THE international relations coordinator of the UST Graduate School is set to deliver this year’s St. Thomas More Lecture, which will be held as part of the Faculty of Arts and Letters’ (Artlets) 60th anniversary celebration.
Prof. Lino Baron, a former Artlets faculty secretary and chair of the now-defunct UST Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, will deliver the lecture on Feb. 24 at 9 a.m. at the Medicine Auditorium.
He holds an undergraduate degree in Asian studies, a master’s in oriental religion and culture, and a doctorate in Southeast Asian studies.
Baron teaches at the UST Graduate School’s political science and development studies programs and at the Artlets’ Asian studies program. He joined Artlets in 1987, later serving as its faculty secretary.
During the lecture, he will also launch his book “Celebrating More,” a publication about the history of the Artlets lecture series from 1968 until 2022.
“Given the richness of the individual lectures on education, religion, politics and governance, business, the environment, national development, international relations, the arts and the evolution of national culture, the book brings out new and innovative insights that emerge from reflections on these topics and affirms the vitality and relevance of St. Thomas More,” an Artlets press release read.
UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. wrote the foreword for the book, in which he described the St. Thomas More Lectures as “history unfolding right before our eyes since they tackle issues significant to their period and milieu as well as show how these issues continue to have a huge impact on contemporary times.”
The lecture series was initiated by the late Artlets dean Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta and assistant dean Piedad Guinto Rosales to honor the faculty’s patron, St. Thomas More, an English social philosopher and statesman martyred by Henry VIII.
Previous speakers include Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and former senator Edgardo Angara. Last year, lawyer Antonio Gabriel La Viña delivered the lecture.
Artlets will close its 60th anniversary celebration with an alumni gala night at the Manila Hotel on March 1.
