MONROVIA – Cuttington University Alumni Association of Liberia and the Diaspora will this weekend install a new core of officers during festivities marking the university’s 130th Founder’s Day. The festivities, which run from Thursday, February 22 to February 25, 2019, will take place at the main campus in Suakoko, Bong County.
The new leadership comprise: S. Tornorlah Varpilah, (class of 1984) president; Garmai Kpedebah Nyuangar, (class of 2011), vice president; Vivien Charles Jones, (class of 1983), treasurer; Gimah Amy Sambollah, (class of 2014), secretary general; Thomas Momo, (class of 2008) financial secretary and Princess K. Jones, (class of 2008), chaplain.
Varpilah served in several senior government positions, including Deputy Minister of Health for Planning, Research and Development, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; Deputy Minister of Administration, Minister of Health and Social Welfare; Minister of Youth and Sports; Minister of Transport; and chairman of the Boards of Directors for the Freeport and Central Research Agricultural Institute (CARI) during the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Directors of Phebe Hospital and owns of Passion Investment Corporation which comprised of the Passion Hotel, Passion Furniture and Firestone Wood Products, Passion Finance Services, and Passion Poultry in Gbarnga. Varpillah succeeds Charles Allen, who has headed the organization since 2011. The new officers were elected in December.
The Founder’s Day celebration is designed to give alumni members an opportunity to return to campus to reminisce, mingle with students and discuss how the alumni can get involved in the upliftment of their alma mater.
The 2019 celebration will reflect on the theme: ‘’Reawakening the Cuttington Spirit.’’ The event will feature open space conversations about the future of Cuttington, how alumni can provide career development support for students and sports, board games and a bonfire.
The installation ceremony will take place at 7 p.m., followed by a dinner dance party. Alexander Cummings, a former student of Cutttington and standard bearer of the Alternative National Congress, will deliver the keynote address.
“We are really hoping that our alumni will turn out in full force to reconnect with a place that prepared them for their professional and academic lives,’’ Varpilah. “We want to get as many alumni involved in working toward uplifting Cuttington. The university has a lot of challenges, it’s time that the alumni, especially those in Liberia, help the university.’’