The College of Business and Accountancy (CBA) held its annual faculty assembly at the Lecture Hall, RISE Tower on 07 September 2023 with the theme, “Synergy in Business Education: Bridging Knowledge and Practice.”
Preceding the actual program, esteemed guests including Philippine Marketing Association (PMA) President Sy Bryan Lato and Masterminds Institute Training and Development Services CEO Ariel Tolentino had a glimpse of the state-of-the-art learning facilities at RISE where they toured Air Fatima and the Multiple Applications for Reality-Virtuality Experience Laboratory (MARVEL).
As a tangible and clear execution of knowledge, these learning amenities equip students with the skills they need as they embark in their journey in the industry.
The faculty assembly formally began as Dr. Rolando Palad, Program Head for Business Administration at OLFU – Antipolo Campus, provided the overview of the event. Consequently, OLFU CBA Dean Dr. Ignacio Cordova Jr. presented his remarkable insights on business synergy, emphasizing continuous collaboration.
This year’s assembly was accompanied by twists with two separate learning sessions. For his part, Tolentino who is dubbed as “Mr. Significant” rendered an engaging discussion on “Creating Performance Tasks Effectively” where he reminded everyone to avoid self-doubt, believe in oneself and take consistently positive action.
The second session matched the energy of PMA top honcho Lato, who is also the third youngest PMA President, and who elaborated on “Navigating Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education in the Industry Perspective.”
The PMA chief shared with the CBA program heads and faculty members the AI tools to use in the classroom, one of the highlights of his discussion.
A question and answer section of the council was actively participated in by attendees which was followed by another interesting twist — the “Panel Discussion on the Experiential Learning and Real-World Exposure.”
Representatives from CMG Retail Inc., OLFU’s longtime and supportive industry partner, including Jocelyn Caracta, Senior Vice President (SVP) for Operations and Zenaida Camahalan, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources as well as OLFU-CBA Academe-Industry Linkages and Pathways (AILP) Ad Board Member, delivered their salient insights on the subject, “Recognizing the Value of Faculty Immersion Experiences in Skills Development.”
The discussion was sustained by Sheilla Marie Apostol, CBA Supervised Work Experience Program (SWEP) Coordinator at OLFU Quezon City, as she shared her industry immersion experience with an integral topic, “Recognizing the Value of Faculty Immersion Experiences in Preparing Students for the Industry.”
Closing the council was the presentation of new CBA faculty members, the updated CBA academic policy, rules and regulations, followed by the awarding of outstanding faculty members for Academic Year 2022-2023.
Dr. Rommel Joseph Lazatin, CBA Program Head of OLFU Pampanga articulated a heartfelt closing message urging everyone to take on the challenge in bridging knowledge and practice.
Simply put, the assembly turned out to be an engaging affair fueled with encouraging words for all the attendees, in the hopes to transfigure competitive classrooms this academic year.
Story contributed by Sheilla Marie Apostol
