By Merryl Jean Marquez, Ma. Kassandra Tan and Jardine Bonifacio
Transition is a wonderful opportunity for growth but it can sometimes bring up mixed feelings. It is never easy, especially being appointed as the new department chair. As Engr. Celedonio prepares for her new endeavours, one thing she does is to apply all the good practices of her predecessors and at the same time, make room for improvements.
Officially recognized by Commission of Higher Education (CHED) as a Center of Excellence and accredited by the Philippine Technological Council (PTC), the culture of excellence was already instilled within the department. Its students and faculty members participated in different extra-curricular events, represented the university in national leagues and councils, and presented their research locally and internationally. Engr. Celedonio takes this as her inspiration and challenge to sustain and to surpass the excellence brought up by the department for the past years.
Engr. Emile Punzalan, the previous department chair, handed over the position to Engr. Celedonio. He gave her a “mind map” of the department’s areas of focus specifically in the aspect of research, facility, teaching, and learning. Engr. Celedonio expressed her gratitude to the previous department chair as one of the biggest factors for her smooth transition to becoming a department chair. “I am very thankful to Sir Emile for being hands-on during the turn-over of tasks and responsibilities."
Engr. Celedonio also shared her yearlong plans for the department. One of the aspects that she is focusing into is sustaining excellence, that has also been the life-long goal of the past department chairs. According to her, “to sustain excellence, continuous empowerment of the students, the faculty, and as well as the support staff is needed.”
She envisions her students to not only excel within the classroom but to also focus on their holistic growth. She enjoins the students to be of service to others, to be part of community development activities or to work on their soft skills. She emphasizes that continuous empowerment is the key. “This can be done by encouraging them to participate in every activity, especially the activities prepared by the UST ChES”, she said, adding that she is also working hand-in-hand with UST ChES to ensure that the activities prepared will be helpful to the growth of every member of the organization.
For the faculty and support staff, she aims for continuous support for their professional development, with the help of trainings suitable to their field.
Engr. Celedonio also shared her struggles as the new department chair. Throughout the duration of her study leave on 2015, the department received a number of accreditations. It was also during that year that the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) system was fully implemented. She sees this as a hindrance since it is the department chair’s duty to oversee the application process. By being a committee member of the Engineering Accreditations and Continuous Quality Improvement Program (EACQUIP), she became oriented with the necessary points for improvement with regards to accreditations. Thanks to her study experience abroad, she was exposed to the university’s academic system. She sees this as an inspiration, with the potential of being applied to our department.
She also shares her belief on accreditation, as inspired by a priest, “Accreditation is just a label, so it must not be our primary goal. You are not working hard and not excelling just to be accredited but you’re doing it out of love or out of service to the students, since they are the ones who will benefit primarily. You want your program to be accredited so that once the students graduate, they will be recognized.” She believes that the stronger the accreditation, the more beneficial it is to the students.
Achieving a new level position or appointment can leave you feeling very satisfied and happy but this comes with great expectations. The students may expect that the department would work more hand-in-hand in all aspects together with the support staff and alumni. This would be a better way to have a stronger bond in order to achieve or sustain the excellence.
“Sana yung term na ako ang department chair, masustain yung excellence and better if we can exceed yung mga expectations or yung na-achieve natin. Hindi siya achievement dahil ako ang chair kundi achievement sya ng buong department kasi I am in service to the department.” -Engr. Celedonio
Engr. Celedonio said that the whole faculty has been supportive to her as the new department chair.
“Yun din yung isang natutuwa ako. Kasi parang supportive naman sila, lalo na most of them ay naging professor ko at kahit na isa ako sa youngest, parang di ko naman na-feel na mas bata ako sa kanila. Supportive naman sila.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment