They’re in the information business. This is the key to a growing university; more so if it is a designated APEC Study Center.
UA&P’s shift from think tank to university demands a corresponding image shift in the public mind and, primarily, in the perception of its faculty and staff. The split in the former Development Office’s functions is timely. Development offices in Western, especially American, universities focus on fundraising. The old Development Office took care of fundraising and institutional marketing. The new management has streamlined its working system and created separate offices for those two vital functions. Fundraising for the University is now under the Campus Planning and University Development Fund Office. The institutional marketing of UA&P is entrusted to the Public and International Affairs (PIA) Office.
“We are now taking on a more proactive role,” states Ms. Susan E. Manzon, PIA Managing Director. “Our priority is to make the office known to the university community. We have to get them to know the primary function of PIA, which is to promote the University as one of the finest universities in the Asia Pacific.”
In this sense, PIA will make the “face of the University” through the production and dissemination of various publications (the newsletter Universitas and the various University reports); the expansion of media contacts; and the spearheading of linkages with foreign universities and non-academic institutions. According to Ms. Manzon, PIA is “cementing the initial contacts made through the former University President, activating the agreements signed with university partners, and looking for new partners for faculty exchange.”
PIA also spearheads the organization of UA&P’s institutional activities, like the APEC Networking Days, Hallmark Day Celebrations, the Freshman Orientation, University Graduation, and School Foundation Days.
PIA Staff:
Managing Director: Ma. Susana Manzon
Communications Director: Maybelle Padua
Communications Assistant: Suzette Cesar
Communications Assistant: Ma. Cecilia Estrada
Public Affairs Assistant: Dinah Dispo
Graphic Artist: Richard Manuel
Administrative Assistant: Glenda Portuguez
This article first appeared in Universitas in the first quarter of 1998.
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