‘What’s Going On’ @UVICES?
To find out, join us weekly on WUVI AM 1090 Wednesdays from 3-4pm

Lively interviews of UVICES Community Partners, Stakeholders, Administrators, Staff or Current and Past Clients as they share experiences and examples of how we all work together in responding to the needs of the community.

Center for the Study of Spirituality and Professionalism at the University of the Virgin Islands: Making Connections!

...in a nutshell, i #Learn #Do #Teach & #Tell
•Creative•Educator•Techie

I, DaraMonifah® Cooper, am a multi-media artist, poet, musician, public speaker, media consultant, community organizer and a proud University of the Virgin Islands Communications alum with a Masters in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University.

Born on St. Thomas I was raised on the University of the Virgin Islands’ campus by two UVI professors. I currently am the Communication Specialist for the USDA Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. Prior to this, for about 15 years, I worked full-time as the Communications, PR, Technology and Distance/Online Learning Communication Specialist with the UVI Cooperative Extension Service. I research, create and teach community courses in technology from computer and software application use to mobile device and apps use. I serve as the lead in Public Relations and multi-media production.

In the very program I graduated from decades before, I’m a UVI Communications Instructor teaching courses including radio broadcasting/production, public speaking, interpersonal communications and web publishing. Teaching full-time for one year in the 2019-20, I was voted Faculty of the Year for habitually, “going above and beyond for (my) students.” According to the votes, “she cares about her students learning experiences, encourages them to learn in ways that they understand, and helps students, feel confident and comfortable in the classroom.”

Passionate about training students in multi-media, I teach broadcast engineering (with live online audio/video), production, management and new media to UVI and high school students as the WUVI Student Radio Station Manager.

Mother of three, a strong homeschooling advocate, my eldest son (20) is completing his UVI B.A. degree, daughter (17) is ending her second UVI year and youngest son (15) attends Penn Foster high school online.

On Conch Shell Media LLC:
With 20+ years of experience in successfully "getting the word out," DaraMonifah.com LLC is dba Conch Shell Media, outside of my work at UVI. I provide Internet Marketing/Advertising and other services as a Communications Support Specialist and an Educational Consultant. My non-profit, Sankofa Saturdays, Inc. offered training and educational opportunities based on culture, the arts, technology, media, entrepreneurship and community service. My blog posts highlight the same including education and vegan/vegetarian living events.

Promotion of cultural education, documentation and preservation through technology, I enjoy extensive communication where creative, managerial and cooperative leadership skills are used to effectively strengthen my executive, professional and teaching abilities.

A weekly LIVE youth radio program sharing music, history, local artists, cultural and arts events often co-hosted by youth with the intention of teaching youth radio production as a means of public service through advertising, marketing and promoting digital e-learning. Co-hosted by DaraMonifah Cooper, students from Sankofa Saturdays as well as the Environmental Rangers LIVE in our WUVI Studio here at the University of the Virgin Islands.

Sankofa (symbol seen above in our logo) can mean either the word in the Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to "go back and take" (san=return, ko=go, fa= take) or the Adinkra symbols seen as our logo(s). It symbolizes one taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge.
 
Using the radio and internet airwaves, we continue "Passing on the torch of culture bearing and preserving (traditions and values) through experiences in the arts, cultural education, and community service.”

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