JOHN PAUL Vergara can now add the title of Vice President for the Loyola Schools to his resume.
Vergara, who is currently the Vice President for Administration and Planning (VPAP), was chosen by the Board of Trustees from a list of three nominees recommended by the Search Committee to the President.
After his appointment, the Search Committee outlined specific concerns that the new VP should address: improvement in national and international rankings, research and publication, resource management, and devolution.
Vergara intends to address these through the promotion of research and the restructuring of the LS organizational systems.
In a memorandum released January 4, University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ said that Vergara has a vision for devolution and interdisciplinarity, which will be beneficial for the LS.
Vergara’s term will officially begin on April 1 to March 31, 2013. He is replacing incumbent VPLS Assunta Cuyegkeng who decided to step down for personal reasons.
Devolution
In an interview with The GUIDON, Vergara said that he still doesn’t have concrete plans for his three-year term but said that he would continue what Cuyegkeng has started. He finds it “very hard” to replace his predecessor. “She’s very good. [I have] big shoes to fill.”
Cuyekeng said of Vergara, however: “The Search Committee, among all the candidates, was able to find someone who is a good match…and I think he is the best person to continue [my] efforts.”
So far, Vergara plans to focus on increasing research done by the faculty members by lessening their academic load, and replacing it with research load.
He also intends to address the issue of devolution by restructuring the organizational systems and giving more control to the deans.
“Much administration work still goes to the VP’s office when in fact, it could go down directly to the schools,” he said.
The LS organizational system at present was made 10 years ago when the four schools were set up, said Cuyegkeng. “We are in the stage wherein we are trying to systematize organizations through information systems, new structures, and standardization of procedures.”
“After 10 years, we need to reorganize to see what is most effective for the people,” Nebres said.
With this, Vergara intends to set up a system for the deans to be more aware of how much their respective schools are earning in terms of the number of students enrolled in the school’s classes, and how much they’re spending in terms of the number of faculty members they hire.
“[Devolution] helps in putting the schools forward. It forces the deans to balance their resources … and come up with ideas and interventions … keeping in mind the notion of quality,” he added.
However, he also said that one caution in devolution is maintaining interdisciplinarity which, for him, is a core competency of an Ateneo education.
To ensure this, he said that the VP would still oversee programs that could promote inter-school relationships.
Scientist and administrator
Vergara (BS Ma and CS ‘86) completed his doctorate degree in Computer Science and Applications in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).
He became a professor and chair of DISCS, and headed the Information Technology faculty of the Graduate School of Business before being VPAP.
In April 2009, he was appointed as VPAP, handling facilities and information technology planning.
During his tenure, he proposed a system to measure the success of the Grade School through the results of the students’ high school entrance exams and developed an automated gate pass system, campus master plan, and a new traffic scheme.
Fast as DSL
For most of his colleagues and students, Vergara is a very smart and efficient person. “Meetings with other people that usually run for thirty minutes to an hour won’t last for more than fifteen minutes,” Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) Instructor Paolo Agloro Jr. said.
Junior Mary Grace Diamante, one of his current students, shared a personal joke about Vergara. She said that they call him “DSL” because he teaches really fast and the class tends to finish a lot of topics in one session.
Another DISCS Instructor, Marlene De Leon, always considered Vergara as the department’s strategist and problem solver when he was the chair. “He will first try to understand the problem at hand, analyze it thoroughly from different angles, then device a plan to solve or deal with it accordingly,” she said.
Agloro agreed, saying Vergara loves to solve problems, any types of problems. Diamante related that Vergara even made a system to determine who will win in a poker match between the teachers in their department.
However, CompSAT President Melody Kay Carolino, also a former student of Vergara, said that he also knows how to have fun, adding that Vergara is a fan of American Idol.
