Tag: September 30, 2012

UST OFFICIALS have reminded faculty members to respect Catholic teachings, citing the need to preserve the Catholic identity of the University.

BEYOND the tradition of entering the Arch of Centuries as a welcome rite lies the mission of belonging to the “finest breed of Filipinos.”

In his homily during the annual Thomasian Welcome Walk last Sept. 24, Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P. reminded freshmen that being a Thomasian is “a project that has just begun.”

“As students of this institution, you will not only be formed to become men and women but also people responsive to the needs of others,” he said. “You will follow the footsteps of heroes and saints who served others with so much dedication to other people’s lives.”

FORMER UST Faculty Union (USTFU) president Gil Gamilla has sued the union’s current vice president for legal affairs for libel, heating up the row over a supposed “questionable disbursement of the USTFU funds.”

In his complaint-affidavit, Gamilla claimed Noel Asiones uttered “libelous statements” against him during the latter’s report to the union’s general assembly last Aug. 18, 2011.

One of the items discussed by Asiones in his report was the Committee of Peers’ (CoP) report on the alleged “unauthorized and questionable disbursement of USTFU funds” to certain faculty members including Gamilla.

A FORMER chief finance officer of an investment firm accused of qualified theft of faculty union funds claims his signature was forged.

Ramoncito Modesto, formerly of Wise Capital Investment and Trust Company (Wise CITCO), said he was not involved in any transactions in connection with the alleged illegal disbursement of P9.5-million worth of union funds to a property developer in 2006.

THE INDIAN Ambassador to the Philippines has called on India and the Philippines to “think differently” to discover the true potential of both countries.

In the forum “Look-East Policy: Implications on Philippine-Indian Relations” held at UST Miguel de Benavides Library Conference Hall last Sept. 24, Ambassador Shri Amit Dasgupta said both countries should open their markets in response to the economic crisis affecting the whole world.

“Neither of our countries are so rich nor so wealthy that [they] are in a position to carry on as we are carrying on…The need to bring about development is acute,” Dasgupta said.

The so called look-east policy, which emerged in the 1990s, is not aimed against any country, he said.

TO CURB the unemployment rate, a foreign educational organization is urging fresh graduates to teach in public schools.

“Teach for the Philippines,” an international franchise of the “Teach for All” movement, called on Thomasians to consider teaching in the most disadvantaged public schools nationwide, in a conference at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center auditorium last Sept. 20.

Teach for the Philippines is a national movement seeking to expand educational opportunities by recruiting recent Filipino graduates.

Chief executive officer Margarita Delgado said the movement offers leadership training to make a person desirable candidate for the corporate world upon graduation.

CLASSROOM management in the University is going to the next level.

The Santo Tomas e-Service Providers (STePS) has begun developing the Quadricentennial Electronic Notebook (Quaderno), an Internet-based classroom management system for faculty members.

But the program—which is expected to be launched next semester—has yet to hurdle software testing by the Faculty of Engineering.

“Matatapos [ang pilot testing] by [the end of] September tapos kung meron mang babaguhin, definitely maga-adjust kami,” said Polly Blanco, STePS assistant director for software development and applications.

UST FAILED to notch a spot in this year’s ranking of world’s top 600 universities compiled by a London-based consultancy, sinking with three other Philippine universities in the yearly listing.

In the Sept. 11 report of Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS), UST was only good for the 601+ bracket. Joining the University at the tail-end of the World University Rankings is De La Salle University, which went down from last year’s 551-600th bracket.

Meanwhile, the University of the Philippines (UP) sunk to 348th with a score of 34.5, dropping 16 notches from last year’s 332nd.

Ateneo de Manila University fell to the 451-500 bracket, about a hundred notches from last year’s 361.

A PERSON without faith can teach religious studies, but never Catholic theology and ethics.

This was according to Fr. Gerard Timoner III, O.P., prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines, during the conferment of the “mandatum” cross to tenured lay professors of Catholic theology, morals, ethics, and professional ethics last Sept. 19 at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church.

The mandatum, a license to teach theology and ethics, is a new requirement of the University.

All 99 professors who applied for the mandatum were approved by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle upon the recommendation of Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, O.P., Rector of UST.

DESPITE UST’s lackluster performances in the September 2012 Electrical Engineering and Chemistry licensure examinations, three Thomasians managed to grab spots in the exams’ Top 10 lists.

Data from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) showed UST’s passing rate in the chemist licensure exams dropped to 44.62 percent or 29 passers out of 65 examinees, from last year’s 72.97 percent (27 passers out of 37 examinees).

Thomasian Jose Fernan Reyes ranked fifth place with a score of 88.25 percent, sharing the spot with a student from Mapua Institute of Technology-Manila.

The University of the Philippines-Diliman was again the lone top-performing school, with an 83.93-percent passing rate or 47 out of 56 examinees.