Tag: March 23, 2007

THE UST Golden Corps of Cadets (UST-GCC) outshone 24 other schools as the Best ROTC Unit in the National Capital Region Annual Administrative Performance Evaluation held on March 4 at the Quirino Grandstand.

“I feel so fulfilled that we were able to represent UST and bring honor to the University before we leave the Golden Corps,” outgoing Corps Commander Joyce dela Cruz told the Varsitarian.

TWO THOMASIANS were among the country’s top 12 researchers named by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) at the 74th annual meeting of the Natural Research Council of the Philippines (NCRP) last March 8 at the Manila Hotel.

Maribel Nonato, assistant to the rector for research and development and Center for Research on Natural Sciences director, was cited for her pioneering research on the medicinal properties of the genus Pandanus (pandan) plant species. She was cited in the NCRP’s Chemical Sciences division.

THREE Thomasian composers from the Conservatory of Music were among the 15 winners of the choral writing competition of folk songs last Feb. 28 at the Center for Cultural Arts of the Philippines.

Music professor Fidel Calalang, Jr., Conducting major Lester Frederick Delgado, and Masters student Jude Edgar Balsamo were awarded for their compositions “Magtanim ay Di-biro,” “Orde-e,” and “Dagiti bitbituen Idiay Langit,” respectively, in a contest themed Awiting Bayan para sa Korong Pilipino.

THOMASIAN and former UST Graduate School professor Rustica Carpio received the Dangal ng Haraya award from the National Commision for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) during the Third Gawad Alab ng Haraya and Dangal ng Haraya awards ceremony at the NCCA building in Intramuros, Manila last Feb. 23.

Carpio was given the Dangal ng Haraya award for her achievements as a writer and critic as seen in her published works Hermogenes Ilagan: Father of Tagalog Zarzuela (2000), Life is a Stage (2001), Literature is Life (2003), Tilamsik ng Panitik (2003), and The Shanghai of My Past (2005).

AN ELECTRICAL Engineering senior was named UST’s top summa cum laude this year during the 2007 Student Awards last March 15 at the Education Auditorium.

With a 1.15 general weighted average, Joyce Ann Tan bested five other summa cum laude candidates, making her this year’s batch valedictorian.

“I am humbled and I never expected to receive the award,” Tan said. “UST has developed me holistically.”

T HE UNIVERSITY will raise tuition by 6.2 per cent following the national inflation rate set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Vice-Rector for Finance Fr. Clarence Marquez, O.P. has announced.

The tuition raise will cover all the year levels, except the sophomore level, whose increase will be 8 per cent, based on the “sliding effect,” which, accountants from the Office of the Treasurer said is expected to offset the decrease in enrollment usually expected in the second year.

VICE-RECTOR for Religious Affairs Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, O.P. was installed as the 11th rector of the UST Central Seminary in solemn investiture rites led by Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Fernando Filoni last March 19 at the Central Seminary chapel.

Timoner, who replaced Fr. Ernesto M. Arceo, who had, in turn, been named UST Rector, described his appointment as a “blessing and a burden.”

THOMASIANS joined Pope Benedict XVI in a global recitation of the rosary via satellite last March 10.

Holding a vigil at Plaza Mayor in front of the UST Main Bldg., UST students led Catholic schools in the rosary prayer in which several points across the world were hooked up by satellite to the Pope in the Vatican.

The rosary was part of the annual Day of European Universities, a celebration started by the late Pope John Paul II in 2003 and organized annually by the Vicariate of Rome’s Office of University Pastoral Care.

UST SHOULD have posted more than just a photo-finish position in the annual survey of the top 500 universities worldwide conducted by two private firms last year, a UST official said.

Engineer Alberto Laurito, assistant to the rector for planning and development, questioned the credibility of the Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS) survey, which began in 2003, because the data it used to determine UST’s ranking were not accurate.

UST RECTOR Fr. Ernesto M. Arceo, O.P. urged Thomasians to support candidates who are advocates of the “culture of life” and who have moral credibility.

“What I want the University to do this coming election is to thoroughly scrutinize and assess the candidates and vote for the ones who are pro-life, pro-justice, pro-country, and who adhere to morality,” Arceo told the Varsitarian. “These are the characteristics that I want UST to look for in every candidate.”