A POLITICAL Science professor and former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters has been appointed to the International Studies in Catholic Education (ISCE).
Prof. Belen Tangco of the Political Science department will serve as executive director of the ISCE editorial board, which publishes articles on Catholic education and accepts contributions from theologians, historians and educational scholars.
Tangco is the program lead of Political Science at the UST Graduate School. She served as Artlets dean from 2003 to 2006.
She completed her bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 1971 and earned a doctorate degree in the same field in UST. She also obtained a doctorate degree in Philosophy in Educational Management from Centro Escolar University-Manila.
In recognition of her significant contributions to higher education in the Philippines, Asia and the Pacific, Tangco received an honorary doctorate in letters from the International Biographical Centre during its 2013 World Forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Tangco also obtained a service award from the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation during its 50th anniversary celebration in 2023.
A renowned Catholic educator, Tangco is the founding formator of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary – Lay Dominican Community of San Pedro.
The former dean has been involved in various Catholic organizations, having served as president of the Dominican Laity in the Philippines. She is also a former international president of the International Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities and now serves as its representative for Asia-Pacific.
Since 1995, she has been working for the World Union of Catholic Teachers (WUCT), a nongovernmental organization of the Catholic Teachers’ Association active in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. She also organized the International Congress for Catholic Educators in Bangkok, Thailand in 2002.
Tangco represented the Catholic Teachers’ Guild of the Philippines as national president during the general assembly of the Union Mondiale des Enseignants Catholiques–WUCT from Nov. 11 to 13, 2022 in Rome, wherein the participants were individually received by Pope Francis at the Vatican special hall.
Tangco wrote two religious books, namely A Pilgrim’s Way of the Cross (2003) and In His Presence (2002), both published by the UST Publishing House. F
