Year-End Assessment Meeting Held at Bayleaf Hotel

Changes in research thrusts and immediate plans for 2013 were the highlights of the presentation made by SDRC Director Rhoderick V. Nuncio during the Center’s year-end assessment meeting held on December 14, 2012 at the Mint Room of the Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros.  Attended by SDRC research fellows and associates, and members of the research staff, the gathering was also an opportunity to air feedback on the Center’s accomplishments for the first part of AY 2012-2013, as well as suggestions on future directions.

Among the major announcements made by Dr. Nuncio were that an SDRC Summit, to be headed by former SDRC Director and current Human Resources Office Executive Director Dr. Jesusa Marco, will be held in 2013 for purposes of revisiting the Center’s Vision-Mission; and that the Center, in cooperation with Departamento ng Filipino of the College of Liberal Arts, will be holding a national seminar on “Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Within Communities in Social Development” in 2013, with target participants coming from LGUs, schools and DepEd affiliates.

Dr. Nuncio also explained to the fellows and associates that the research staff would be co-handling sessions in the planned seminar-workshop on the Institutionalization of Social Research in the Academe, to be held in 2014. The seminar-workshop sessions will share best practices on setting up a research center, securing funding for projects, and writing and editing project proposals.

Also with regard to the research staff, Dr. Nuncio introduced the Center’s new PhD research fellow, Mr. Mark Velasco, a doctoral student of the CLA Department of Political Science.

In assessing the Center’s research thrusts current research thrusts, Dr. Nuncio pointed out that the common themes of SDRC projects involve Total Human Development. He informed the group that among the ventures to be taken on in the near future were those that would gauge the impact that previous projects had on the communities they were conducted in. Research fellows Dr. Antonio P. Contreras, Dr. Roberto E. Javier and Dr. Dennis S. Erasga commented that, as a marginalized group, LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender)s  should be incorporated into the “Total Human Development” agenda of the Center, a point that was acknowledged by Dr. Nuncio.

In the spirit of the holiday season, CLA Dean Dominador Bombongan concluded the event by encouraging those present to make use of the term break to “rest and recharge,” so as to continue to be productive for the coming third trimester.