Del Carmen Honor Hall for Students with High Academic Performance Inaugurated

Del Carmen Honor Hall for Students with High Academic Performance Inaugurated

A dormitory designed to encourage scholarship and support students with high academic performance was inaugurated on March 15.

The Rolando Villanueva del Carmen Honor Hall is a gift from 1982 Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee in the field of Education, after whom the two-storey co-ed dormitory is named. Its arrangement for lodging and common spaces is conducive to coursework and intellectual pursuits that promote leadership and community service.

Designed to accommodate 28 honor students every semester, the Honor Hall envisions providing residents with opportunities to learn from each other, collaborate and test out their creativity and ingenuity, nurture similar goals and aspirations, and enrich the intellectual life on campus.

Wide open spaces characterize the ground floor of the Honor Hall. It features a common area for dining, research work, group studies, and co-curricular activities and functions. The second floor is divided into 14 air-conditioned rooms for double occupancy, with common toilet and bath in each wing.  A dedicated unlimited internet connection will be made available to Honor Hall residents.

Admission into the Honor Hall is a privilege given to academically deserving students that comes with full board and lodging scholarship or subsidy. Eligible students are those with a QPA of at least 3.30 with no grade below 2.0, among others. Those interested are encouraged to apply through the Student Scholarship and Aid Division.

Dr. Del Carmen is a retired professor of criminal justice and one of the foremost experts in the same field in the United States. Despite his illustrious career, he has remained modest and gracious, translating his achievements into an opportunity to impact on the lives of others in the Philippines and the United States, through student scholarships, faculty fellowships and grants to sustain and broaden the reach of legal advocacy work, particularly of the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development in Silliman University, the Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management, the College of Business Administration, the Senior High School Program and support for the University’s Scholarship for high performing honor students.

In 2016, Silliman conferred on him a Doctor of Laws degree, honors causa. This distinction adds to other prestigious awards that Dr. Del Carmen had received: Academy Fellow Award in 1990, the Bruce Smith Sr. Award in 1997 and the Founders Award in 2005 from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Regents Professor Award, the highest distinction from the Sam Houston State University of Texas, as its first recipient.