Homecoming for new UP-Cebu dean

As the ninth dean of the University of the Philippines-Cebu, lawyer Liza Corro said her installation is a “homecoming” of sorts for her.

“I’m sure that having accepted this position, I have come home. This is where I belong. This is where I am needed. This is where I can make a difference,” she told the audience at the Cebu Cultural Center

The audience consisted of UP system officials led by President Alfredo Pascual, chancellors from UP’s constituent units, UP Board of Regents (BOR) member Sen. Manny Villar and Corro’s family including her sister Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza.

Ian Anthony Sapayan, president of the UP Alumni Association Cebu chapter, affirmed their support for Corro while student council chairman Carlo Cabatingan said he hopes Corro will support the rights and protection of the students’s welfare.

Dr. Richelita Galapate, UP associate dean for academic affairs, said UP-Cebu’s greatest challenge remains its conversion to a “constituent university of the UP system.”

Corro’s appointment as dean was approved by the Board of Regents in its Dec. 4, 2012 meeting.

In her speech, Corro said she wants to build an “innovation lounge” that will serve as an IT hub for students. “My flagship project under my term is to build up an innovation lounge intended to become an IT creative hub, initially for students. In here, they have a venue to express their creative minds and harness their IT capacity,” she said.

Corro said her two-year administration will also push for the advancement of Cebuano culture and art, including the creation of a UP-Cebu foundation that will fund research for professors and staff of the Research Extension Program Services (REPS). Correspondent Sean Timothy Salvador