Tag: January 23, 2012

The countdown to the next centennial begins.

Week-long festivities will again be held on campus as UST concludes its tumultuous 400th year celebration, and welcomes its fifth century.

Highlighting the ‘Neo-centennial’ (new centennial) celebration is the singing of the Thomasian community dubbed as “40,000 Voices.” The Jan. 27 event will be spearheaded by award-winning conductor Herminigildo Ranera of the Conservatory of Music, together with two-time “Choir of the World” UST Singers, the UST Symphony Orchestra, and college-based choirs.

SIX GRADUATE programs in UST made it to the 2011 list of top master’s programs in the world by a French rating agency.

The recognition, given by Paris-based Eduniversal International Scientific Committee, was based on an 18-month study of 12,000 master of arts (MA), master of sciences (MS), masters, and master in business administration (MBA) programs in the world’s top 1,000 business schools and universities.

Eduniversal picked a total of 4,000 master’s programs in 30 topics.

THE IMPEACHMENT trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona should be allowed to reach its conclusion, legal experts said amid questions over the hasty passage of the complaint at the House of Representatives.

In a surprise move last Dec. 12, before Congress went on Christmas break, 188 members of the House of Representatives—mostly allies of President Benigno Aquino III—signed eight articles of impeachment against Corona. With more than a third of the House voting to impeach Corona, there was no more need for public hearings as stated in the Constitution, and the articles were sent directly to the Senate, which must sit as an impeachment court. The trial proper began last Jan. 16.

THREE PAPERS from UST bested entries from other universities at the National Communication Research Conference in the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman.

“The ‘Evolving Self’ in the Narratives of Recording Addicts: A Journey to Symbolic Interactionism” by Graduate School student Susan Jo, was declared best paper under the cluster “Community Communication: Communication that Originates from, Circulates in, and Reasons with Communities.” Her study won over entries from UP Diliman and Baguio.

LIBRARIANS and the faculty union are at odds over new guidelines requiring both library and teaching staff to get master’s degrees before getting their promotions.

Six librarians are objecting to the guidelines set by the University—which the UST Faculty Union (USTFU) apparently signed without seeking the librarians’ consent and approval.

In a two-page complaint sent to USTFU on Sept. 22, 2010, which the Varsitarian only obtained this month, the librarians cited violations of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) due to the requirement imposed by the Office of Faculty Evaluation and Development (OFED).

THE POLISH envoy to the Philippines visited the University last Jan. 12 to kickstart educational linkages between UST and Polish universities.

Ambassador Adam Jelonek said his objective was to find connections in Asia for education and research.

“We have a program in the European Commission where we send college students in Europe to countries in Asia like Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia for at least a year,” Jelonek told the Varsitarian. “Thus, we now plan to include the Philippines as a new destination for our students not only to experience the educational system, but also the culture of the country.”

BORROWING books has become easier than ever.

To speed up the process of borrowing books, the Miguel de Benavides Library has installed a “self-checkout” machine although some glitches are still being fixed.

“Actually, we’re still on a dry-run period. There is a tendency that your friend will use your student number to check out books,” said Madonna Alonzo, head librarian of the circulation section.

The machine, located at the left side of the circulation section, allows library users to borrow books on their own by entering their student or identification numbers and swiping the barcode of the books under the built-in scanner. The machine does not require passwords or IDs.

Fire hit the Main Building last Jan. 10—someone forgot to switch off the electric fan at the computer lab of the Faculty of Pharmacy.

The incident at the second floor of the 84-year-old national heritage structure, blamed by investigators on “dielectric heating” in the fan, forced the suspension of classes at the Faculty of Pharmacy and College of Science.

Initial reports said the fire at the learning resource unit spread to the Pharmacy faculty room.

The UST Security Office said security guard Nocel Escarda heard the fire alarm at 4:10 a.m., hours before classes were to resume after the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo.

A THIEF was nabbed for the third time by a campus security guard, caught red-handed after attempting to steal from a College of Science student.

Anna Rose Romero, 21, was caught by guard-on-duty Cecilio Balunsat last Jan. 10 in front of a convenience store on Dapitan Street, snatching a pouch from the UST student, Guia Fernandez.

“My classmate and I were in front of Ministop [on Dapitan Street] when I stopped walking to talk to my classmate…then suddenly, the guard was already there talking to the girl [Romero]. She was holding my belonging and she hid it beneath her bag. My classmates also saw that she was holding it,” Fernandez said.

NOT EVEN the rain could stop Thomasians’ yearly Christmas celebration.

With the theme, “Pagsalubong sa Ikalimang Siglo,” the annual Paskuhan drew an estimated 100,000 people last Dec. 15 and 16.

The two-day festivities began with an anticipated Misa de Gallo led by Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., Rector of the University, at the UST Grandstand, where he reminded Thomasians to form good habits and reach out to others during the Yuletide season.