Ian Strachan, PhD, Lead Consultant

IAN CHINAKA STRACHAN served as Vice President of Advancement at the University of The Bahamas from 2013 to 2015, with responsibility for public relations, alumni relations and fundraising. He served as Vice President and Campus President of UB North in Grand Bahama, from 2017 to 2025. He held the post of Executive Vice President of University of The Bahamas in 2014 and from 2022 to 2025. He led UB North campus through Hurricane Dorian and Covid 19 and spearheaded its relocation and expansion in downtown Freeport, Grand Bahama.

He is Senior Research Fellow at the University of The Bahamas.  He holds an MA (1993) and PhD (1995) in English from the University of Pennsylvania.  He is a former Research Fellow at the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia (1998-1999) and a former Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (1999-2001).

He served as Chair of the School of English Studies at COB from 2004 to 2007.   His book, Paradise and Plantation: Tourism and Culture in the Anglophone Caribbean, was published in 2002 and discusses the politics of tourism in the region.  He is a poet, playwright, novelist and filmmaker.   He was the author of the popular newspaper column “East Street Blues” which appeared each week in The Nassau Guardian between 2006 and 2011.  He was the host of the daily public affairs talk show, “The Nation Today” in 2009 on GEMS 105.9FM in Nassau.  He was also a co-founder of the civil society advocacy group, the 1962 Foundation and Out Da Box, a group calling for electoral reform during the 2017 election.

He hosted the current affairs television programme, “The Exchange,” on ZNS TV13  in 2012 and is the writer, producer and director of the television series, “Gippie’s Kingdom” which has aired in 8 Caribbean countries and jurisdictions.  He is also the director/ producer of the documentary I’s Man: Manhood in The Bahamas.