AMID rapid technological shifts, professors must serve as steadfast anchors of truth, relevance, and compassion in education, a UST professor said during the conferment of newly promoted faculty.
Speaking on behalf of 49 faculty members elevated to full professor, Prof. Joel Adamos of the UST College of Education stressed the need for educators to respond with deeper commitment in an ever-changing world.
“At a time when meaning can be lost in the noise and where emerging technologies like AI continue to change how we teach and learn, we are called to anchor education in truth, relevance, and care,” Adamos said during the July 9 ceremony.
“Our work does not stop at the classroom door. It continues in mentoring, in faculty formation, in community outreach, in research, and in those quiet moments when we reflect and reimagine what we do for the sake of those we serve,” he added.
Adamos also reminded his fellow faculty what it meant to be a “professor.”
“As professors, what we profess reflects our deepest convictions about education. We profess our belief in the power of education to transform lives. We profess our faith in the dignity and potential of every learner,” he said.
“To profess is to be present. To profess is to serve. To profess is to love.”
Adamos, who had served as department chair in Education, earned all his degrees in UST: a bachelor’s in mathematics (1995), a master’s in mathematics education (2004), and a doctorate in education (2020).
He has been teaching at UST for 25 years, earning the Gawad Santo Tomas for Outstanding Teaching in 2016 and the St. Albertus Magnus Award for Excellent Research in 2021.
Adamos urged his fellow professors to look beyond the prestige and conventions of their titles.
“To my fellow professors, this medal affirms not just what we have accomplished, but who we are becoming — we are more than content experts,” he said.
UST Vice Rector Rev. Fr. Isaias Tiongco, O.P. led the conferment of professorial medals, which bear the Latin name of the University and an image of its patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, on the 49 newly minted full professors.
In UST, the title “Prof.” is reserved for full professors, the highest academic rank above associate professors, assistant professors, and instructors. Micah G. Pascua
