THE OFFICE of Administrative Services (OAS) and the Office of Student Activities (OSA) will be led by new directors this year.
The directors are Christopher Fernando Castillo for OSA, and Marie Joy Salita (who is an acting director) for OAS. Both Castillo and Salita handled positions in the Loyola Schools for several years.
Castillo (AB IS ’03) served as Intact coordinator for five years and also taught part-time at the Interdisciplinary Studies Department. Salita (AB Psy ’97), a former administrative assistantand assistant director for staff and maintenance, has been in the OAS for 11 years.
The OAS and OSA are two of the offices most involved with the students. OAS handles the operational aspect of the University: it takes care of facilities and equipment, and the non-teaching personnel.
The OSA, meanwhile, focuses on leadership development of student organizations. Its director also serves as the moderator of the Sanggunian ng Mag-aaral.
Strategic partners
Salita’s long years in the OAS made her familiar with the needs of the community. “I’ve seen how the community has grown,” she said.
Last February, for example, OAS introduced the automated system for reservations, to solve the problem of long waiting periods before the approval of reservations.
“It used to be we can handle things manually…over time, the manual reservation system no longer addressed the need,” she said.
For this school year, Salita plans to focus on preventive maintenance, staff development programs, and partnering with student organizations.
Preventive maintenance aims to minimize repairs on the Loyola Schools. The project had been crafted years ago, Salita said.
Her office also aims to achieve a work-life balance for the non-teaching personnel through various staff development programs, which will encourage them to be professionals for others.
With regard to partnering with student organizations, Salita is looking into forming structures “to form them into good planners and organizers of events.”
Salita hopes the students realize the OAS is a strategic partner in organization. “We put up the
system to guide them and not for bureaucratic process.”
Salita replaced Lourdes Sumpaico, who is now coordinator for special projects in the University. Sumpaico is leading the newly-formed Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition. (See related story on p. 2.)
Refinement of systems
Castillo, who replaced Pia Acevedo, said his goal for the OSA is to refine the systems already set in place.
“Last year was a transition year for the OSA,” Castillo said. “There is a…number of things that were initiated last year to adapt to certain systems for the COA primarily, and for student leadership and for student training,”
To develop leadership, Castillo cites the Performance Management System (PMS), one of the OSA’s main vehicles for organization in leadership.
“If we want to produce students who are leaders in society, clearly we cannot just expect them with head-level knowledge and skill that are too raw,” Castillo said. “Passion unbridled can go so many directions.”
The PMS will be helping student leaders organize and direct their skills, and help their organizations move towards a certain direction, he added.
The OSA will also focus on developing the core competencies of student organizations. “We’ll be doing that mostly by working closely with the moderators,” Castillo said.
