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AUGUST 27 - SEPTEMBER 2, 2017 11 silliman un iver s it y DUMAGUETE CITY, PHILIPPINES | AUGUST 2017 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY www.su.edu.ph | facebook.com/SillimanUniversity Silliman turns 116 IT’S MORE THAN a week-long


celebration that draws thousands from around the country and the globe to this charming city of Dumaguete. Whether you are a Sillimanian or not, you immerse yourself in that distinctive Silliman Spirit, that warm Silliman hospitality that naturally connects one to another. And this year’s 116th Founders Day


characterizes the Silliman experience with every event almost throughout the entire month of August offering the chance to be reunited with old classmates and friends and reliving warm memories of campus life. Te Founders Day, centering on the


theme “Celebrating God’s Faithfulness”, formally kicked off with the opening worship on August 20 at the Silliman University Church with Rev. Ed B. Samson as the speaker. Its lineup of activities


includes Balik Talent lectures, sports tournaments,


including the


University-University of St. La Salle Dual Meet, college-initiated workshops


Silliman and


conferences, exhibits and open house events, and inauguration and dedication of buildings and facilities that have been established through the generosity of alumni-donors. Mainstays


are the three-day


Pamahaw Sillimaniana, a breakfast spread prepared by the University and sponsored by alumni for returning Sillimanians; the much-awaited Silliman University Concert Band free performances and the Silliman Performs, a musical production at the Luce Auditorium featuring talents at the College of Performing and Visual Arts; the giving of prestigious awards and recognitions: Outstanding Sillimanian Award, Order of Horace B. Silliman


and Heritage Builders; the Student Government-initiated Hibalag booth festival and Miss Silliman Pageant; and the Parada Sillimaniana or Silliman parade.


and


On August 27, Education Secretary Outstanding


Sillimanian Prof.


Leonor M. Briones will be the Founders Day Service speaker. Te next day, when Silliman officially turns 116, is the traditional Sunrise Service that starts with the Silliman Band going around the


campus to help inspire campus


residents to rise from bed and proceed to the Amphitheater. It is also on August 28 when the Outstanding Sillimanian Awards ceremony is held. Capping that night is the Alumni and Community Fellowship Night (Tipon Sillimaniana) which for the first time will be streamed live.


Magdamo couple, PhilSouth conferred Order of HB Silliman


THE ORDER OF Horace B. Silliman was conferred on couple Mr. and Mrs. Rolando V. Magdamo and the Philsouth Properties and Development Corporation, through its president Mr. Luisito M.Tijing, on August 25 at the Silliman Hall. Given


during the Founders


Day celebration, the award is a prestigious recognition conferred upon individuals, families and organizations whose blessings shared with Silliman have enable the University to improve its services and facilities, broaden its reach in the community, and make available Silliman education to more


academically deserving but financially challenged students. It was created in honor of Dr. Horace B. Silliman, a philanthropist of Cohoes, New York, who donated the initial sum of $10,000 to establish what


then was Silliman


Institute in 1901. Mr. Rolando and Mrs. Helga


Vogt Magdamo funded the renovation of the Acacia Cottage which will be inaugurated and renamed Guillermo and Mercedes Magdamo Hall, in honor of their parents, on August 25, 2017. Apart from this, they also funded the establishment of the Presbyterian Mission Garden and the Silliman


Carillon Music System. PhilSouth Properties and


Development Corporation shouldered the construction of an access road to where the expanded facility in Valencia of the Center for Tropical Conservation Studies of Silliman University is located. Philsouth is the developer of Tierra Alta, an upscale residential village overlooking Dumaguete. PhilSouth’s first project seen to also give back to the University was the Silliman Heights, a subdivision independently managed by the SUCC Multipurpose Cooperative and occupied mostly by faculty, staff and retirees of Silliman University.


Infrastructure Projects Two events conclude the Founders


Day celebration: Alagad, a community outreach program that transports kids from the partner communities of the Extension Program of the University to


the campus for some fellowship and fun, and the Church Workers Convocation that brings together to Silliman pastors and church workers from around the Philippines.


Human rights advocate, chemist


named Outstanding Sillimanians A HUMAN RIGHTS and social justice advocate based in California and a distinguished chemist from Mindanao are these year’s recipients of the Outstanding Sillimanian Awards. Ms. Cynthia Arnaldo-Bonta is


Diliman where she finished B.S Zoology in 1958. She earned her graduate degree in Religious Education at the Pacific School of Religion in 1968. Dr. Myrna Sillero-Mahinay is


r e cog nize d in


the field


of Human Rights and Social Justice, and Dr. Myrna Sillero- Mahinay in Chemis t r y. They will receive their awards in a special ceremony traditionally held on August 28, when in this year, Silliman University celebrates its 116th founding anniversary. Ms Bonta’s commitment to social


justice, community empowerment, and civic engagement


served as a Romeo P. Ariniego Art Gallery


voice for marginalized Filipino and other immigrants particularly in the United States. Between 1975 and 1977, Cynthia along with some Filipinos in America, worked on a campaign to offer an accurate history and more informed portrayal of Filipino- Americans in California textbooks in public schools. With a firm grasp of history, Ms Bonta helped develop a curriculum model for use in these public schools. Her advocacy also includes the promotion of domestic workers’ rights. Recently, she is most engaged in addressing affordable housing crisis that plagues the San Francisco Bay area by helping pass an ordinance for rent control. She has provided support to Filipino tenants in an apartment complex where 33 families live under the threat of eviction. In 2016, Ms Bonta received


SILLIMAN-NEWCASTLE PARTNERSHIP. Tree professors at the Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences were in Newcastle University (NU), Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, August 14 to 17, in connection with the Joint Development of Niche Programmes of the Commission on Higher Education in partnership with the British Council. Under this program, Silliman’s IEMS partners with NU’s School of Marine Science and Technology for a Joint Research and Curricular Offering in Tropical Biological Oceanography. Photo shows (L-R) IEMS’ Dr. Janet S. Estacion, Dr. Hiliconida P. Calumpong and Dr. Aileen Maypa with Dr. Nicholas Polunin, Professor of Marine Environmental Science at NU.


NATIONAL SCIENTIST AND Silliman University Professor Emeritus Dr. Angel C. Alcala is named one of


ASEAN Biodiversity Heroes. He received the prestigious award on


August 7 in Manila on the occasion of the Golden Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), during the same period foreign ministers from the ASEAN member countries were hosted in the Philippines. Dr. Alcala was recognized for his


outstanding contribution to Philippine biological sciences, particularly in marine biodiversity and herpetology. Te ASEAN noted the contribution of this fieldwork that has added 50 new species


Dr. Alcala is ASEAN Biodiversity Hero this year’s


the Outstanding Filipina Award by Filipino Women’s Club of Sacramento and the Bayani Award for Outstanding Service and Commitment by the Pasquil


Family Mariano Lao Technology Laboratory


currently holds various civic and community


positions


Foundation. –


She Founding


of amphibians and reptiles, out of the 400 known species. Tis, the ASEAN highlighted, provided “international conservationists a reliable basis for establishing conservation programs on Philippine vertebrate biodiversity.” Te ASEAN also acknowledged Dr.


Alcala for his initiatives that have become a model of coastal resource management and conservation that many countries in Asia have adopted. His pioneering works in the Philippines include establishing first working no-take marine reserves in Sumilon in 1974 and Apo Island in 1992. Dr. Alcala is still active in Silliman


University as Member of the Board of Trustees.


Chair of Alameda-Dumaguete Sister City, Vice President of Alameda Sister City Association, Member of the Board of Directors of the American Center of Philippine Arts. She is a graduate of Silliman


University High School and studied Pre-Medicine at Silliman University for two years before she transferred to the University of the Philippines,


Guillermo and Mercedes Magdamo Hall


TENTH GRADER NICOLE Marie D. Tagle brought home silver and bronze medals to the country,


among the country’s well-respected scientists with extensive researches and studies the field of chemistry. Her r es e a r c h es, mostly on heavy metal analysis and its effect on living o r ga nisms, have been published in journals and presented in local and international conferences. In 1999, she was commissioned by the of


Philippine Senate Committee Environment


and Natural


Resources to assess the extent of mercury pollution in Mt. Diwalwal, Compostela Valley. The results of Dr. Mahinay’s assessment led to a stricter implementation in the confiscation of smuggled mercury in the area and the relocation of affected inhabitants out of the affected vicinity. She holds two postdoctoral


fellowships: one at the University of Miami, Florida under the Fulbright- US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and another from the National Institute of Natural Science in Okazaki Institute for


Integration Bioscience, under


a grant from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). She had also spent


several months in


Bangalore, India as a research fellow for the International Fellowship Program Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Jakku Campus. A chemistry professor at the


Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Dr. Mahinay was the first from outside the National Capital Region to have been awarded Outstanding Chemist of the Philippines in 2016 by the Professional Regulation Commission. Dr. Mahinay obtained her


undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Silliman University in 1976. She earned her master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1985, and later placed ninth in the 1986 National Chemistry Board Exam. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from James Cook University in Australia.


Tagle wins silver, bronze in SEA Games following her Portal East Building


first participation in the archery event of the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held August 19 to 30 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tagle, who is only 12 years old, was the youngest in the Philippine


delegation. It was her first SEA Games competition but not her first international archery tournament. She has competed and bagged medals in Myanmar, Thailand, Russia and the United States. She is set to compete in archery


in the World Youth Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina.


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