July 30, 2021 — As dusk descended, multi-colored lights bathed the Oblation in front of PGH, the UP’s iconic symbol of offering to the nation. The lighting happened on June 21, 2021 and was repeated a few days thereafter.
UP Manila’s celebration of the 113th founding year of its mother university, the University of the Philippines, kicked off that day when the oblation was cloaked with predominantly UP colors of maroon and green. Themed “#UP@113: Tugon sa Hamon ng Panahon: Unibersidad ng Pilipinas,” the celebration was marked with a lecture on the evolving role of UP in the face of growing challenges, a recognition program for retirees (see separate article), and a variety-game show.
At the virtual program for the lighting ceremony, UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla stated that the lighting of the oblation is symbolic of the role the university has played in its more than a century of existence and into the future. It represents the University of the Philippines’ mission of sharing the fruits of knowledge with the rest of the nation and shedding light where it is darkest; and reflecting on how we can all contribute to our beloved university so we can continue to share the light of knowledge with our countrymen and the rest of the world.
Foundation lecture
The lecture on UP’s expanding role was delivered by College of Public Health Professor Emeritus and Department of Science and Technology’s Vaccine Expert Panel Head Dr. Nina Gloriani. In her lecture, she addressed several key points including: (1) the revisiting of the UP Charter of 2008 (RA 9500) which stipulates a revitalized mandate for UP as “the national university” leading in graduate education, research, public service, and regional and global networks; (2) the evolution of UP over the past century and its direction for future undertakings; (3) UP being reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic in various aspects (i.e. in terms of academic, social, and economic consequences); and (4) the importance, challenges, and opportunities of convergent education and efforts in managing this unprecedented global health crisis. She took the US National Science Foundation’s definition of convergence as the “deep integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple fields” to form new and expanded frameworks for addressing scientific and societal challenges and opportunities.
Dr. Gloriani has had 37 years of exemplary service and significant contributions in the field of leadership, research, and public service, both locally and internationally. Her retirement in 2018 did not stop her from serving the country by lending her expertise in the COVID vaccination rollout, recommending vaccines for clinical trials, and giving advise and inputs on national vaccine procurement and deployment.
Being active in local and international collaborations, Dr. Gloriani impelled the university to strengthen cooperation with various communities by initiating further COVID-19 academic programs geared towards containment and immediate response, diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccination, deeper study on and monitoring of new variants, and preparing resilient-based structures for the post-pandemic era.
She also encouraged UP to bolster the adoption of new and digital technologies, boost environment scanning for possible succeeding waves, and foster student and faculty development. She shared key points on how we can respond to the challenges of the pandemic on a national level, and eventually link this on a global scale. At the end of her talk, Dr. Gloriani reviewed UP’s statistics in the QS World Rankings and called on the university to fortify UP education for better service to the nation and the world.
The celebration was organized by a commiittee chaired by Office of International Linkages Director Dr. Tammy Dela Rosa. The full video of the event can be viewed here.
Francis Nicole Maga and Cynthia M. Villamor
Featured in the UP Manila Healthscape (Special COVID-19 Issue No. 29, 30 July 2021)
