By John Vincent B. Toribio

Faculty and students of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) – Graduate School (GS) convened for its annual research congress last February 13 and 20. 

The 2021 Virtual Research Congress served as an avenue for graduate students, administrators, faculty, research experts and research enthusiasts to present the rigor of research and the results of their studies on specialized and interdisciplinary fields. 

With the theme, "Fostering Multidisciplinary Researches and Innovations," the congress included topics on entrepreneurship, business management and health; sustainability, environment and energy; learners and learning environment; and, school administration and teaching. The presenters were GS graduates from 2017 to 2020.  

Moreover, the SEARCA Regional Professorial Chair Lecture was delivered by the GS dean, Dr. Virgilio Julius P. Manzano, Jr. He discussed his paper titled “Mainstreaming and Harnessing Precision farming for Sustainable and Resilient Philippine Agriculture.” SEARCA means Southeast Asian Regional Center for Research and Graduate Study in Agriculture.

Other plenary speakers included Dr. Lilibeth G Abrogena, chair of the MA in Education program, who discussed “Cultural Ethics of School Administrators and their Management Competence,” and Dr. Bert A. Gamiao, laboratory school principal, who shared “College Teachers’ Use of Linguistic Filters.” 

Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis, University president, expressed her commendation to the GS for persistently boosting the culture of research in MMSU. She further challenged all GS faculty and students to “continue being a bastion of scholarship and innovation, and being at the forefront of developing new knowledge through multidisciplinary approaches to provide real solutions to real problems.”  

This activity is anchored on one of the University’s seven-point agenda ACHIEVE, which is to produce ‘Creative, Relevant and Innovative Research Programs.’ (StratCom)