SILLIMAN’S LEADING WOMAN
A psychology and political science major who graduated magna cum laude, Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann is a native of Molave, Zamboanga del Sur
The 13th president of Silliman University is a woman educator who oversees this year’s 118th Founders Day, to be held on 28 August in Dumaguete City, where the campus is located.
The over 50-hectare campus turns extra festive at this time each year with all the parades, booths, local produce from its agricultural farm, culture and arts programs and other events like the Miss Silliman Pageant, one of Asia’s oldest, if not the oldest, beauty pageant hosted by a university.
As expected, all of the city’s hotels — especially the Bethel Guest House which is along the city’s boulevard — are fully-booked every August of the year, and for the next five years.
A psychology and political science major who graduated magna
cum laude, Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann is a native of Molave, Zamboanga del Sur.
She has taught in other academic institutions around the country and is married to Dr. Dennis Patrick McCann, a retired professor of Religious Studies and Business Ethics from the University of Chicago. They have three sons and three grandchildren.
Recently, Betty was named president of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia. Amiable and humble, this university head is particularly proud of these
Founders Day activities.
Courtesy call
I was in my hometown and thought of paying a courtesy call on the first woman president of my Alma Mater, facilitated by Silliman’s International Office director Mong Atega.
Later, I sat down with Betty at the 67-year-old President’s home on campus to ask her about her travels for a magazine but the conversation eventually turned to her as an educator, her thoughts on the strategies of educating the youth, also based on her observations from the countries she had visited.
Of course, it was inevitable we would discuss the staggering costs of maintaining a university and she expressed her hopes that the government could help out by subsidizing it like not a few private universities in India, Japan and Korea.
In the country, she said, 80 percent of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are private and only 20 percent are state-owned, hence, subsidized by government.
A donation of $10,000 from a New York philanthropist Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman for an industrial school for boys, the Silliman Institute opened its first class to 15 boys in Dumaguete on 28 August 1901. Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard was president and his wife Laura was the faculty. Today, it is now considered one of the more expensive schools in the Visayas and Mindanao areas, with a student population of 10,000. Its College of Business Administration has the biggest enrolment, fired perhaps by the zeal of entrepreneurship among the enrollees.
Travel, on the other hand, is always a learning experience for anyone especially for educators like her.
Betty’s travels to over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, Canada and over 30 states in the United States of America had afforded her the chance to observe these countries’ cultures and practices embedded in university curriculums and policies.
She concluded that a country’s culture should be embedded in university programs when crafting policies to act as beacon in its education, culture being the best way to encourage nationalism and patriotism.
In the Christian institutions she had visited, she said, the strong liberal arts education tops all other programs, explaining that the rich cultures of a country as promoted by an institution promotes as well the country’s tourism through the arts, and its result is one sure way of instilling pride of one’s own, even as jobs are created for the people.
Silliman has a strong liberal arts program in its equally strong Christian education programs.
Today, she proudly points out, there are over 300 foreign students from 53 countries around the world currently enrolled at Silliman. In the Silliman Main Library, considered an architectural marvel around Southeast Asia for its solid and simple lines, flags of these 53 countries representing every foreign student’s origins are displayed.
Silliman spirit
Years before, Silliman’s international football team, one of the winningest teams in the regional and national levels, was a joy to watch during matches. Silliman’s football fans always turned up to cheer its Football Varsity Team.
During friendly matches in places like Bacolod City, for instance, Silliman students fill buses to make the 12-hour road trip (at the time) to cheer the team to victory.
This Silliman spirit surprises many but such is the mark of every Sillimanian because of her educational policies emphasizing a Christian education, taking pride in the university’s achievements, camaraderie and, of course, service to the community.
Among the best things to happen in Silliman is its environmental programs that have earned for her a Commission on Higher Education recognition as a Center of Excellence.
Every tree, every bird and old structures like its landmark, popular in postcards, the Silliman Hall, has value. A meeting of the Board of Trustees is required when a tree on campus needs a trim, so the joke goes. But Silliman has always had a strong sense of community with its research and extension programs alongside its culture and arts program which will again be showcased when the Fine Arts Gallery opens on campus soon.
Many donors support its culture and arts programs and the best proof of this is the Luce Auditorium, the finest auditorium outside of Manila, built in part from a donation by the Henry Luce Foundation and contributions from Silliman alumni from all over the world.
The many firsts in its storied history include: the building of the first Mission Hospital in Eastern Visayas by Japanese carpenters; and being the first university to practice ecumenism, with Catholic priests giving sermons in its chapels and Protestant ministers in constant dialog and involvement in joint projects with Catholic organizations for the community. This helped when then Silliman president Dr. Cicero Calderon’s first cousin happened to be the president of then the St. Paul College of Dumaguete, now the St. Paul University of Dumaguete run by the Order of St. Paul de Chartres.
A significant aspect of Silliman’s journey towards what it has become today, one of the country’s leading universities, it was once upon a time labeled “subversive” and a hotbed of student activism.
During martial law, it was the last university in the country to be reopened after clearance from the military, and after several individuals vouched for the university like then Secretary of Education Dr. Juan Manuel and Philippine Constabulary Chief, at the time, Maj. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos later to become Philippine President.
It is also ordinary fare for the university to host VIP from then American Governor General William Howard Taft to various Philippine presidents, international artists and foreign dignitaries so it is routine for the university band to rehearse national anthems of different countries.
All this might be ordinary to Manila universities but we’re talking about such a university away from the capital.
The welcoming atmosphere is prevalent on campus despite its internal problems, for which university does not have any?
Still, this writer is confident that with a woman as its 13th president at the helm, the university can only move forward.
Happy 118th Founders Day, Silliman!
She concluded that a country’s culture should be embedded in university programs when crafting policies to act as beacon in its education, culture being the best way to encourage nationalism and patriotism.
It is also ordinary fare for the university to host VIP from then American Governor General William Howard Taft to various Philippine Presidents, international artists and foreign dignitaries so it is routine for the university band to rehearse national anthems of different countries.