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THE Ateneo de Manila University ( AdMU) has announced it will have a new president beginning Academic Year ( AY) 2020- 2021.
In a memo to the university community on August 6, incumbent President Fr. Jose Ramon “Jett” Villarin, SJ announced that Ateneo had named Fr. Roberto “Bobby” Yap, SJ as its next president beginning the upcoming AY.
Yap was elected by the Ateneo Board of Trustees, led by Ernesto Tanmantiong, and will formally assume the presidency of AdMU on June 1, 2020 after Villarin completes his third and last term as president. Yap is currently serving as president of Xavier University- Ateneo de Cagayan ( Xavier Ateneo).
Villarin wrote in his memo that he did not want to spend the final year of his term saying goodbye.
“I promise you that in the coming months, I shall continue working to take care of the many good things we have sown together,” he wrote.
The outgoing president has ensured that the Ateneo de Manila University Development Goals 2030, a 12- year strategic plan of the university, would be activated this year.
“We will work to ensure a smooth transition for Fr. Bobby as he begins to acquaint himself with the operations and strategic concerns of the university,” Fr. Villarin wrote. “He himself has been a trustee of the Ateneo de Manila for many years now, and so he is already on board when it comes to the strategic directions and decisions that have been made.”
In his acceptance memo, Yap said he accepts his election as his new “Jesuit mission.”
“Always on mission, only for mission, Jesuits go where they are sent,” he wrote. “I will end my third and last term at Xavier Ateneo on May 31, 2020 and begin my term as AdMU president on June 1, 2020 after the third term of Fr. Jett Villarin, SJ is over.”
Yap later wrote that the search for his successor in Xavier University would start on September 7, when the university’s Board of Trustees will meet, and they hope to name the next president by December 7.
As president of Xavier Ateneo, Yap presided over the active engagement of the university in recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon “Sendong,” which included the building of a community of 500 houses at Xavier Ecoville.
Under his watch, Xavier Ateneo has also been active in the rehabilitation of Marawi City, the achievement of the highest levels of accreditation for its college, junior high and grade school programs, the integration of its service learning programs, and the building of the Xavier Ateneo Sports Centre and new senior high campus.
Yap holds a PhD in environmental economics from the University College London, a Master’s Degree in economics from the New School for Social Research, New York, and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University.
His past ministries in the Society of Jesus include being Province treasurer, province assistant for the social apostolate and associate director of the John J Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues. He is also teaching economics at the Ateneo de Manila.
Yap is also an alumnus of the Ateneo de Manila ( Bachelor of Arts Economics Honors, cum laude, in 1980 and Master of Arts in Theology in 1992).
The Ateneo celebrates its 160th anniversary this year.