Dr. Jennifer Rouse was born and grew up in Trinidad. She took Voluntary Separation (VSEP) in June 1995 from the national airline, BWIA, where she served for 20 years in the field of Accounts, and decided to go to college for the first time at the age of 43. She was accepted in 1996 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she completed a double major in Social Work and Africana Studies, and graduated with a Baccalaureate degree (cum laude) in May 1998.
In August 1998, Dr. Rouse began her Masters programme in Policy Sciences at UMBC, with the area of concentration in Ageing Issues and graduated in 2001. In 2000, she was accepted into the doctoral programme in Public Policy in Ageing. Her doctoral thesis was entitled: A Case Study in Ageing Policy in Trinidad and Tobago: The Role of Interest Groups in Defining New Policy Initiatives.
In August 2003, Dr. Rouse relocated to Trinidad to assume duties as the country’s first Director of the Division of Ageing, in the former Ministry of Social Development, and was able to complete her thesis and successfully defend it in November 2003 at UMBC. Since then, Dr. Rouse has represented the Government at regional and global conferences in Chile, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Antigua, Tortola, Brazil, Thailand, Switzerland and Canada, where she presented Trinidad and Tobago’s country report to position ageing on the national agenda. Dr. Rouse also coordinates the implementation of the National Policy on Ageing through the Division’s many projects and programmes, to promote a positive imaging of ageing, while fostering an enabling environment for a “society for all ages.”
LIST OF AWARDEES
Trinidad & Tobago Association of Retired Persons