The 3 candidates for the UPLB chancellorship this year are:
Patrick Alain T Azanza
Jose V Camacho Jr
Fernando C Sanchez Jr
“Three Vie For UPLB Chancellorship” says the uplb.edu.ph news headline. They presented their Vision, Plans and Programs 05 August 2020 at 9 AM via Zoom; the proceedings can be viewed at the UPLB ITC Facebook pag
When I look at their individual submissions of Vision, Plans & Programs downloadable from the uplb.edu.ph website, I am disappointed with the two and encouraged by the one.
As a UPLB alumnus who has been in and out of the campus in the last 10 years, I hardly know them. Since I am nosy for news as creative writer and a digital man, if self-taught, I hope that any of those candidates is digital-savvy, the kind of Chancellor I believe is the need of the times.
Sanchez has a PhD in Landscape Architecture obtained from the Tokyo University of Agriculture. Strictly speaking, that’s Horticulture, not Agriculture.
Camacho is an Economics professor and has been Dean of the UPLB Graduate School since 2012. His vision is to “future-proof” UPLB, whatever that means, and to maintain its relevance by “developing methods, approaches, and framework to minimize the cost and impacts of shocks of future events.” He is talking about the coronavirus lockdown but not beyond.
Azanza has a PhD in Educational Administration from UP Diliman. His Vision is to “harness the University’s potentials” in development communication, eLearning, information science, and technology. That’s my man!
I like what he says about agriculture and education:
As we inevitably welcome the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technology advancements, UPLB has that distinct role in defining the academic boundaries and depths by which such technologies and scientific applications shall fit into the University’s curricular offerings in order to develop knowledge and skills that can be put to meaningful use in the industries,
Nonetheless. Azanza is thinking the thoughts of the industries, not the thoughts of the farmers in the countryside! Yet, this is where it can all begin.
The audience during the presentations by the nominees comprised the different sectors of the University: students, alumni, and faculty, “to hopefully gain their support.” I say why did they not invite farmers from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao “to hopefully gain their support”?
It seems that the once University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture had forgotten that it began with the American tutors as a Cow College – there are no carabaos as beasts of burden in the United States – in the end, it is the duty of UP Los Baños to serve the digital needs of the farmers, minus carabaos, especially now that they are ready with their cellphones!@517
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