AMONGthe employees whose years of service are recognized during MSU-IIT’s 51st Charter Anniversary Celebration held at the Gymnasium today (July 12) is staff member Avelino R. Ruben who puts in 45 years of his life for the Institute transporting vouchers and other documents from one office to another.
Ruben, who holds the rank of Administrative Aide III, joins 144 other employees composed of faculty and staff members who are honored as the Institute’s Service Awardees.
“I am very thankful to MSU-IIT for all it has done for me,” says Ruben who makes history by being the very first employee of the Institute to receive the Sapphire Award for 45 years of service.
The Sapphire Award becomes the eighth category of the MSU-IIT Service Awards, an award ceremony that the Institute holds every Charter Day, and which honors employees with 10 years or more of service.
The Service Awards also underscores the Institute’s commitment to recognizing loyalty and hard work of employees.
The Pamana Award, the recognition for employees who retire, is given to 33 recent retirees, which included former Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, Prof. David N. Almarez; former MSUS Regent and head of the Security and Investigation Division, Mr. Eduardito C. Maruhom; and former Registrar, Prof. Esmar N. Sedurifa.
The Posthumous Awards for deceased employees Eugene Leonides Legaspi and Renny Rose A. Avanzado are received by their family members.
City Councilor Lamberto “Macky” Macapagal, Jr. keynotes the anniversary celebration where he stresses on the “outstanding partnership” between the Local Government of Iligan and the Institute that he refers to as the “breeding ground” of excellent professionals in Mindanao.
“Our engagement in the fields of job creation, disaster management, tourism, and many others is a testament to our common aspiration to attain a developed and progressive Iligan City,” Macapagal adds.
Macapagal, who attends the event as an ordinary guest, is suddenly thrust into the limelight as the appointed representative of guest speaker, Mayor Celso G. Regencia, does not arrive.
Regencia sends word a week before that he would be represented by Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz because he has pressing matters to attend to in Manila on July 12.
MSU System President Habib W. Macaayong’s representative Dr. Cesar Dela Sena delivers his inspirational message that many in the audience praised.
Dela Sena is MSU-Marawi’s Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension.
“You have requested us to give you an inspirational message on this occasion. I say, we in the main campus in Marawi should be drawing inspiration from MSU-IIT,” reads Dela Sena from Macaayong’s message.
“We are very proud of, and inspired and challenged by, this campus’ advances and conquests on all fronts: academic, culture, extension or community work, and research,” Macaaayong’s message continues.
The President’s message also touches on the previous attempts to separate MSU-IIT from the MSU System, and attributes their failure to the relationship of the two campuses, which it describes to be “a union of true minds.”
Another union that is highlighted during the Charter Anniversary program is the one between MSU-IIT and the various agencies and organizations within its surrounding community.
Prof. Feliciano B. Alagao, Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development and the Institute Officer-in-Charge, confidently tells the guests from Iligan’s local government, industries, and businesses present at the Institute Gymnasium that the state of their union with MSU-IIT “remains strong”.
Alagao, who delivers the welcome address for Chancellor Sukarno D. Tanggol who is away on official business in Singapore, then leads the whole Institute in showing appreciation to the Service Awardees.
According to Alagao, the awardees, including retirees, “labored and toiled through the years to help get us to where we are now.”
The 51st Charter Anniversary celebration is capped by an Afternoon Social that showcases the different musical and artistic talents of Institute employees, as well as a song and dance contest among the different cost center clusters.
MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology (IIT) opened today its weeklong activities in celebration of its 51st Charter Anniversary.
Acting College of Education (CED) Dean Amelia T. Buan welcomed everyone during the CED-hosted Charter Week opening program that was held in the morning at the Institute Gymnasium.
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Institute Officer-in-Charge Franco G.Teves opened the celebration on behalf of Chancellor Sukarno D. Tanggol who is on official travel.
Teves, in his message, said that the Institute has achieved so many things since 1968. And the recent achievement was for MSU-IIT to have made it in the ranks of top universities in Asia recognized by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
He told the faculty and staff members in attendance that for the Institute to achieve its goal to be a world class university, perhaps it should consider the three things that the famous Moroccan education economist, Jamil Salmi, identified as the key factors for achieving such a status: concentration of talents, good governance, and abundant resources.
According to Teves, MSU-IIT has an over supply of talents and he hopes that the students, faculty and staff members “do not compete negatively but to help one another, to grow, and develop further.”
He also stressed that good governance is not only the function of the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellors but also of everyone in the administration. “How do we govern is very important,” Teves emphasized.
Teves further mentioned that the Institute does not have as much resources as other universities in the country. But he said he was proud at how the Institute, despite its meager resources, was able to achieve a lot over the years.
He also reminded everyone to keep in mind the Institute’s core values, and some government rules, particularly the code of ethics for government employees, the anti-sexual harassment law, and the data privacy act. He pointed out that not only the intellect but also one’s behavior matters when government employees perform their tasks.
He encouraged everyone to work for the betterment of MSU-IIT, particularly to make the Institute a conducive learning space for all. He cited that there is a need to recognize drivers of satisfaction, and proposes that the Institute should have research studies conducted on the satisfaction levels of the Institute’s stakeholders.
The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs further pointed out the inclusion of both IQ and EQ criteria for accepting employees and students, and that the only authority to hire and fire belongs to the Chancellor. He encouraged everyone to give feedback to improve management practices and make MSU-IIT a happy work environment.
After the opening program at the gymnasium, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the MSU-IIT Park for the Charter Day Tabo, an event organized by the Technology Application and Promotion Unit of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension.
For the schedule of the Charter Day activities, follow this link:
MSU-IIT starts July 2018 with a flag raising ceremony and a special program, at the MSU-IIT Gymnasium, welcoming this year’s much anticipated charter week. This year, the Institute celebrates its 50th year thus, going with the tag IIT Gold.
Highlighting this opening ceremony was MSU-IIT’s founding Father Dr. Manaros B. Boransing. As guest of honor, he delivered a very powerful speech praising the substantive achievements of the Institute—its leaders, faculty, and staff. Excellence, according to Boransing, “ is the brand name of MSU-IIT and now the Institute is known throughout the county for its academic excellence. This is the achievement of the Faculty and Students of MSU-IIT.”
The best trait about MSU-IIT, he claims, is IIT’s Fiscal and Academic Autonomy which has become “ the rock solid foundation that the IIT of today is seen and admired, is shaped and built on.” Because of this autonomy, IIT has been able to continuously produce excellence for 50 years now.
In his speech he concluded by stating his future hopes for the Institute as well.
“I have a few suggestions—ideas of an old man now approaching 82: First, is to upgrade the IIT Graduate School as World Class; Second, is to expand the Academic Programs of IIT to include courses in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Architecture and Forestry and other allied courses; Thirdly, is to take a closer look at the new DepEd program K-12 and focus on the Voc-Tech Strand of Senior High School.”
The entire program lasted for two hours while also featuring several presentations particularly from the IPAG and the OPI. The latter showcased its promotional video of IIT Gold, the MSU-IIT coffee table book to be launched this coming July 12, 2018.
This July will indeed be a busy month for IIT. The Institute calendar is tightly filled with several engagements and programs encouraging attendance to all constituents.
This special flag raising program was hosted by the College of Education alongside the Integrated Developmental School.
Dr. Hilconida P. Calumpong, former Director of the Silliman University (SU) Institute of Environment and Marine Sciences and Director of the Dr. Angel C. Alcala Environmental and Marine Sciences Laboratories (formerly the Silliman University Marine Laboratory) is this year’s 47th Charter Day Speaker during the Charter Day program on July 12, 2015 at the IDS Multi-Purpose Hall.
Calumpong is a Professor of Biology at Silliman University. She obtained a doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley in California, U.S.A. and she had training in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
She has over 20 years of extensive experience in instruction, research, management, implementation and administration of coastal and marine studies and has conducted numerous studies on the biology, assessment, conservation, ecology and management of marine resources, particularly algae, sea grasses, mangroves, giant clams, sea hares, and has published extensively on these topics (from the homepage of the Pan-Pacific Studies Institute).
Dr. Hilconida P. Calumpong (right), with Tim Tomlinson, panelist of Iligan Workshop and Dr. Angel C. Alcala, national scientist.
The 46th MSU-IIT Charter Day speaker, former Philippine Ambassador to Cuba and the Caribbean countries, Mac Arthur F. Corsino believes that ASEAN integration is basic to internationalization.
But in order to achieve ASEAN integration and internationalization, the country needs to prepare to collaborate with its nine other ASEAN neighbors, improve its physical infrastructures such as airports and piers, improve the quality of education and skills training, and eliminate corruption in import-export activities.
Delivering his speech with much confidence, and in deliberate tones having had a 30-year experience as a career diplomat, and as a scholar, professor of Political Science and as a writer, he outlined the requirements for Iligan City and the role of MSU-IIT in the quest towards internationalization that will pose challenges as the borders of ASEAN open in December 2015.
Corsino’s message to the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) community on July 12, 2014 was in keeping with the Charter Day theme, “Greater Heights through Internationalization”. It educated many who do not realize what impact ASEAN integration will have on the Philippines by the end of 2015.
If Corsino outlined three pillars in ASEAN integration, i.e. (1) the ASEAN political-security community; (2) the ASEAN Economic community; and, (3) the ASEAN Socio-Cultural community he also outlined the challenges and benefits to achieve, first of all, economic integration for the 10 ASEAN countries that could result in a large, single market and production base; a highly competitive region with equal economic development; and, a region fully integrated into the global economy quoting President Benigno S. Aquino III as having said “East Asia is a key driver of the global economy and a critical player in international affairs.”
Corsino defined “internationalization” as developing linkages with other political systems, economies, businesses, cultures and peoples of the world”. Simply put, internationalization is to be “outward looking” rather than to be “inward-looking” or to be zealous over nationalist positions but, certainly, not forgetting to protect national interests like trade secrets and intellectual property rights to achieve greater benefits and to “empower” the people.
He pointed out that roughly, for the 630 M people of ASEAN that includes 100 M Filipinos, there is high potential in increasing ASEAN’s present GDP of $2.4 Trillion per capital GDP of $3,800, and a total trade of about $2.5 Trillion.
Other benefits include free import duties of ASEAN products and services; marketing of products around the region; levelling the playing field on imports in investment countries hence, free inflows of skilled labor and services and free flow of capital.
In order to achieve these benefits, Corsino said we have to improve our competitiveness in an open market, improve infrastructure such as airports and piers to meet global standards as well as pursue high quality education and skills training, language skills, quality tourism packages, export–import procedures and, most important, to minimize or eliminate corruption.
In other words, “the total human development as measured by United Nation indices can be achieved “not in isolation”. Through cooperation and by working together between nations, our country can achieve greater heights.
As Corsino pointed out, “the door to greater knowledge of other cultures, polities, science and technology can be opened through internationalization.” (See the full text of Corsino’s speech) – Christine Godinez Ortega for OC-OPI
