UP Alumni Engineers

UPAE Intensifies Long History of Partnership with the College of Engineering

The U.P. Alumni Engineers (UPAE) has remained true to the aims of its original founders. Over the years since its founding in 1947, UPAE has embarked on various projects to assist the UP College of Engineering (COE) in retaining its premiere stature in the Philippines (See Table 1). It has brought together alumni through various activities, recognized those who have been of service to the private and public sectors, and provided a platform through which the alumni can serve the College, its students, and the country.

In 2015, under the leadership of Lilit Tumbocon, UPAE embarked on an ambitious project, the Study Now Pay Later (SNPL) program. This is a direct response to findings that some Engineering students, despite tuition scholarships, drop out owing to financial constraints. This initiative provides these scholars the financial assistance, in the form of a loan, to cover basic needs such as board & lodging, transportation, school materials etc., for their remaining three years at the U.P. College of Engineering. The program aims to increase throughput of engineers – making them productive members of society sooner than later. Repayments of the loan, expected when grantees are employed, will ensure the sustainability of the program.

Admittedly, the SNPL program will not happen without funds. During the year, various successful fund raising projects including an unprecedented three golf tournaments were undertaken. The funds raised resulted in a financial turnaround for the organization and the future viability of the initiative. In addition, a two-year raffle got off the ground. To gain support for these fund raising activities, the various COE organizations, alumni, donors and sponsors were invited to fellowship events that resulted in many benefactors coming out, notably, Mag Albaraccin and Sid Consunji who have not wavered in their support for the UPAE’s SNPL and the Faculty Development Program which UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation (UPERDFI) spearheads with support from the UPAE.

Along with the enthusiasm with which the programs were conceptualized and implemented were administrative changes that ensured efficient and effective operations. In the meantime, the Board adopted a new logo, to replace the slightly modified College of Engineering logo. The new Board has likewise, within the year, relaunched its website – www.upae.org that has kept alumni abreast of the developments within the association. The website is enabled to accept donations and payments for the various initiatives.

Induction of 2016 officers (l to r): P.Pascual, D.Briones, A.Austria, F. Arellano. L.Tumbocon, Dean Aura Matias, UP President Alfredo Pascual, Secretary and ED E. del Rosario, President L. Espiritu, VP External N. Villasenor, F. Berba (representing Treasurer C. Berba), E. Malolos (representing C. Subido), R. Nolasco, M. Sicat, C. Umali. (Not in photo are D. Abando and VP Internal A. Arias.)

2015 President L. Tumbocon turns over Seal and Gavel to 2016 President L. Espiritu

In 2016, a new set of officers was inducted into office by UP President Alfredo Pascual. At the turnover ceremony, UPAE 2016 President Levy Espiritu announced full support for the previous term initiatives, in particular, carrying on with the same passion, the full implementation of the Study Now Pay Later program. Responding to the request from the COE Dean, the new Board is also determined to play a key role in the Linkages initiative, which seeks to link the students with people in industry through immersion programs. The continuing collaboration with the UPERDFI to support professorial chairs and other grants were likewise in the program of 2016 activities, mainly through the raffle project to be concluded in the year.

The 2016 programs include a continuation of UPAE involvement in demonstrating the breadth of research being undertaken by COE faculty to the business sector and to engage them to support research projects. Through the cooperation of UPAE, UPERDFI and Meralco, a CEO forum was organized, featuring several research presentations by COE faculty to captains of Industry which included Dado Banatao, Manny Pangilinan, and Oscar Reyes as speakers.

During its planning and follow up meetings, the following working groups within the Board were formed: Study Now Pay Later implementation and associated Fund Raising activities: Raffle, Golf Tournament. Other committees were: Vision/Mision, Strategic Communication, Linkages and the 2016 Homecoming.

Golf tournaments and Fellowships had been scheduled for the year to reach fund raising targets. Internally, the Board continues to pursue professionalizing the services it offers to alumni and to the organization through administrative streamlining. The UPAE website continues to evolve, now featuring career opportunities for alumni and enhanced features for accepting donations through Paypal.

Indeed, it can be said that UP alumni engineers, in various ways over the years, had been unwavering in their passion to give back to their alma mater and to their country.

UPAE ADOPTS NEW LOGO
During its April 2015 Board meeting, the UPAE directors passed a resolution adopting the logo shown above.   The seal of the Association consists of two concentric circles with the outer rim in orange. The outer circle is colored maroon and bears the name of the University and the Association in white. The center circle framed in white rim, has at the lower right side the year the Association was founded. The Oblation on the lower half of this circle is dominated by the green color while the Sundial on the upper half has an orange background. The colors of the Association depicted in this seal are maroon and gold (for UP); green and orange (for COE).

Table 1. UPAE Historical Timeline