CHANGES IN the assignment of formators to student groups have been made, according to a memo addressed to The Sanggunian, Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) Central Board, and Council of Representatives by Director of the Office of Student Services (OSA) Christopher F. Castillo, on July 9.
Effective starting July 11, the changes in the assignments of student groups to OSA formators are “in line with certain strategic directions the office is pursuing alongside managing its human resources,” as stated in the memo.
Restructuring ADSA
Castillo said that these certain strategic directions are related to the restructuring of what was formerly known as the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs (ADSA). The Loyola Schools is now on its second year of restructuring.
Under the new scheme, there are now two new Associate Dean positions: the Associate Dean for Student Formation, and the Associate Dean for Student and Administrative Services. OSA falls within the Student Formation Cluster.
According to Castillo, the purpose of making these changes was not just to simply “restructure” OSA, but for them “to be able to focus on various aspects of student development. Because of this, OSA is also looking at all its internal workings, on its systems, on its goals, such that they are supposed to align and support the formation goals of the school.”
“Without naming specific strategies, it’s aligned, kumbaga, the strategy that I mentioned there, was in support of this new structure,” he added.
Reshuffling appointments
The following are the formators with their assigned student groups: Ms. Marie Joy A. Adolfo for the Business Cluster and Inter-cultural Relations Cluster; Mr. John Glenn C. Advincula for the Science and Technology Cluster; Mr. Dan Ephraim N. Casiño for the Sanggunian Central Board, Departments, Units, and affiliates; Mr. Arjohn M. Ceperiano for the Faith Formation Cluster and Sector Based Cluster; Mr. Gino Cecilio N. Flores for the COA Central Board, Media and the Creative Arts Cluster (MCA), Performing Arts Cluster (PAC), and groups applying for accreditation; and Mr. Christopher Fernando F. Castillo for the Confederation of Publications (COP). However, formators for the Analysis and Discourse Cluster and Health and Environment Cluster are yet to be announced.
For the time being, student leaders from the Analysis and Discourse Cluster and Health and Environment Cluster will be working with Mr. Ceperiano and Mr. Advincula, respectively.
He also noted that there were no major changes made in the appointments. For example, COP is still with Castillo himself, the Sanggunian is still with Casiño, and MCA and PAC are still with Flores.
The equitable distribution of organizational clusters, rotation of tasks and work as part of professional development, and the exposure of organizations and formators were considered in the assigning of formators to their respective student groups. According to him, “these are considered in a sense, on how, or what, the dynamic could be, to benefit, of course, ultimately, the organizations. Maybe they can grow, or certain aspects of them would grow under this formator. Those were the broad considerations that we had in allocating the groups.”
Expectations with change
He said that with the changes of the assigned formators to the different student groups, he expects growth and development with the student organizations, the groups, and the formators themselves.
“The offices are literally beside one another, so talking about an org that was formerly handled by [another] person is very easy to do. But in general, the expectation is that the orgs will benefit from the years of experience, or kind of perspective, the kind of style, the formator brings to them.”
“But for now, we want to test this out, see how it works, but overall, it’s a hopeful[ly well-] discerned decision,” he added.
