Features
LPU Sponsors HRAP’s Chefs on Parade
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Officials recently signed a sponsorship agreement with the Hotel and Restaurants Association of the Philippines (HRAP) to sponsor the relaunch of the prestigious culinary event, “Chefs on Parade”. Dubbed as the “Ultimate Asian Showdown”, the popular annual festivities will be held at the SMX Convention Center from February 10 to 12, 2011.
Present at the signing at the Pan-Pacific Hotel in Manila were Atty. Roberto P. Laurel (President, LPU Manila, Makati and Cavite), Peter P. Laurel (President, LPU Batangas and Laguna), Organizing Committee Overall Chairman Richard Masselin (Pan-Pacific Manila General Manager), Committee Vice Chairman Bonifacio Pimentel (Ilustrado Restaurant President) and HRAP President Humphrey O’ Leary.
LPU Hosts Baewha Women’s University Study Presentation
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Manila recently hosted the presentation of the study of Baewha Women’s University Provost for Academic Affairs Dr. Koh Myung-Gyu.
Dr. Koh’s presentation, “An Empirical Study of a Bank Service Marketing: Emphasis on the perception of service quality using psychographics”, was attended by LPU’s Deans, Directors, marketing staff and master’s degree students.
The visit by Dr. Koh is part of the harmonious relationship enjoyed by both academic institutions. Last June, officials from LPU led by Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Conrado Inigo visited Baewha Women’s University as part of their Educational Mission to Korea. Baewha Women’s University also continues to send its students to LPU to undergo the English Proficiency Program administered by the Center for Language Education and Proficiency.
LPU Alumni in North America Hold 1st Reunion
Alumni of Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) who have migrated to the United States recently came together in fellowship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The reunion, organized by Executive Director for International Affairs Dr. Kate C. Botengan, was the first gathering of LPU Alumni outside the country.
With the aim of working together towards a united vision and active involvement in the affairs of their alma mater, the reunion was themed “From the Halls of Lyceum to the World.” A second reunion is set for November 2011, to be attended by LPU President Atty. Roberto P. Laurel and Lyceum Alumni Association President Dr. Victor B. Endriga.
Gracing the premiere reunion in Las Vegas were Atilio Alicio (MA Ed’75) and spouse Carmencita, Regolo Belen (BSBA ’71), Wilma Romero Cagampan (BFS ’62), Felicidad dela Paz Geaga (BFS & BSJ), Carlita Pilapil Magdael (BSBA ’79) and spouse Danilo, Gonabel Beltran Manly (BFS ’84) and spouse Arthur, Hazel Osio (MAIR ’07), Pablo Palomares (HS ’55, BSC ’59), Felix Panganiban (BSBA Accounting ’67), Estela Reyes (BFS), Pablito R. Reyes (BSC), Mario Silvestre (BA ’77), Lydia Espineli (BFS ’71) and spouse Nilo, and Dr. Kate C. Botengan (LPU ’05).
UP student, Lyceum graduate (by Linda B. Bolido, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7/4/10)
IT MUST have been embarrassing for my parents that while my classmates were earning law, medicine and doctor of philosophy degrees, their only child, who finished at the top of the class from first grade to high school, was a college dropout. But, bless their souls, they never asked when or if I was going to get a college diploma.
I guess the fact that I landed a job even before I left school in the field I was supposed to be training in eased the disappointment a bit.
Not that it was an either/or proposition for me – a job or a college degree. I had fully intended to have both. I finished four years of studies but just could not get around to writing a thesis.
At the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UPCMC) every student is required to complete a year-long research work to earn a diploma.
In fact, I did my internship at the Manila Bulletin precisely because of my thesis – the history of English-language newspapers in the Philippines. The daily, as a shipping bulletin, was the first English newspaper.
It was the late professor (later dean of student affairs) Armando Malay who got me interested on the subject. He was working on the history of the Philippine press and I had this grand idea that I would help him by doing that little bit about English-language newspapers.
SidetrackedBut the internship became a full-fledged job and I never managed to put anything down on paper. “Prof” Malay was not surprised at the turn of events and just told me before I ventured into the real world of journalism: “Bolido, be good. If you can’t be good, be careful. If you can’t be careful, name him after me.”
(He would repeat the advice often when we worked together later at the Press Foundation of Asia – he as training director, I as writer then editor for the institution’s various Asian Depthnews services. I would have gladly done it, too, named “him” Armando – if I had the opportunity.)
When I started out as a reporter, a diploma, even formal training in journalism, was welcome but not a requirement. As I found out later, real education in journalism occurred in the newsroom and in the daily routine of covering beats.
So, in the Bulletin then, one senior reporter had a degree in agriculture from UP Los Baños (his brother who was working for another newspaper was a UPLB animal husbandry graduate).
The sports editor majored in history at UP Diliman, the editorial writer who also wrote a regular column was a lawyer, and one of the business reporters was a certified public accountant.
I was told that when an honor graduate job applicant presented his diploma hoping to improve his chances of getting hired, a former editor, whom everyone feared, tossed the piece of sheepskin into the nearest garbage can.
Badge of honorSome veteran journalists even wore the tag “dropout” like a badge of honor. One notable dropout was the brilliant Antonio Zumel, who became chair of the National Democratic Front.
But I did not regret the four years I spent at the state university. My UP education, particularly instruction from professors Malay and Raul Ingles that prepared me for real journalism work, was valuable.
Though I took up journalism thinking I could just coast along and not do real work, it seemed wasteful not to make the most of the university’s resources. The journalism curriculum was filled with electives.
So, instead of seeking easy and fun courses, I attended classes in political science, anthropology, sociology and other social sciences. The readings and paper work were killing me but the subjects certainly gave me the solid grounding I needed later when writing about social and development issues.
My lack of a diploma seemed more a concern to others. The late Foreign Secretary Blas F. Ople, whom I covered when he was labor secretary, often told me it was unfortunate one of the schools he attended had closed, or it would have granted me a degree. “It was a diploma mill,” he said laughing.
A former education secretary insisted almost every time I saw him that I write a letter asking the UPCMC to waive the thesis requirement and consider instead my work as a journalist. He said he would take it up with the Board of Regents, which he chaired.
Finally, just to please him (he was a kind, gentle soul) I wrote the letter. Afterwards he told me the CMC people took offense, thinking I was trying to use my “influence” to get around the requirement. That’s probably why I seem to have been dropped from the CMC roster and do not get asked to any college event.
Occasionally, I thought about getting that journalism degree from UP if only to have something to show for the many all-nighters I pulled cramming for an examination or to finish a term paper due the next day (I told myself it was good practice for when I became a full-fledged journalist with even tighter deadlines.)
Cramming aside, I was a conscientious student and did not flunk any subject even though I did not run away from “terror” professors and did not lobby for good grades. I did not even have an “Incomplete” mark except for that thesis, of course, and a class on African literature I enrolled in a few years later. (I did not need the units but the visiting professor from Sierra Leone was a friend.)
But commuting to Diliman (I was told that after a few years, I would have to start all over again and could not simply pick up where I left off) or even taking classes at UP Manila was just too exhausting to even contemplate. I was busy learning to be a journalist by being one.
Besides, I was never asked for my diploma, not even my transcript of records, in all my jobs and even when I got a Fulbright-Hays grant to Stanford University’s John S. Knight (formerly Professional Journalism) Fellowships.
I was resigned to being an “undergrad” forever until this section’s editor told me that Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) had been authorized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to offer the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP).
The “comprehensive educational assessment program” recognizes “knowledge, skills, attitude and values obtained by individuals from formal, non-formal and informal education and training and related work experiences.”
Credited for workIn short, if you have been doing the work you want to earn a degree in, you can have the knowledge and expertise you have gained credited towards a diploma by deputized educational institutions.
Several schools have already adopted ETEEAP and Lyceum is just one of – if not – the latest to have the program.
Though I wanted to see how the program worked, it was not just journalistic curiosity that made me submit my application to Lyceum. And it was definitely not because it seemed to be the fad – older people going back to school to get college degrees or even high school diplomas.
Even if nobody was asking for my diploma or transcript of records, I wanted to have something to show for the four years of college work. A diploma would also serve as an acknowledgment that I had lived up to expectations as a journalism major.
On hindsight, I am inclined to think I would not have deserved an AB Journalism degree after four years in college. Most of what I know about this job I learned in the newsroom from the men and women who mentored me as I moved from being an intern to cub reporter, to full-fledged reporter and editor.
A diploma would also add to my credentials as I hope to teach and help train young people how to write. I am extremely frustrated by a lot of careless, mindless writing these days.
Many students do not even think they have to learn to write since they are not going to be journalists or creative writers.
And yet at no time has there been a greater demand for writing skills. More things are being done, and often, that require some writing-e-mail, blogging, networking, among others.
I have volunteered my services to some schools, but my lack of a diploma is a drawback, even if I do not aspire to become a tenured professor.
I decided I would be proud to be a Lyceum alumna. The school has a journalism program, for one thing, and I am a great admirer of its founder, the late President Jose Laurel.
But, more importantly, it has a tradition of engagement in socio-political issues just like UP. The revered historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo, in his book “History of the Filipino People,” called Lyceum and UP “bastions of the nationalist movement” before and during the martial law regime. Zumel spent a little less than a school year at Lyceum while already working at the Bulletin as a proofreader, if I remember right.
So I filled out the ETEEAP application form, wrote my reasons for applying and another paper on the founder, and submitted other required documents, including my UP transcript of records which I finally had to get.
Then I faced a panel of interviewers consisting of deans and other school officials.
Finally, on April 24, I joined the 2010 Lyceum graduating class and received my diploma from LPU president Roberto Laurel.
My parents missed the event, having passed on years ago but I had relatives there as two of my first cousin’s sons were also in Class 2010.
Among Lyceum’s first ETEEAP graduates were a newspaper publisher, a journalism instructor, a broadcaster, a few Lyceum officers, and some business executives.
To find out more about ETEEAP, visit www.lpu.edu.ph or call 5278251-56. Courses under the LPU-ETEEAP are AB Foreign Service, Journalism, Legal Studies and Mass Communication; and BS Business Administration, International Hospitality Management and Psychology.
LPU’s Director Nera Appointed PRC Chair of Librarians
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Academic Resource Center Director Corazon M. Nera was recently appointed Chairman of the Board of Librarians by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). The appointment by the PRC was given in Malacanang on March 4, 2010.
Director Nera was also the recipient of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2010 Woman Achiever given by the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Libraries (PAARL).
Right: LPU Lady Pirates Basketball Team
LPU Lady Pirates Continue to Dominate National WNCAA:
Women’s Volleyball Claims 5th National WNCAA Championship in 6 Years
The Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Lady Pirates Women’s Volleyball Team won their 5th championship in 6 years over De La Salle Dasmarinas as it continued to monopolize the league’s top awards on a national level during the 6th National WNCAA Championship held from February 11-14 in Binan, Laguna. Aside from the National Championship, the team also brought home a number of individual awards, including the MVP (Joy Gazelle Cases), Mythical Six Best Blocker (Nasella Nica Guliman) and Best Setter (Nicolette Ann Louise Tabafunda) and Best Coach (Emiliano Lontoc).
Women’s Basketball Wins 3rd Consecutive National WNCAA Championship
The Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Lady Pirates Women’s Basketball Team won their 3rd straight title over De La Salle Dasmarinas proving once again that they are the league’s best team, during the 6th National WNCAA Championship held in Binan Laguna from February 11-14. The team also won a number of individual awards as Jessica Polindey claimed the MVP and Mythical Five Point Guard position, while Jona May Yasay joined her at the Mythical Five as Off Guard.
LPU presents Merci Monsieur Moliere !
The night of February 21, 1673.
Two actors are returning from the night burial of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. They return to the studio of the Famous Theater to take inventory and discuss the life of the master.
This theater piece in Epoque costumes retraces the great moments in the life of the author and recalls them to their historical context. It also offers a bird's eye view of Moliere's works (from light comedy to serious drama) through the reenactment of ten of his most celebrated works:
- The Imaginary Patient
- The Middle-Class Gentleman
- The Doctor Despite Himself
- The Jealousy of Le Barbouille
- The Pretentious Young Ladies
- Dom Juan
- L'Avare
- Tartuffe
- Scapin's Deceits
- The Love Tiff
This Performance Merci Monsieur Moliere! shows the richness, variety and especially the contemporary style of Moliere's works. It offers the audience no longer accustomed to the language of the seventeenth century a modern approach to classical comedy. It's an invitation to rediscover the works as varied in their rhythm as in their subject or genre.
The performance will be held at the Jose P. Laurel Hall of Freedom at Lyceum of the Philippines University on February 23
LPU Manila Guidance Head Ranks 2nd Overall
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU Manila) Guidance and Testing Center Director Dr. Maria Alma G. Facto ranked 2nd Place overall in the recent Guidance Counselor Licensure Examination given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Board of Guidance and Counseling.
Of the 108 total examinees, 78 applicants passed the recent exam, while an additional 76 applicants were approved for registration as Guidance Counselors without examination in accordance with Republic Act 8981.
LPU Celebrates English Week
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) recently celebrated English Days on September 19 and 20 with the theme “Riding on the Global Wave with the English Language”, coordinated by the College’s English Department.
The guest of honor for the event was celebrated novelist Francisco Sionil Jose, the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Literature and Journalism, the 2001 National Artist for Literature and the 2004 recipient of the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award from the Government of Chile.
The two day event showcased talents of Lyceum Students in literary events such as Oration, Dramatic Monologue, Acoustic Singing, Reader’s Theater and Speech Choir. The Board of Judges i ncluded author Dr. Eleanor Jimenez, Dr. Lucivilla Marcos, Chairperson of the San Sebastian College English Department, and Prof. Romeo Martin, a UE Theater Arts professor.
Lyceum Dance Troupe joins Macau Dance Festival
The Lyceum Dance Troupe (LDT), the official dance company of Lyceum of the Philippines University, recently participated in the yearly Festival Juvenil Internacional de Danca or International Youth Dance Festival in Macau.
The LDT was the only delegation to represent the Philippines in the said festival as it was chosen from many other Philippine dance companies because of its cultural and artistic diversity.
Other countries represented in the festival were Sri Lanka, Estonia, Slovenia, UK, Portugal, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Czech Republic, USA, Korea and New Zealand.
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