Stephen Charles Vasciannie is a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n law professor. Formerly Deputy Solicitor-General and principal of the

Norman Manley Law School The Norman Manley Law School is a law school in Jamaica. Building and location The Norman Manley Law School is located on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, yet it is a distinct and separate institution. Its building, design ...

, Vasciannie served as

's Ambassador Extraordinary

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from 2012 up to July 17, 2015, when he stepped down to return to academic life.

In politics and government

Vasciannie was one of the founding members of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) along with former Prime Minister of Jamaica

Bruce Golding Orette Bruce Golding (born 5 December 1947) is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to h ...

. He served as Deputy Solicitor-General until 2007. The Public Services Commission recommended that year that he be appointed Solicitor-General, however, Golding, whose relationship with Vasciannie had deteriorated since Golding's departure from the NDM, did not accept Vasciannie's nomination; instead, Golding fired all the members of the commission, and the new commission members appointed chose Douglas Leys to assume the office of Solicitor-General instead. Preceding the People's National Party victory in the 2012 general election Vasciannie was named Jamaica's ambassador to the United States in June 2012, and succeeded Jamaican businesswoman

Audrey Marks Audrey Patrice Marks has served two terms as Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2012 and again starting in 2016. She is Jamaica's first female Ambassador to the US and the first individual to hold the position twice in two sepa ...

, who was appointed under the Golding administration.

Other activities

In 2006, when Dehring Bunting and Golding (DB&G) was purchased by the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

, the new owners appointed him DB&G's new

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

. That year he was also elected to his first term as a member of the United Nations

International Law Commission The International Law Commission (ILC) is a body of experts responsible for helping develop and codify international law. It is composed of 34 individuals recognized for their expertise and qualifications in international law, who are elected by t ...

(UNILC). He was appointed principal of the

in July 2008 after the death of

Keith Sobion Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

. In 2010,

Anglican Diocese of Jamaica The Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a diocese of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. It was originally formed as the Diocese of Jamaica, within the Church of England, in 1824. At that time the diocese included the ...

Bishop Alfred Reid wrote to him to ask him to serve as chairman of the board of governors of Kingston College, which he accepted, succeeding Crafton Miller. He was elected to a second term on the UNILC in November 2011. He is also a professor of law at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

Personal life

Vasciannie did his secondary education at

Kingston College (Jamaica) Kingston College is a all-male secondary school located in Kingston, Jamaica. It occupies two campuses: The Melbourne Park campus on Upper Elletson road and the larger North Street (Clovelly Park) campus. Some 1900 students are enrolled. The scho ...

, where he was

head boy Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

. He went on to the

, where he earned a B.Sc. in economics with first class honours, and was the recipient of the UWI Open Scholarship in 1978. He received a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

to study at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1981; he would later earn a B.A. in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

from Oxford, an LL.M. in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

from

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, and a Ph.D. in international law from Oxford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasciannie, Stephen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford Ambassadors of Jamaica to the United States Jamaican academics Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom National Democratic Movement (Jamaica) politicians University of the West Indies academics University of the West Indies alumni