Effective 01 January 2024, the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will welcome an all-female lineup of Vice Chancellors after the UP Board of Regents gave the approval during its 1385th meeting held last 30 November 2023 at the UP Los Baños Office of the Chancellor Conference Room in Laguna. Taking their posts as Vice Chancellors are Dr. Alice Joan G. Ferrer (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs), Prof. Encarnacion Emilia S. Yap (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension), and Dr. Farisal U. Bagsit (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administration).
In the same meeting, the BOR confirmed the ad interim appointment of Dr. Rhodella A. Ibabao, UPV’s current Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development, effective 01 November 2023.
Dr. Ferrer, who is currently the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, is replacing Dr. Philip Ian P. Padilla as VCAA as he moves on to the UP System as Assistant to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) Executive Director for Service & Extension (Core Facilities). He will assume responsibility for the operations of PGC’s core facilities, including the clinical genomics laboratory.
A UP Scientist III, she once served as UPV’s Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development from 2008 to 2011. She is presently the head of the UPV Socio-Economics Data Analytic Center. At the national level, she is the founding Executive Director of the National Consortium for Small-Scale Fisheries Research and Development (aka Too Big to Ignore Philippines), Deputy National Director of the Economy and Environment Group Philippines, Board of Director of the Philippine Economic Society, and Vice-Chair of the Capacity Building Committee of the Philippine National Health Research System.
In Western Visayas, she is the Chair of the Regional Ethics Monitoring Board and the Executive Director of Western Visayas Health R&D Consortium of the DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development. At the international level, she is the Immediate Past President of the Asian Fisheries Society, Immediate Past Chair of the Asian Fisheries Social Science Research Network, and the current Constitution Coordinator of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society.
Dr. Ferrer finished her PhD (Economics) degree from the University of the Philippines School of Economics. Her research interests are in health economics, fisheries and aquaculture social sciences, policy analysis, gender, governance, among others. She finished more than 60 research projects, and had more than 80 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, policy briefs, chapters in books, and a book.
Prof. Yap, on the other hand, is replacing Dr. Harold M. Monteclaro as VCRE. Dr. Monteclaro will take on a new responsibility as the incoming dean of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) where is also a faculty member. Prof. Yap will complete her term as the current dean of the college this coming 31 December 2023.
She has previously served as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs from 2011 to 2017. Prior to her assignment as VCAA, she was Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs from May 1996 to January 1997 and January 2009 to October 2011. She started her term as dean of CFOS on 10 November 2017. In February this year, Prof. Yap was appointed to the Technical Panel for Fisheries Education of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to assist the agency in the “formulation of policies and standards, and in the evaluation or assessment of higher education institutions (HEIs) and the program offerings.”
In 2021, she was selected by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) as one of the members of its National Panel for Technical Experts (NPTE). She has been the Executive Director of the Philippine Fisheries Institutions Network (PhilFIN), Inc. since 2009 and also functions as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the same organization since 2010.
Prof. Yap is a known post-harvest fisheries specialist and specializes in teaching Fisheries Science. She is also best known for her research and has authored multiple scientific publications throughout the course of her career, both locally and internationally. Moreover, she acts as a technical expert for the Bureau of Agricultural Research, Department of Agriculture; Philippine Council for Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Research and Development, Department of Science and Technology; National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) Panel for Research Evaluation; DA-AFMA Technical Panel on Molecular Biology and Biotechnology; and Technical Evaluation of Fisheries School in Region 06, Technical Panel for Agricultural Education, DECS.
Prof. Yap finished her Master of Science (Food Science) at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA. She pursued her Doctor of Philosophy (Molecular Biology) at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bagsit will vacate her post as current Director of the Office of Ugnayan ng Pahinungod/ Oblation Corps of UP Visayas and will replace Prof. John Lorenz R. Belanio as VCA, who is set to pursue further studies. She is an Assistant Professor at CFOS and earned her degrees in Bachelor of Science in Fisheries (major in Marine Fisheries) and Master of Marine Affairs from UPV. She left for the United States in 2016 as a Fulbright Scholar and pursued a PhD in Coastal Resources Management at the East Carolina University in North Carolina.
Dr. Bagsit was a recipient of the East Carolina University International Graduate Student Award in 2018. Her research work focuses on Fisheries Science, management, and policy, particularly small-scale fisheries, coastal resilience, and gender and development. She also teaches undergraduate, master’s, and PhD classes. Dr. Bagsit is also an Affiliate Faculty of the Professional Masters in Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management (PM-TMEM) Program at the Marine Science Institute, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman and School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños. She served as the Coordinator of the Office on Anti-Sexual Harassment from January 2021 to May 2022. (GT Mabilog, IPO)
