Q1 2021: UPIEAA President’s Report
A Question of Relevance
My fellow UPIE alumni,
I pray you and your families are well.
Just as we thought 2021 ushered healing hope with news of vaccine rollouts, it confounds us Industrial Engineers how we find ourselves still on lockdown a year into the pandemic. Yet a quarter in, we are trapped in tinier bubbles, adjusting to the conditions imposed on us (rightly or wrongly), trying to come close to what used to be normal, using whatever means.
In these trying times, and extended pause, we breathe deep to ponder an existential question, “Are we still relevant in UPIEAA?” Reason why we go back to the core purpose of the UPIEAA – of finding ways to give back by sharing our hopes and dreams as an IE community, of wanting to make a difference in this time of change, and of building as IEs (in whatever field we may be) a way forward to make life better than it is. In our hearts and minds, the answer is clear – it is relevant now more than ever.
As I reflect on how you voted to extend your incumbent UPIEAA Board for another year, I draw strength from the selfless grace of its members who continue to give of their time and talent to serve and advance the values we seek. In every project we plan and execute, we dig deep and take stock of the relevance that we do.
And so, for 2021, we focus on three main thrusts:
Partnership with the UP Department of IE/OR (UPDIEOR) in promoting the welfare of students and faculty
A. UP IE AchIEvers Program
From 6 grantees in the previous schoolyear, we awarded 2 grantees in this pandemic school year. With classes held online for the past year, we do recognize the continuing need of these grantees for financial support to stay focused on their studies. We have seen how this has worked with previous AchIEver scholars. The funds that keep them focused on their studies help them learn better, keeping them on track to complete their IE studies without delay, and gaining for them productive employment opportunities that can improve their families’ lives. Come August, we begin another AchIEvers cycle.
B. Celebrating 50 Years of UPIE
With Department Chair Erick Llaguno, we are busy at work for the 50th Anniversary of the UPDIEOR, with a series of activities aimed to tap into the vast resources built over the last 50 years, to improve not only teaching facilities but also the development and training needs of the faculty. 50 Years of UPIE has produced a bumper crop of top-notch professionals, and sterling achievements. This is a story we aim to tell, a milestone we wish to celebrate, a tradition we endeavor to continue.
Fundraising feeds these programs. For the AchIEvers, we were successful in piloting a batch-based fundraising campaign targeting Batches 87, 88, 91 to 93. The Bayanihan spirit shown by the batches involved is truly inspiring. With its success, we are poised to extend this fundraising model to more IE Batches to support the UP DIEOR on its 50th year.
Reach out to fellow UPIE alumni in relevant channels, through relevant activities
A. The IEmagineering Webinar Series
We revamped the IEmagineering program to take the form of free Zoom webinars – which we thought is a service that allows us to broaden our reach not only among our alumni here and abroad, but also among other members of the IE community (students and faculty) and beyond.
The maiden webinar entitled “Education Re-imagined” last July 25, 2020 was conducted by Dodjie Simon, who looked at how the educational ecosystem needed to develop and execute swift solutions to deliver remote instruction effectively. This was followed by the first virtual UP IE Freshman Orientation Webinar on August 22, 2020 in support of the UPDIEOR where incoming freshmen, along with their parents, got to listen to accomplished IE Alumni Katrina Limcaoco, Noel Tempongko and the del Rosario family of IEs – Bing, Elise and son Franco, share their IE journeys. We ended 2020 with a webinar on Digital Banking on November 28, 2020 by BPI’s Mon Jocson where he shared how a big company is able to pivot in times of uncertainty to serve their customers better. Just this March 27, we successfully brought to an even bigger audience NEDA USec Rose Edillon’s webinar on the Philippine Recovery Roadmap – what are being done and what we can do.
Surely, we have turned the IEmagineering Webinar series into a solid, credible platform to build the UPIE brand and discuss how IEs can help find solutions to the many problems we face, not just in our community but also in the country.
B. 50-Year Virtual Homecoming
As part of the 50 years of UPIE, plans are afoot on how best to commemorate this milestone later in the year. The Membership Committee has launched BaZooKa Sessions (short for Batch/Barkada Zoom Kamustahan) to galvanize the IE community batch by batch, to help us update the Alumni Database and thus allow us to have a bigger participation for the homecoming. Malou Baclig (MemComm) puts it well – “Particularly during the quarantine period, we have seen the hunger for reconnecting even if virtually. For a lot of our alumni – we have so many crazy memories of our UP Engineering student life, and just reminiscing with our batchmates is happiness. Viber groups or in this case, Zoom calls – can now be channeled towards “meaningful” pursuits, and at the very least, help cope with the pandemic situation better.”
- Continue promoting excellence in our ranks as we build the UPIE Brand
Pandemic or not, the recognition of excellence must continue. In 2020, we conferred Outstanding Alumni honors to the following IE stalwarts in their respective fields:
- Aura C. Matias (IE’82) for Engineering Education
- Norman K. Macapagal (IE’77) for Construction Management
- Ronald Francis Suarez (IE’92) for Corporate Social Responsibility
- Jerry Uy Rapes (IE’87) for Entrepreneurship in IE
This year is no different, and I would like to ask your help in shining the spotlight on those among us who have made and continue to make us proud.
In closing, join me in thanking the hardworking members of your Board – Jomari, Elise, Malou, Maan, Boyet, Liza, Suiee, and Anais, along with Prof Erick for stepping up and using technology to overcome the limitations of movement, and working on projects for the continuous benefit of the UPIE community.
To our dear alumni whom we serve, keep that IE spirit burning as we find ways to build back better. Covid 19 is a dangerous factor that entered the equation and has led to a loss in equilibrium, disrupting every facet of our daily lives. But this reset is what we as IEs are good at – we adjust, we learn, we adapt, we improve, we reimagine, we innovate , we disrupt in turn – all to make things better than they have ever been!
Keep safe, stay relevant!
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