5-Day Faculty Onboarding and Career Upstart Seminar for Newly Hired USTP System
November 6, 2020—the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL), in collaboration with the Human Resource Management (HRM), commenced the 5-day Faculty Onboarding and Career Upstart Seminar (FOCUS) which aims to give orientation and to equip the newly-hired faculty of the culture and technicalities of the working in the USTP ecosystem.
The 5-day seminar took on four aspects of the faculty’s employment life: the USTP culture, their professional responsibilities, their professional and career growth, and their transition towards CITL’s pedagogical training designed to enrich their instructional skills.
Day 1: Learning the Culture
November 6, 2020, was a session about getting to know USTP’s culture through its vision, mission, code, quality policy and its intended graduate attributes. Dr. Maria Elena L. Paulma, the Vice-president for Academic Affairs, lent her lens to the participants so they would see what the University aspires to accomplish and to which direction it is going. After which was a discussion on technical matters concerning Human Resource functions and policies, delivered by the USTP System HRM Director, Dr. Tito M. Mariquit. In this segment, the participants had the opportunity to raise their queries relating to clerical requirements and their employment benefits in working with the institution.
Day 2: The Call for Responsibility
On November 13, 2020, participants learned about the professional responsibilities they have to inculcate in their day-to-day work life. The second day was well-received because of the session’s enlightening discourses relating to guidelines on professional decorum presented by Dr. Tito M. Mariquit, the HRM Director, and Dr. Amparo V. Dinagsao, CITL Director, who are both members of USTP’s Committee on Decorum and Investigation, discussion on common violations that result to administrative cases that government employees may be charged with which was discussed by the USTP CdeO’s Director for HRM, Dr. Maria Cecilia L. Pangan; the University’s communication protocols presented by the Director for Strategic Communication, Ms. Anne Lorraine R. Sitoy, and Working with Students given by the Director for the Office of Student Affairs, Dr. Maria Angeles D. Hinosolango.
Day 3: Sprouting in Excellence
Research, extension and instruction are three common routes that any new faculty may choose to pursue, for professional growth in the academe. Last November 20, 2020, Director for Research, Dr. Ismael N. Talili, Director for Extension and Community Relations, Dr. Maria Teresa M. Fajardo, and Director for Quality Assurance and Accreditation, Ms. Nivea Louwah D. Sermona talked about functions and services their offices can offer to facilitate the newly-hired faculty in their interests to grow in any of the three career areas. In addition, Mr. Aristeo L. Abecia, Executive Assistant to the Vice-chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, also presented an opportunity for everyone to affiliate into further studies, be it master or doctor degrees through the Faculty Development Program. The day ended with Dr. Antonio-Abdu Sami M. Magomnang, President of the Faculty and Support Personnel Association (FaSPA) what rights and benefits the faculty may have upon working in the institution.
Day 4 and 5: Moving Forward on Pedagogy
One of the most essential aspects of teaching is pedagogy, and on the 4th and 5th days of FOCUS dated November 26 and 27, 2020, the faculty members shifted their concentration towards enhancing on their instruction and their conduction of assessments. Speakers of the last two days were Dr. Amparo V. Dinagsao, the Director for CITL, whose expertise is on pedagogy and assessment, and Engr. Rojien V. Morcilla, who shared about creating Performance Innovative Tasks and the salient points of the Academic Policy which instructors have to always keep in mind.
