FORMER ARTLETS dean Prof. Marilu Madrunio has been named chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHEd) newly-reconstituted technical panel for foreign languages.
Madrunio’s appointment will take effect starting January 1, 2025 until December 31, 2028.
Madrunio will oversee the crafting of a five-year roadmap that lays out plans for reviewing or developing policies, standards and guidelines for the discipline. She will also review the criteria, roles, responsibilities and evaluation for awarding Centers of Excellence and Development in the field of English and foreign languages.
Madrunio said she intends to launch master’s and doctorate programs in English Language Studies that would be anchored on the undergraduate curriculum.
“We have to prepare also the roadmap for both English and foreign languages. I think we’re going to take off from what we have started already as members of the technical committee because we have already prepared the BA (Bachelor of Arts) program that [we] have,” Madrunio told The Flame.
The former dean also plans to bridge the undergraduate and master’s programs to boost “student competitiveness.”
Madrunio served as a member of the commission’s now-defunct technical committee for English before it was merged with other foreign language units. She served as dean of the UST Graduate School from 2013 to 2019 before assuming the same role at the Faculty of Arts and Letters until 2022.
Madrunio also led the defunct Department of Languages from 2006 to 2010 and the English department from 2010 to 2012.
A linguistics expert, Madrunio is known for pioneering forensic linguistics research in the country and was among the country’s early researchers of Asian Englishes.
Madrunio also represented the Philippines in various international conferences, including the ASEAN Integration Forum on English in Universiti Brunei Darrusalam in 2015 and Summit of Leaders in TESOL Profession in Athens, Greece in 2017. She also obtained the Research Silver Series Award from UST in 2001 for her notable research contributions.
Madrunio said she intends to stay in the academe while fulfilling her role in the commission to finish what she has started and to train young educators to take on her post.
“I think I am confident that the department will thrive and I think I have done my job, because my job is to develop people… Nobody stays in a position forever, so you really need to prepare the younger ones,” she said.
Meanwhile, a total of 13 UST faculty members, five of which are from AB, were selected as members of the CHEd technical panel across various disciplines, including former Artlets dean Prof. Belen Tangco for transnational education and distance learning, faculty secretary Asst. Prof. Louie Benedict Ignacio and Prof. Clarence Batan for sociology, Prof. John Jack Wigley for literature and Prof. Robert Montaña for philosophy.
UST-AMV College of Accountancy Dean Prof. Patricia Empleo was appointed to the panel for accountancy and College of Science Dean Prof. Rey Donne Papa was named to the biology, microbiology and molecular biology panel. Other science faculty members who joined the CHEd panel were Prof. Donnie Ramos and Prof. Thomas Edison de la Cruz for molecular biology, Prof. Mary Beth Maningas for marine science, retired Assoc. Prof. Angelina Silverio for physics and Assoc. Prof. Ma. Ninia Calaca for distance learning.
Madrunio’s appointment was made formal by CHEd Chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III on Monday, Dec. 9, during an oath-taking ceremony at Luxent Hotel, Quezon City. F — with reports from Raymond Vince Manaloto
