JOSEFINA R. Gonzalez, a former Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) assistant dean and longtime teacher of Spanish, died on Nov. 20. She was 82.
The faculty announced her demise on its Facebook page.
“She was known for advocating the sense of propriety among her students, never compromising compliance with school regulations and policies, and her commitment to quality education,” the Facebook post read.
“Thank you, Señora, for being the person and Thomasian educator that you were,” it said.
Gonzalez served as Artlets assistant dean from 1996 to 2007, overseeing student admissions and academic performance, supervising staff, and taking charge of accreditation activities.
She taught Spanish at the faculty from 1963 until her retirement in 2009.
Prof. Felicidad Pereña of the UST Department of Literature paid tribute to Gonzalez in a Facebook comment.
“Sra. G will be greatly missed. Her integrity and sense of duty as an educator and administrator will be her legacy to the Thomasian community,” Pereña wrote.
Asst. Prof. John Manuel R. Kliatchko, Artlets faculty secretary who had worked with Gonzalez, remembered the former Artlets assistant dean to be particular and firm in implementing University policies.
“As an academic leader, Señora Gonzalez was known to be strict and was very particular with propriety in conducting one’s self,” Kliatchko told the Varsitarian. “She was also known for her instructional delivery.”
Tyrone Nepomuceno, a UST Senior High School faculty member and a former student of Gonzalez, said the Spanish professor was an “epitome of strength, discipline, wit, kindness, humor, class, and beauty.”
Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where Gonzalez taught after retiring from UST, also paid tribute to the late professor in a Facebook post.
“She spells passion and elegance whenever she stands in front of the room,” said Madel Dela Cruz, a former student of Gonzalez at Letran, in a Facebook post.
“She lived so many good years and in our hearts she’ll always live as a legend, a legacy,” Dela Cruz added.
