Earlier this year the UP System saw the appointment of two new Chancellors— both faculty members of UP Diliman. Biologist Gilda Carballo Rivero, Ph.D. was invested as UP Mindanao (UPMin) chancellor in July. Meanwhile, Artist and Mass Communication professor Grace Javier Alfonso, Ph.D. was invested as UP Open University (UPOU) chancellor in June. Rivero, who succeeded Dr. Ricardo de Ungria was the former UPMin Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Alfonso who succeeded Dr. Felix Librero, was UPOU’s former director of the Multimedia Center.
What does one get when one combines excellence, equity and imagination? A UP graduate in every household, according to newly invested UP Open University (UPOU) Chancellor Grace Javier Alfonso.
In rites that coincided with this year’s June 9 graduation, Alfonso emphasized the need to continue the university’s tradition of excellence even as she congratulated the newest, (even if not the most youthful) members of the UP alumni.
“To imagine that one day we have operationalized having one member of every Filipino family becoming a learner of the UPOU is the vision we want to concretize and what we want to achieve,” she said.
Citing today’s borderless world and the easy willingness at which Filipinos take to communication technology, Alfonso envisioned having a UP graduate in every Filipino household.
The long-time academic and advocate lamented the emerging “culture of distrust where violence becomes a justifiable means to alleviate societal pains,” education helps create a culture of critical thinking, which helps “lessen national traumas and national hysterias just like the past elections.”
“With a great number of Filipinos armed with education and not with guns, we can hopefully bring together the minds and the political will of those who can make this envisioned scenario happen,” she adds.
Describing the concepts of excellence and equity as traditionally mismatched in this country where there is a marked difference in private and public education, Alfonso said open and distance learning “…extends the space and creates wider access to quality education to those who are marginalized because they cannot afford to locate themselves near the university, or cannot afford in terms of time to leave their work place or some other reason like disability or simply cannot leave home because of taking care of children or they are stationed abroad. Certainly not because they are less qualified.”
Urging the new graduates to remain connected with the university, she congratulated them for their self-discipline and self-motivation despite the rigorous coursework and temptation to just stop.
For her part, Alfonso promised to uphold the integrity and tradition of excellence that UP has maintained in its near 100-year existence despite apprehensions about distance education and questions on quality of education.
“There will be no compromise in excellence, in scholarship, in teaching, in research and, more specifically, in the methods and systems that help in making people teach, learn, work and succeed in their chosen fields....”
Part of this vision has already been realized with the completion and instatement of the sculpture she made of the UP Oblation that now graces the park infront of its headquarters in Los Baños.
UPOU has also been recognized as a learner-centered university that promotes the idea of empowering communities through its active learners.
UP Mindanao (UPMin) has a new chancellor in the person of Dr. Gilda Carballo Rivero, who was appointed last March 1. President Emerlinda R. Román, members of the Board of Regents (BOR) and other officials of the University of the Philippines System graced the investiture, which was held last July 30 at the Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City. The UP System officials were joined by heads of other colleges and universities in Mindanao.
Saloma
In rites that coincided with this year’s June 9 graduation, Alfonso emphasized the need to continue the university’s tradition of excellence even as she congratulated the newest, (even if not the most youthful) members of the UP alumni.
“To imagine that one day we have operationalized having one member of every Filipino family becoming a learner of the UPOU is the vision we want to concretize and what we want to achieve,” she said.
Citing today’s borderless world and the easy willingness at which Filipinos take to communication technology, Alfonso envisioned having a UP graduate in every Filipino household.
The long-time academic and advocate lamented the emerging “culture of distrust where violence becomes a justifiable means to alleviate societal pains,” education helps create a culture of critical thinking, which helps “lessen national traumas and national hysterias just like the past elections.”
“With a great number of Filipinos armed with education and not with guns, we can hopefully bring together the minds and the political will of those who can make this envisioned scenario happen,” she adds.
Describing the concepts of excellence and equity as traditionally mismatched in this country where there is a marked difference in private and public education, Alfonso said open and distance learning “…extends the space and creates wider access to quality education to those who are marginalized because they cannot afford to locate themselves near the university, or cannot afford in terms of time to leave their work place or some other reason like disability or simply cannot leave home because of taking care of children or they are stationed abroad. Certainly not because they are less qualified.”
Urging the new graduates to remain connected with the university, she congratulated them for their self-discipline and self-motivation despite the rigorous coursework and temptation to just stop.
For her part, Alfonso promised to uphold the integrity and tradition of excellence that UP has maintained in its near 100-year existence despite apprehensions about distance education and questions on quality of education.
“There will be no compromise in excellence, in scholarship, in teaching, in research and, more specifically, in the methods and systems that help in making people teach, learn, work and succeed in their chosen fields....”
Part of this vision has already been realized with the completion and instatement of the sculpture she made of the UP Oblation that now graces the park infront of its headquarters in Los Baños.
UPOU has also been recognized as a learner-centered university that promotes the idea of empowering communities through its active learners.
—Bino Gamba