CEU President Speaks of Truth, Faith in Science

“Truth is both the ends and the means of science.”

This was how Dr. Ma. Christina Padolina, Speaker during the 95th University Commencement Exercises held March 16, described the practice of science as she discussed its moral and spiritual dimensions.

Speaking to a graduating class of 774 students, eight of whom were magna cum laude and 58, cum laude, Dr. Padolina explained that the pursuit of truth and one’s faith go together in science. The absence of one may produce undesirable results.

“The practice of science is, in fact, a moral exercise,” she said.

Dr. Padolina, who is President of Centro Escolar University and former Commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education, cited physicist and theologian Dr. John Polkinghorne who, in his book, wrote: “The whole practice of science depends upon the acceptance of certain moral values: honesty in the reporting of results, respect for the credit due to others for their discoveries, generosity in making results available to one’s colleagues.”

The commitment to truth, she said, is the primary or fundamental value in the practice of science.

“The goal of science is to discover the truth about our world… And in the end, the results of science are judged by a single criterion – consistency with other truths. Therein lies the integrity of the findings of science.”

Scientific findings, she explained, are shared in order for the same to be validated by other scientists, and for the knowledge generated from it to be used by the public.

“It is not just the telling of the truth by scientists, the faithful reporting of their findings that is important. Just as vital is that we, the public, acknowledge the truth,” she added.

She tackled the issue of global warming, a phenomenon that has been observed since 50 years ago, and how people are in denial about it. “Not only were we in denial about the change in the global climate but we were also in denial as to its cause.”

Dr. Padolina shared how findings of a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on its assessment of changes in weather patterns were fraught with controversy. These findings indicated that, with “90% assessed likelihood”, the origin of these climate changes is anthropogenic or caused by human activities.

However, she said, “some sectors of the global society wanted the report to be less than truthful. Some sectors wanted the report to be toned down.”

“U.S. negotiators managed to eliminate language that called for mitigating measures, in particular, for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.

China, on the other hand, objected to the statement in the report that states: “there is very high confidence that many natural systems are being affected by climate changes.” Dr. Padolina shared that three scientists opposed China’s move, but this was overruled. This caused the omission of any reference to confidence levels.

The United States and China are two of the top producers of greenhouse gases in the world.

“It is precisely the collective effect of each of our individual actions that has brought the earth to the state it is now in. It will also be the cumulative effect of the deeds of each and every one of us which will be required to reverse what our sins in the past have wrought,” she said.

Tying up truth to faith, Dr. Padolina shared excerpts from the book, The Universe in a Single Atom. In the book, the Dalai Lama spoke of how knowledge alone cannot “constitute the legitimate ground for developing a comprehensive worldview or an adequate means for responding to the world’s problems.”

Faith, she said, serves as a “guide when we start applying the discoveries of science to serve humanity.” Its role is vital especially in dealing with potential ethical and moral issues arising from developments in science, taking reference to the mapping of the human genome – what may be referred to as the “manual for making humans.”

“I submit that we will need our faith to help us deal with these issues, first of all because we are dealing here with God’s code for his most divine creation, human life, and therefore, only with our faith in His grace and love can we wisely make decisions regarding these issues,” Dr. Padolina said.

This faith, she added, will help ensure that the information derived from the human genome mapping does not become a tool to bring harm to others, but instead be used as a tool “to uphold life, to treat others in their best interest.”

Despite the potential ethical and moral issues arising from the Human Genome Project, she illustrated how even its project head, Francis Collins, an eminent scientist and a devout believer, regards the Bible.

According to Collins in his book The Language of God that the one verse he goes back to whenever he is struggling for answers is James 1:15: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given him.”

Dr. Padolina told the graduates, even at the start of her speech, that she hopes the moral and spiritual perspectives of science “would serve as light posts in your life journey lest they become distracted by the gadgetry or blinded by the glitter of the inventions or get lost in the volume of information now available or be diverted to the so-called dark side by the power that the knowledge may bring.”

She concluded her speech with a quote from John Schaar: “The future is not some place you are going to but one you are creating. The paths are not to be found but made and the process of making them changes both the destination and the maker.”

The 95th University Commencement Exercises ceremony was held for the first time at the Amphitheater, which was refurbished with support from the Sillimam alumni chapter at San Diego. As the ceremony progressed, the sunset revealed to the graduating students and their parents, friends and relatives a rich yellow Silliman University Church decked with lights. The ceremony ended with an animated fireworks display flashed on a huge white screen.
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The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) tapped Silliman University as a Center of Training Institute for DepEd Certificate and INSET (In-Service Training) Programs.

Issued March 7 by CHED Chairman Romulo Neri and Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, the Certificate allows Silliman to develop induction/INSET programs for public school teachers.

Silliman, prior to this Certificate, has trained batches of public school teachers in Negros Oriental under the Department of Education-Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project. The training modules designed by Silliman were on Classroom Management and on Care, Use and Improvement of Learning Support Materials.

Only six schools in Regions 7 qualified for the Certificate. The other schools are University of San Carlos, University of San Jose Recoletos, St. Theresa’s College, Cebu Normal University and Holy Name University.
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Silliman University entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Colegio de Santa Catalina de Alejandria (COSCA) on sharing of resources at the SU Main Library.

The MoA is Silliman’s way of encouraging research and other academic-related pursuits within the community. A similar agreement with other universities is in the process.

Under the agreement, Silliman provides access of its collection to COSCA faculty members and college and graduate students. A special library ID will be issued to COSCA teachers and students who will be endorsement by their President or Vice President for Academic Affairs to avail of the privilege under the MoA.

The special library ID grants use of library materials within the Main Library premises, including access to the Online Public Access Catalogue. Borrowing of books and use of the CyberLibrary and the Word Processing Unit are at the moment only exclusive to Silliman students.

This year’s recipient of the Outstanding Academic Library Award from the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Librarians, the SU Main Library houses over 200,000 volumes of books and various multi-media collections. Three centers on its ground floor are available to the public for free: World Bank Knowledge for Development Center, American Studies Resource Center and Philippine-American Educational Foundation Satellite Advising Center.
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The Director of the Silliman University Office of Information and Publications (OIP) was one of three speakers at the two-day Regional Congress of the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. held late last month at the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City.

Mark Raygan Garcia’s presentation titled, “When Books Receive Heart Transplant: Beating Beyond the Walls of the Library,” highlighted the need for libraries to adopt certain functions of an information center in terms of packaging and treatment of materials.

Likening it to a living thing, he said, a book holds not just one heart but three: the heart of the author, the heart of the librarian, and the heart of the reader.

He explained that the author’s heart, which is the book’s original heart, is the passion and interest that the author had in coming up with the book. The librarian’s heart is the way he/she categorizes a book in a collection and displays it in strategic areas in the library. The reader’s heart is the knowledge he/she derives from the book, the factor that drove him/her to read the book, and his/her intention on how to make the knowledge derived from the book matter to himself/herself and others.

The challenge to the librarians, he said, is to have the books undergo “heart transplant.” This process sees the librarian as the facilitator, merging the three hearts of the book in order to align the author’s purpose for which the book was published with the expected relevance of the book to the reader’s “lifelong learning.” This transplant will sustain the life of the book and widen its reach over generations.

Handling an office which does public relations and media relations for Silliman University, Garcia said, given the waning popularity of books among teenagers due to the rise of more convenient and accessible alternative sources of information, libraries should double as an information center. While a library holds information, it is not always an information center as it is not considered as the primary source of information. Usually, he added, a library fails to direct the use of information to a desired productive result.

He said, unlike a library, an information center is the primary source of information. Thus, it creates and passes on “active information” in a guided direction. The library, in contrast, is usually only a recipient and repository of “active information,” and leaves what productive use can be derived from the book to its reader.

Garcia then said that libraries, to achieve wider reach and go beyond its image as a holder of book collection, can either partner up with or become an information center in maximizing the use of books.

“The greater challenge is for libraries to facilitate lifelong learning, or ‘cradle to grave’ learning. And this can be done by beating beyond your traditional functions as librarians into becoming facilitators of dialogue, understanding, and people empowerment,” he stressed.

Themed “Librarians and Information Professionals: Coping with Challenges,” the Congress gathered over 80 librarians from different parts of Region VII and USC library science students. The other two speakers were Mindanao State University-Marawi Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Marianita Dablio and Commission on Higher Education Region VII Director Dr. Enrique Grecia.
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With science and technology as this school year’s theme, Silliman University will have as Speaker for its 95th University Commencement Exercises a respected academician and a notable figure in the field of chemistry.

Dr. Ma. Christina Padolina, presently President of Centro Escolar University and former Commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education, will address Sunday this year’s graduating class of 829 students.

A recipient of the Outstanding Chemist in Academe Award from the Philippine Federation of Chemistry Societies, Dr. Padolina has extensive experience in research and development work, including involvements in national and international programs.

She has served as Member of the Governing Board of the Regional Institute for Higher Education Development of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, and as Coordinator of the Regional Working Group on Satellite Communication Application of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Up to this date, she is a Member of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines and the Pre-service Management Board of the Philippines-Australia Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao.

Dr. Padolina, who was Chancellor of University of the Philippines Open University from March 1995 to February 2001, has also authored various publications in both local and foreign scientific journals and has published four books.

A native of Ilocus Sur, Dr. Padolina holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.

Meanwhile, Prof. Leonor Magtois-Briones will be the Speaker for the College Awarding Ceremony (read story on “new graduation scheme”) on Saturday at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium. Professor Briones is the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Silliman University. Formerly National Treasurer of the Philippines, she is a professor at the National College of Public Affairs and Governance and a columnist for the Business Mirror and the ABS-CBN Interactive website.

For the Baccalaureate Service, giving the sermon will be Rev. Bernadette Amistoso-Morales, Administrative Pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Cosmopolitan Church. Rev. Morales is the recipient of the Awards for Excellence in Biblical Studies and in Preaching from the Union Theological Seminary in 2001.
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With the Silliman Church in its background, this year’s 9th University Commencement Exercises will be conducted in the afternoon at the Amphitheater, after the Baccalaureate Service in the morning of the same day inside the Church. The College Awarding Ceremony will be at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium.

The new graduation scheme is implemented to ensure and sustain the solemnity of the event, preventing long waiting time at University Commencement due to the distribution of diplomas.

Distribution of diplomas will be done during the College Awarding Ceremony in the morning and afternoon. To facilitate an orderly distribution of diplomas, the academic units have been divided into two clusters: the first cluster will be in the morning: Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Computer Studies, Education, Engineering and Design, Law, Mass Communication, Performing Arts, Divinity, and Public Affairs and Governance; and the second cluster, composed of departments under the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, will have it in the afternoon.
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The Claire Isabel McGill Auditorium will temporarily cease operations to give way to a full-swing renovation on March 17.

Silliman University, through the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA), is a recipient of a USD390,000 grant from the The Henry Luce Foundation, the same foundation that donated in 1974 the auditorium in honor of Claire Isabel, the wife of its then president, Henry Luce III.

Once the renovation is completed in July this year, the Luce Auditorium will boast of a new air-conditioning system, new chairs, and an upgraded fly system, among others. Waterproofing and some minor renovation work have started late last year.

The number of new chairs, in compliance with building and fire codes, will be reduced to 660 from 933. These new chairs and the reconstructed seating tiers will provide for a more comfortable seating and wider leg space.

To assess progress of the renovation project, UBCHEA Director for Fellowship and Scholarship Programs Ms Anne Ofstedal and architect-consultant Rev. Edward Sue visited Silliman University and met with Silliman officials on March 10.
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Companies from around the country gather today on Silliman campus for the SU Job Fair.

The SU Job Fair is organized by the Career and Placement Office, and is a partnership with 25 companies: Philippine Airlines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Metrobank, ABS-CBN, Citigroup, IBM, John Clemens, TeleTech, Convergys, PeopleSupport, Sitel, ACS, CallTek, JobsUp, SPI, Sykes, TRG, etelecare, HTMT, ICT, YEHS, Pointwest Technologies, NuComm International, Alliance, and People2Outsource.

In her welcome remarks at the launching yesterday, Silliman University Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Betsy Joy Tan said the Job Fair helps graduating students and alumni in fulfilling their dreams of joining “the highly competitive world out there,” without incurring travel expenses.

She, however, stressed to the applicants that success and fulfillment are not found in the salary one receives, “but greatly in the number of lives you have touched, in the number of smiles you have placed on the faces of people, in the number and expanse of communities with which you have shared your talents and abilities.”

“The presence of the participating companies in this job fair, indeed, is as much a response to the need of bringing into their folds highly qualified young blood as it is a recognition of the holistic upbringing of our students,” Dr. Tan said.

To facilitate employment, Silliman launched last year SU JobLink, a career search site, on the Silliman website. This site serves as a conduit of Silliman students to the University’s partner companies.
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Dr. Malayang Presents UNDP Climate Change Report

University President Dr. Ben S. Malayang III presented the Human Development Report (HDR) 2007/2008 themed “Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World” of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on February 27 at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Makati.

Dr. Malayang was invited to do the presentation for the Philippines by UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Philippines Ms Nileema Noble.

In his audience were UN and government officials, development workers, Millennium Development Goals advocates, and members of the diplomatic community and donor agencies. Present was also former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos.

In her communication, Ms Noble wrote that the report “provides a stark account of the threat posed by global warming and warns that the world should focus on the development impact of climate change that could bring unprecedented reversals in poverty reduction, nutrition, health and education.”

“The HDR 2007/2008 shows that climate change is not just a future scenario and that the window of opportunity for avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts is closing: the world has less than a decade to change course. The world lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological capabilities to act. What is missing is a sense of urgency, human solidarity and collective interest,” she added, citing excerpts from the report.

Dr. Malayang is a member of the Advisory Council on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Communication to the Philippine government. Formerly Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, he is also a member of the Open Science Organizing Committee, International Humane Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change based in Bonn, Germany.

Last month, in a public forum on climate change organized by and conducted at Silliman, he gave a presentation on his assessment of the country and Dumaguete City’s preparedness for climate change. (Click this link to be led to the page containing the downloadable presentations of the resource persons of the public forum on climate change: http://su.edu.ph/general_info/links.html)
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Silliman University garnered a passing average of 97.4 percent in the Nursing Board Examination against a national passing average of 43.45 percent.

Out of 316 examinees from Silliman, 308 passed. This ranked Silliman third to St. Louis University-Baguio and Xavier University of Cagayan in the category of schools with over 100 examinees.

The oath-taking ceremony is scheduled on March 14 at the Silliman University Church.
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Director of Instruction Dr. Earl Jude Paul Cleope was one of four Philippine representatives in the EducationUSA East Asia/Pacific Regional Conference hosted by the United States Department of State from February 23 to 28 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Dr. Cleope is an Educational Adviser of the Silliman University Philippine-American Educational Foundation Satellite Advising Center, with Prof. Regan Jomaoas of the History and Political Science Department.

Themed “Driving Global Trends for Growth and Leadership in the 21st Century,” the conference gathered 100 educationUSA advisers from 25 countries in the region, and representatives of partner institutions in the US.

The conference, organized annually, aims to regularly update the advising skills of educationUSA advisers, learn best practices from fellow educationUSA advisers, and expand their network.

Dr. Cleope with PAEF Educational Advising Coordinator Ms Eileen Valdecañas and two other educationUSA advisers from Zamboanga and Davao.

Open to the public for free, the PAEF Satellite Advising Center at Silliman is located on the ground floor of the Silliman University Library.

PAEF is a binational organization responsible for the administration of the Fulbright exchanges between the Philippines and the United States, the Hubert H. Humphrey fellowships, and the East-West Center scholarships. It also serves as a clearinghouse for information on educational institutions and programs in the Philippines and the United States. (A link to the PAEF website is accessible on the Silliman homepage under “Library”)
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A Silliman alumna who is one of the recipients of the 2007 Global Media Awards for Population Reporting from US-based Population Institute discussed the democratization of media in her talk to students of her home college, the College of Mass Communication (CMC).

Melclaire Sy-Delfin said the internet as a global platform for the exchange of information has paved the way for the democratization of media.

"The democratization of media is fundamentally about the people we once called mere consumers. Their role is evolving from a passive one to something much more interactive," she said.

Ms Sy-Delfin, who now works as a broadcast journalist with GMA-7, added: "The tools of production are increasingly powerful and easy to use, yet decreasingly expensive... Distribution is also becoming less expensive and easily arranged. The internet is a global platform, and the most important one for the future."

Her talk entitled "Democratization of Media" on February 28 was one of the highlights of the CMC College Week celebration.

Ms Sy-Delfin enumerated four tools which take advantage of recent computer technology and facilitate the democratization of media: (1) satellite news gathering, (2) videophone, (3) news websites, and (4) blogs.

According to Sy-Delfin, of the four tools, blogs are currently getting the most attention. This, she said, adds another dimension to the World Wide Web, since blogs promote a "read-write" online experience as opposed to the mostly "read-only" medium of the 1990s.

She said readers themselves are now able to compose their own news stories and publish them in their own blogs. In some instances, these articles come with pictures. This, she said gives rise to what is now referred to as "media storytelling".

But blogs, though popular and easily accessible, also pose a challenge to the media. A journalist, she said, who utilizes blogs in sharing information, must still comply with newsroom guidelines and uphold media ethics.

She said the journalist must not compromise accuracy and objectivity, and should avoid disclosing privileged or confidential information from sources. As part of the organization, the same journalism must also make sure that he or she is able to protect the organization’s strategies in securing exclusive interviews.

Ms Sy-Delfin graduated cum laude from Silliman University in 1999. She won the 2007 Global Media Award for Best Individual Reporting for two in-depth investigative reports she did: "The Forbidden Games Filipino Children Play" and "When Wells Run Dry: A Tragedy Looming Large." (Anthony Gerard Odtohan, Editor-in-Chief, the Weekly Sillimanian)
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For its second consecutive year, Silliman University defended its title champion after winning nine of 13 events during the Silliman University-University of the Philippines-Los Baños Dual Meet held February 22 to 23 at UPLB, Laguna.

Silliman won in nine events: archery (men), badminton (men), basketball (men), lawn tennis (men), swimming (men and women), table tennis (men and women), table tennis (men and women), and volleyball (women). It ranked second in dancesport.

Faculty members also had their share of fun and competition. Silliman faculty faced off with UPLB faculty in basketball, lawn tennis and softball. In all three events, Silliman ranked second.

The Silliman delegation was composed of 60 student athletes and 27 faculty, staff and officials.
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