Visayas State University gets its 2nd woman president in 100 years

LEYTE, Philippines – After a series of panel interviews and forums, Professor Prose Ivy Yepes has been elected the 7th president of Visayas State University (VSU) after a majority vote by its Board of Regents (BOR) in a closed-door session in Diliman, Quezon City on March 11, Monday.

She is the second woman president of VSU after Dr. Paciencia P. Milan, who served from 1999 to 2007.

Yepes, a VSU alumna, graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, major in Plant Protection (specializing in Entomology) in 1990 from the then-Visayas State College of Agriculture (ViSCA), now VSU.

She got her master’s and doctorate degrees in Science Education at Cebu Normal University (CNU), with her dissertation recognized as the Best Dissertation in 2009 by both CNU and the Philippine Association of Graduate Education (PAGE) in Region 7.

Prior to her application for the VSU presidency, she served as vice president for research, development, and extension from 2013 to 2014. She was elected the 3rd president of Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) in Sogod, Southern Leyte for two consecutive terms from 2014 to 2022.

Her achievements as SLSU’s president include elevating the university’s SUC [State Universities and Colleges] level status from Level 2 to Level 3, obtaining Commission on Higher Education (CHED) accreditations for their secondary and elementary education programs, establishing Research and Extension Centers, and enhancing various facilities.

She has also been recognized as an educator, researcher, and administrator. She is a recipient of the following awards or recognitions, to name a few: Administrator’s Honorific Award (2022) and the Gandilan Award (2022), Outstanding Southern Leyteño (2017), Most Inspiring Teachers (2022), and Garbo sa CNU Award (2017), to name a few.

Vision for VSU

Now poised to become the 7th president of VSU a few weeks before it marks its 100th anniversary, Yepes aims to further the university’s achievements, including attaining Green University status, expanding inclusive educational programs, strengthening the institution’s research and extension arm, and renovating key facilities. She envisions VSU as one of the top universities in Asia by 2027.

Yepes further pledged that the incoming administration will address the needs of its constituents and initiate inventories as a key component of its initial administrative strategies.

She also has her eyes on continuing to establish VSU as a globally-recognized university within the first four years of her term.

“If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail, so the first thing that management will do is to do scenario-based strategic planning using futures thinking lens that will involve all stakeholders’ representatives, and from that session, all aspects like academic program, so that we can sustain academic excellence,” she said.

Yepes also echoed her commitment to addressing student concerns, promising to be a “listening president” who prioritizes student voices.

“Together with the VSU team, we will create or establish well-organized student programs and initiatives wherein we can have an avenue to listen to your concerns and interest,” she said.

Yepes is set to formally take her oath as the new VSU president, succeeding Dr. Edgardo Tulin who held the position for eight years. – Rappler.com

Jerry Yubal Jr. is a campus journalist from the Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City Main Campus. The executive editor of Amaranth, he is also an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow of Rappler for 2023-2024.