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Silliman Leaders Issue ‘Statement
of Concern’ >> 7th Psychology Reg’l Forum Opens at SU >> Nursing Education Building 1 Inaugurated >> 47th Dumaguete National Writers Workshop Set May >> 590 Receive Honors >> Instruction Director Presents Paper on Ulahingan >> CNAHS Dean to Speak at Nursing Forum in Taiwan >> Silliman, Gawad Kalinga Ink MoA >> Dr. Salonga Tackles 11th Commandment in Sermon >> SU President Invited to World Bank Forum in Korea >> Cultural Sensitivity in Counseling Module Tested >> Congratulations! | ||||
Silliman Leaders Issue ‘Statement of Concern’ Members of the University Leadership Council (ULC) issued a “Statement of Concern” in light of the revelations of Mr. Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., former president of the Philippine Forest Corporation, on anomalies involving the aborted NBN-ZTE deal. The statement, which has gathered close to 500 signatures, called on both citizens and those in government to “act according to the dictates of one’s conscience.” “While the University and its constituency seek to uphold the rule of law, we call on all concerned to adhere to what is enshrined in the Philippine constitution that ‘public office is a public trust’....” According to the statement, citizens must always require accountability from government leaders…“and those in government whose integrity may have been sullied to relinquish office immediately in order to protect the sanctity of the same.” To reinforce the call in the statement, the SU Justice and Peace Center organized a “Prayer Rally and Vigil for Truth Telling and Call for Accountability” on February 22 at the SU Church. “As a Christian institution of higher learning, Silliman University is constantly conscious of its duty to promote what is morally right and just,” the statement stressed. As a “conscience center” and a “moral agent,” the members of the ULC said in the press statement, “Silliman University cannot allow the erosion and total disregard of the tenets of transparency and morality in national governance to go unnoticed.” In the statement, members of the ULC expressed their common concern over the state of the country. “We are simply disgusted and utterly disappointed in the state of our national affairs at this time, which is a far cry from our expectations of what the Filipino people deserve,” the statement said. The
ULC is a policy discussion group, coordinating collective vetting
and collective governance. It is a transparency (information sharing
and dissemination), decision flattening mechanism which discusses
and recommends guidelines and approaches for executing and shaping
policies. It is composed of Administrators of the University, headed
by the University President, and representatives from the Silliman
University Student Government, the campus publication, the Weekly
Sillimanian, and faculty and staff unions. 7th Psychology Reg’l Forum Opens at SU The two-day 7th Psychology Regional Forum, themed: “Psychology: Fostering Societal Well-being,” starts today at Silliman University. Hosted by the Psychology Department of Silliman University, the forum features workshops and fora on trends and developments in intervention, applications and advocacies in psychology, particularly in the areas of Forensic Psychology, Clinical and Counseling Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Health Psychology and Social Psychology. Three simultaneous workshops are being held today: “Therapy with Difficult Clients: Using the Precursors Model” by SU College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean Dr. Margaret Helen Alvarez, “Trainor Train Yourself” by SU Psychology Department’s Prof. Michele Joan Valbuena, and “Counseling: Assessment and Intervention for Suicidal Clients/Students” by Negros Oriental State University Prof. Noel Yasi. Participants
in this forum are practicing professionals, teachers and graduate
students of psychology. Nursing Education Building 1 Inaugurated The new Nursing Education Building (NEB) 1, one of three planned buildings to comprise the nursing education complex, was inaugurated early this month. In the opening of the second semester of this school year, the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences has already started to occupy the first two floors of the three-storey building. NEB 1 features 12 lecture-laboratory rooms, and cost around P20 million. Silliman Nursing alumni and friends of the University helped fund the construction of the building. Silliman
University is a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education. It is
one of only two universities in the country offering the degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing. 47th Dumaguete National Writers Workshop Set May The Dumaguete National Writers’ Workshop is now accepting applications to the 47th National Writers’ Workshop to be held on May 5 to 23 in Dumaguete City. This summer writers’ workshop is offering fifteen fellowship slots to promising young writers who would like to hone their craft and refine their style. Fellows will be given airfare, housing, and a modest stipend. To be accepted, applicants should submit their manuscripts in English on or before April 5, 2008 (seven to ten poems; or three to five short stories; or three to five creative non-fiction essays). Manuscripts should be submitted in hard copy and on CD, preferably in MS Word, together with a resume, a recommendation letter from a literature professor or a writer of national standing, a certification that the works are original, and two 2X2 ID pictures. Send
all applications and/or requests for information to the Department
of English & Literature, attention of Prof. A.G. Soluta, Chair,
Silliman University, Dumaguete City. 590 Receive Honors Silliman University will recognize today 590 students for their academic excellence at the 50th Annual Honors Awards and Co-curricular Convocation at the Luce Auditorium. Out of this school year’s awardees, 13 will be receiving University Honors, 112, College Honors and 465, Class Honors. These are students who have maintained high academic standing, with a QPA of no less than 3.25 for Class Honors, 3.50 for College Honors, and a sustained ranking in the upper 3 percent of their class in the four semesters in which they were considered for junior and senior honors for University Honors. The Most Outstanding Student of the Year Award, the highest co-curricular award for a graduating student who demonstrates exceptional leadership ability and excellence in academics, will be given to Lycar Flores, a University Honors recipient. Lycar is a Management senior and currently President of the Silliman University Student Government. She is also one of this year’s 10 Most Outstanding Jose Rizal Model Students of the Philippines. Addressing
the awardees will be 16-year-old Ms Mikaela Irene Fudolig, the youngest
faculty member of any university in the Philippines. She graduated
summa cum laude and University Valedictorian with a degree
in Physics from the University of the Philippines last year. Instruction Director Presents Paper on Ulahingan Director of Instruction and History professor Dr. Earl Jude Paul Cleope shared developments on a pioneering research work on the Ulahingan epic at the national conference “Inter/Sections – Crossroads and Crosscurrents in Literatures and Cultures” held January 29 to 31 at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Titled, “Edey Edey Andaman (Everybody please pay attention, the chant goes on): A Crossroad of History and Literature – The Ulahingan Epic Update,” Dr. Cleope’s paper provided an update on the trailblazing research on the Ulahingan epic of the Livunganen-Arumanen Manobos spearheaded by the late Silliman theology professor Dr. Elena Maquiso in 1963. Dr. Maquiso’s project had already recorded 3,380 hours of chanting which is equivalent to 18 months of uninterrupted chanting of 6 hours a night. “To date, the collection remains a mine of information practically waiting to become many more scholarly papers and creative works,” Dr. Cleope said. His paper sought to draw the attention of folklore scholars and literary enthusiasts to “this unique Filipino cultural heritage”, in an attempt to provide an update on succeeding initiatives to continue the Ulahingan Research Project. Five
volumes, out of a series of 10, containing products of the project
have already been published. Dr. Cleope hopes to continue the research
project and come out with the sixth volume. CNAHS Dean to Speak at Nursing Forum in Taiwan College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Dean Dr. Teresita Sy-Sinda has been invited to present a paper at the 11th East Asian Forum on Nursing Scholars (EAFONS) hosted February 28 to 29 by the College of Nursing of Kaohsiung Medical University in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Dr. Sinda’s research paper focuses on “The Impact of the Reproductive Health Training Center Services on Women’s Reproductive Health and Rights.” At the same conference, she has also been invited to serve as the plenary speaker on the topic “Doctoral Programs in Nursing: Meeting Challenges of Societal Change.” Silliman
University is one of only two universities in the Philippines offering
a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing program. Silliman, Gawad Kalinga Ink MoA Silliman
University and Gawad Kalinga (GK) entered into a Memorandum of Agreement
(MoA) on the establishment of a GK Builders Institute (GKBI). Under the MoA, Silliman will establish a GKBI to: (1) serve as a think-tank on developing effective templates and models for GK programs through community and school-based research and development, and (2) act as a training facilitator for the GK Builders Corps. GKBI is an institute for learning committed to teach, train and form GK teams (caretakers, beneficiaries and partners) to replicate GK best practices. It works with academic institutions to pursue GK goals, and become a hub of GK mobilization and involvement to achieve a pool of one million builders or volunteers. The
planning and implementation of the GKBI programs will be facilitated
by the Service-Learning Center at Silliman. Dr. Salonga Tackles 11th Commandment in Sermon Former Senator Dr. Jovito Salonga spoke about the 11th commandment in his sermon at the launching of the University Christian Life Emphasis Week on February 3 at the Silliman University Church. Dr. Salonga introduced his message on the 11th commandment with a story about a boy who justified to a pastor that there is an additional commandment to what most people know as the 10 Commandments of God. “What is so new about this commandment?” Dr. Salonga asked, sharing that “Jesus had already compressed the commandments into two – Love for God and Love for our fellowmen.” He said the 11th commandment was given at the time when Jesus and his disciples were gathering to observe the Passover. At this celebration, Jesus washed the feet of his disciplines, and had the Last Supper. This was when Judas left the room afterwards to betray Jesus. “It was in this atmosphere of tenderness, affection, mixed with sadness, that Jesus gave them a new commandment – which we now call the 11th commandment,” Dr. Salonga said. Answering his question, he said: “But we have to remember that the 11th commandment is a different kind of love, it is a choice and an act or will different from the love we have for our close relatives and friends.” He explained further by likening it to the kind of love manifested by the Good Samaritan to the Jew who was robbed and left bleeding on the road. Despite the Jew’s being a stranger to him, the Good Samaritan cared for him and left enough money to compensate services that the owner of the inn would afford the Jew. “But the original disciples of Jesus are gone. What does loving one another, as Jesus commanded in the Upper Room, mean to this Church, to my Church, and to the various Christian churches in the world?” he asked. Dr. Salonga provided four answers. First, he said, regardless of economic standing and cultural differences, the 11th commandment requires us to love one another. “Christ binds us into a new unity, first within this congregation and within this same fellowship. When we stand at the foot of the Cross, we are all brothers and sisters,” he stressed. Second, “Christians in this Church need the love of Christians in other churches, whether here or abroad, especially when we are alone, or in need, or are being persecuted,” Dr. Salonga said. He shared how, through the united efforts of members of different church congregations to help clear his name as one of those behind the bombings in Metro Manila in August to October 1980, he was released from detention by then President Ferdinand Marcos. Third, he spoke about the true standard measurement of love, reflecting on “the number of walls and barriers built to exclude others” – one of the great tragedies today in American churches, according to Pastor William Tuck. “Jesus said: Love one another as I have loved you. In short, Jesus gives us the measure and the example whether we have loved one another properly and without counting the cost. For consider the breadth, depth, length and height of Jesus’ love,” Dr, Salonga said. And fourth, complying with the 11th commandment, he said: “The result of this kind of love, Jesus tells us is that ‘other people will recognize that you are my disciples.’” When enemies of the first Christian church in the past declared, “Behold, how these Christians love one another!” he said, one can now only witness “the saddest displays of fragmentation, jealousy, bigotry, self-interest, gossip and even slander.” Toward the end of his sermon, he asked the people in the Church who among them are recognized by others as disciples of Jesus, and if they can consider themselves as “the salt of the earth and the light of our little world” by making a difference in the life of the community in Dumaguete and Negros Oriental. Dr. Salonga ended his sermon with a quote from Winston Churchill: “Moral courage is the one virtue that makes all the other virtues possible. Indeed, of what use is our honesty if we do not have the courage to uphold it? Of what use is justice if we do not have the courage to defend it? And of what use is freedom if we do not have the courage to fight for it?” After the morning service, Dr. Salonga launched his book Not by Power or Wealth Alone. The title of his book is from Deuteronomy 8:3 and from a statement of Jesus Christ, as found in Mathew 4:4: “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” A
simple gathering was hosted by Silliman President Ben S. Malayang
III after the launching with faculty members of the College of
Law.
SU President Invited to World Bank Forum in Korea The World Bank Institute (WBI) has invited Silliman University President Ben S. Malayang III to the forum on “Building Knowledge Economies: Advanced Strategies for Development” on February 22 in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Bruno Laporte, Manager of the Knowledge and Human Development Group of WBI, indicated in his invitation to Dr. Malayang that the one-day forum is “for very high-level policymakers”. It is jointly organized by WBI and the Korean Government. The forum seeks to, among others: assist policymakers in acquiring a comprehensive view of knowledge economy concepts and issues as well as global and regional trends; enhance the capacity of policymakers to design knowledge economy strategies and implement them in different contexts; and provide ideas about the development of a comprehensive core course on knowledge economy to be offered by the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management and WBI in 2008. Dr.
Malayang’s extensive experience in development and governance
comes not only from his involvement in the academe, but also from
his previous undertakings as consultant on and team leader of
projects and programs funded by both Philippine and foreign governments
and international organizations. Cultural Sensitivity in Counseling Module Tested Career and Placement Officer Dr. Evangeline Aguilan was one of the workshop facilitators in the Midterm Seminar-Workshop of the Association of Psychological and Educational Counselors of Asia Pacific (APECA) held January 31 to February 2 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The seminar-workshop on “Contextualizing Multicultural Counseling and Therapy” emphasized culture as a component in counseling to facilitate effective understanding of human behavior. At this seminar-workshop Dr. Aguilan conducted among participants from six Asian countries, she introduced a training module she designed that aims to develop culturally sensitive counselors. The module, she said, highlights the need for guidance counselors to treat their counselees not only as individuals who are “in distress” or have problems, but as unique individuals who come from and are influenced by a particular culture. Being sensitive to the culture of the counselee, she said, the counselor is assisted in determining the appropriate counseling approach. Dr. Aguilan explained that traditional western counseling theoretical framework relied heavily on “ego” and “personality”. In the later years, “culture” was considered a component when Multicultural Counseling and Therapy (MCT) was introduced. What she presented at the seminar-workshop was a contextualized MCT, drawing from the differences in the competencies of Filipino guidance counselors. In terms of competencies, she said guidance counselors in the Philippines are able to give value to spirituality. Their interactions with their clients across varying age brackets, affiliations and orientations are better facilitated by their multilingualism and ability to update “generational jargons”. These competencies, she said, are vital to building up cultural sensitivity. Dr.
Aguilan is a member of APECA, an organization formed in 1976 in
Manila, Philippines, when 40 counselors from 9 Asian countries
gathered together in the Philippines to deliberate on the future
of counseling in Asia. From these 40 Charter Members, APECA has
now grown to over 300 registered members from different countries. Congratulations! Our New Civil Engineers Davad,
Ariel | ||||
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