a genius, pioneer, stalwart, visionary, trail-blazer, legend, entrepreneur and a giant of a man.

"We are confident that you will continue to inspire each person in our country so that they, in turn, will make a positive contribution to the world.”