AFTER three decades of teaching at UST, Prof. Clarence Batan, who helped evolve the Department of Sociology and played a key role in establishing the University’s broadcast and research arms, has opted for early retirement.
The 50-year-old Batan was among the youngest of the 38 retirees honored by UST in a testimonial ceremony on July 17. The event recognized teaching and non-teaching academic staff who either chose early retirement or reached the mandatory retirement age of 65.
“I felt that I had done beautifully enough in UST, and I wish to leave at my peak,” he told the Varsitarian. “I want to leave at a time that I am healthy, I love the institution, I have beautiful memories.”
The sociologist said he hopes to continue teaching in public universities and remain active in research.
“I see the world as a world of opportunities — so as long as I can challenge myself more, and as long as I can serve society now, I will,” he said.
“It’s different when you’re in the private realm versus the public realm, and that is something that fascinates me.”
Batan, fondly known as “Doc Yayet,” began teaching at UST in 1995 as a fresh graduate of the University’s sociology program. He obtained his master’s degree in sociology from the University of the Philippines Diliman and his doctorate from Dalhousie University in Canada under a scholarship from the Canadian government.
At the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Batan helped re-establish the Department of Sociology in 2014 and served as its chair from 2019 to 2024.
“After 30 years, I have been very, very privileged. It has been an honor to have witnessed the department’s development and to have faced and overcome its challenges, especially during the pandemic,” he said.
Beyond teaching, Batan’s legacy includes helping pioneer Tomasian Cable Television, now UST Tiger TV, and playing a key role in founding two of the University’s flagship research arms: the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education, where he had served as director, and the Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.
Batan, whose research has been closely tied to Filipino Catholicism, also recently completed an eight-year project for the National Catechetical Study. He described it as his “closest service” to the Church after producing seven books.
Now, as “Doc Yayet” bids farewell, he looks back with gratitude at how UST shaped his lifelong passion for sociology.
“Pasasalamat sa kakayahan, paninindigan, at pagmamalasakit na natutunan ko sa pamantasan over the years, starting from me being a student until the time I became a full professor at the University of Santo Tomas.”
