Cleope: Service above all
“Why did I decide to be employed with Silliman University?”
Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Earl Jude Paul Cleope addressed this question to the administrators, faculty and staff of Silliman University during the retreat Monday, June 17, 2019 at the Silliman Church as he challenged everyone to think about “why we are here in this 117-year-old Christian Institution of Higher Learning.”
Cleope, in his message, said that each one has his/her reason/s in deciding to work for Silliman. However he stressed that “we are here to serve …and in our service we make sacrifices through our extra time, extra work, sharing our precious family time with the University and at the end, we get our pay.”
He added that “our work here in the University is not just for our bread and butter but our service to God through the lives we touch … our students, our colleagues, our administrators, the parents, alumni, and friends …how we deal with them, how we relate with them is a manifestation of our real understanding of the Silliman ethos or simply called Silliman culture which we as employees are expected to demonstrate.”
Silliman holds the faculty and staff retreat every time a new school year unfolds. This school year the retreat was on centered on Mark 8:34-36 as reflected in Cleope’s message that centers on “Rowing Against the Tide in Light of Jesus Call” where he emphasized that “nothing comes for free, even salvation because to obtain salvation, you have to follow Christ and take up your cross.”
Cleope concluded his message by saying that “God, rewards those who work with passion and pure heart for service. And God’s reward will always be beyond what any person and even what and how much this University can give.”
Based on the records of the Human Resource Development Office there are 623 faculty members, 353 staff from the different units, and 19 administrators and their staff or a total of 995 men and women working for the university.
During the retreat, HR Manager Atty. Joshua Francisco J. Ablong also facilitated the election of new members for the Silliman University Standing Committee that include finance, housing, personnel, FADECO and STADECO.
