The University of the Philippines will elect a new faculty regent in December 2020, according to the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA).
In the running for the position are Professors Aimee Lynn B. Dupo of the Institute of Biological Sciences and Virgilio P. Sison of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics, both of UP Los Baños. Of the initial top five nominees for faculty regent who made it through the nomination round, Prof. Dupo and Prof. Sison are the ones who accepted the nomination.
The chancellors of the UP constituent universities (CUs) have been tasked to disseminate the candidates’ curriculum vitae and plans of action, while the CU decides on the dates and time of elections within the time period to be set by the OVPAA. [View: Prof. Dupo’s curriculum vitae and plan of action; Prof. Sison’s curriculum vitae and plan of action]
The election period was earlier set from November 16 to 21, 2020 but postponed to December 2020 following the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses. “We will announce in a separate memo the new schedule for the election in the CUs, in consultation with the Academic Affairs Committee,” Vice President for Academic Affairs Maria Cynthia Rose Bautista stated in a memo yesterday, November 16, 2020.
In the wake of COVID-19, an electronic system called the Faculty Regent Election Voting System of FREVS will be implemented in cooperation with the Information Technology Development Center. Those in the list of eligible voters will be able to vote on the online platform at frevs.up.edu.ph through their up.edu.ph mail accounts.
The faculty regent is one of four sectoral representative regents in the Board of Regents (BOR), the highest governing body of the University, consisting of 11 regents including the chair, who is the Commission on Higher Education chair, and the co-chair, who is the president of the University.
The faculty and staff regents are nominated and elected by their respective sectors for two-year terms, the student regent for a one-year term; while the president of the UP Alumni Association sits as the alumni regent. Prof. Ramon Guillermo of the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature of the UP Diliman College of Arts and Letters is the incumbent faculty regent.
The other members are the chairs of the higher education committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and three distinguished members of the professions appointed by Malacañang.