Friday, June 18, 2010

I DOFF MY CAP . . . .

Now that Trinity University of Asia, through its Graduate School, is producing doctorate degree holders by the dozen left and right (and all geared up to produce more as it inaugurates another post-grad course called “Doctor in Nursing Management”), I feel it is high time that the real scholars of the university be acknowledged lest they be entombed and forgotten under the rubbles of a “doctored” avalanche. I doff my cap in recognition of the scholarships of the following academics (and when I call them professors, they truly are):

1. Prof. Dennis Paul P. Guevarra of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Humanities and Letters
2. Prof. Jose Delgado of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Humanities and Letters
3. Prof. Nathan Baoas of the College of Education, Christian Education Department
4. Prof. Elias Sampa of the University Research and Development Center

These guys are not only invited lecturers and paper readers in scholarly circles; they are also authors of well-researched works published in journals of scholarly worth both local and international.

[Note: There are, however, two very potential scholars in the new breed of Trinity’s faculty. They both belong to the College of Arts and Sciences: (1) Mr Joem Co of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and (2) Mr. Caleb Coniate of the Department of Humanities and Letters. But still, they have to face two possibilities: (a) Be further developed by the University (which is very unlikely because it does not recognize intellectuals, much less scholars) or (b) Simply suffer the fate of the four abovementioned scholars who have just sunk in the sea of forgetfulness, at least in the context of Trinity.]

Trinity University of Asia should really wake up if it wants to be true to what it says it is—an institution of academic excellence—for as of the present count, it only has four (4) authentic scholars in its roster of academics.

Sheer hubris doesn’t and can’t make an institution truly great.

3 comments:

punkrocktatay said...

I totally agree with you. Ole!

Anonymous said...

Your humility is Socratic.

There are actually five, and the greatest among them, by all yardsticks, is Ruel F. Pepa.

Unknown said...

While the challenge of a scholarly existence in academia is by and large a personal one, the academic institution is obligated to nurture and promote its scholars and researchers -- if it is indeed true to its own institutional values and standards. However, if such support is convoluted with the politics of personalities within the institution, then there is the very real situation where these would-be scholars will just shut up and "do their jobs."

The challenge is therefore double-edged: to TUA to rise above its own myopia, and for those academics in TUA who have yet to prove themselves worthy being called academicians. Teaching the works and thoughts of others that came before us is actually easy; but putting your own mark on it and being appreciated by your students for doing so (because they understand and find it truly educational) is the mark of a scholar-academician who, by improving himself/herself in the crucible of research and publication, can lay claim to the capacity to have moral ascendancy -- not just "teaching authority" -- insofar as educating the minds and affecting the future of these kids is concerned.