UPSEAA on the go
Credit to Author: ROSALINA DE LA PAZ-MAGAT| Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2019 18:22:05 +0000
The University of the Philippines School of Economics Alumni Association (UPSEAA) hied off to Boracay recently for its strategic planning session. With President Jeffrey Ng at the helm, the UPSEAA Board of Trustees gathered together for serious thinking on the plans, programs and projects that it would like to do, after reviewing its accomplishments. The trip is also an opportunity to see first hand the results of a six-month rehabilitation of Boracay. It was a combined business and leisure trip for us to think, observe and enjoy.
In the planning session itself, we spent one whole afternoon up to early evening, working together as a team, giving our best in an animated discussion, on how we can better serve UPSE students, alumni and faculty. We restated our vision as “UPSEAA will be an engaging and mutually beneficial link between the UP School of Economics and its alumni community.” Our Mission is “ to partner with alumni in their professional and social development and support UP School of Economics in attaining academic supremacy.” We proudly laid down our shared values of excellence, service, teamwork, integrity and professionalism.
We focused on raising more funds to support the scholarship program. To date, UPSEAA has, since 2008, supported 51 scholars, of whom 40 have graduated with Latin honors and as dean’s listers. At present, there are 10 scholars who are enrolled, five juniors and five seniors. To support advance training and development, UPSEAA will focus its scholarship program on those who would pursue graduate studies, especially masters and doctorate degrees. This should make UPSE competitive with other schools that are also teaching economics.
To sustain the UPSEAA, we saw the need to augment its membership drive by identifying and inviting more UPSE alumni to join the association. Since its founding in 1986, UPSEAA has gone through several stages of growth, decline and surges. UPSEAA was revived in 2006. Since then, it has been undergoing some sort of restructuring with an amended charter and by-laws. It created the office of the executive director, a full time job, which made a lot of difference in putting things in order with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
With such a stable foundation, UPSEAA is in a strong position to reach out to its more than 2,000 UPSE alumni. Its current membership of a little over 200 members could potentially grow geometrically in the coming years.
One innovative project that it implemented is the introduction of the PayMaya/Beep card to UPSEAA members, UPSE students, other UPSE alumni and their family members. The card can be used for online transactions, discounts and payment for MRT and LRT. This will facilitate the collection of annual dues and lifetime membership from UPSEAA members. This innovation was met with great enthusiasm by UPSE alumni. Its effective implementation should lead to growth of the association in terms of membership and financial resources.
Also related to membership is the emergence of UPSE alumni based abroad and who have bonded themselves into “ Pusong UPSE.” The group successfully held its first UPSE alumni reunion on July 6 to 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Majority of those who attended were from the United States, mainly from California, although a number came from the East Coast. I was among the three who flew in from outside the US for the reunion. More than 50 UPSE alumni got together, renewed friendships and enjoyed the fellowship during this reunion. “Pusong UPSE” has established its own database, which it would gladly share with UPSEAA.
We envision a very busy and productive year ahead for the UPSEAA. We plan more economic briefings in coordination with the National Economic Development Authority/DBMP, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Philippine Stock Exchange to keep our members updated on recent developments. We will conduct boardroom series with the support of UPSE alumni such as San Miguel Corp. Chief Financial Officer Ferdie K. Constantino, Robina Gokongwei Pe, Tito Ortiz, Doy Vea, Department of Tourism Sec. Berna Romulo Puyat, Department of Trade Industry Sec. Ramon Lopez and Johanna Chua.
All is set for the UPSEAA New Year’s — Party on January 10. A very unique activity is the Intramuros Tour and visit to the Destilleria Limtuaco Museum. The Golf Tournament on March 10 at South Forbes Golf and Country Club is also ready. The UPSEAA Alumni Awards and the Mentoring Program are all in the works. So many ideas and projects kept popping up during our planning session. Indeed, the Boracay ambiance of clean and fresh air inspired us in thinking of all these activities .
The author is an economist-banker, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, a UPMBA graduate and an MPA graduate of Harvard Kennedy School, with extensive experience in countryside development and cooperatives.
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