At the recent UP Diliman (UPD) College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) general alumni homecoming, Pagbabalik 2024, CSWCD Dean Lenore Polotan-dela Cruz formally launched Pusong CSWCD Student Support Fund (PCSSF), an alumni-related college project.
The PCSSF is projected to benefit 25 individual students, three student organizations, and five partner communities for five academic years.
It consists of four components: student support fund, student academic achievement awards, financial assistance, and support for community projects.
The student support fund will benefit CSWCD students who are deserving but with less resources. Student academic achievement awards are cash awards for academic achievements, such as best research / term paper, best thesis, and best dissertation. On the other hand, financial assistance is an incentive for selected student organization initiatives, while support for community projects are small grants awarded to selected community-based organizations.
Polotan-dela Cruz also shared the college’s strategic plan for the next five years at Pagbabalik 2024. The college, which last held its homecoming in 2017, saw some 200 alumni from 1953 to 2024 attending Pagbabalik 2024. This year’s homecoming aspired to build intergenerational bonds among its alumni while raising funds to benefit the next generation of social work, community development, women and development, and social development practitioners.
Before attending the main festivities in the afternoon, the alumni held meetings with the individual CSWCD departments—Social Work, Community Development, Women and Development Studies, and Social Development—where they provided valuable information and feedback on the college’s current curriculum vis-à-vis their own real-world experiences.
According to Polotan-dela Cruz, it was during these meetings that the idea of the alumni becoming partners was put forth. Aside from monetary support, they can share their time, knowledge, and experience through mentorships and guest lecturing, research, and extension, among others.
“Iyong alumni natin ay magbibigay ng significant na input on what our curricula should contain, retain, mabago given the realities outside. Parang may input sila sa curriculum improvements; pwedeng partnership with our field instruction program, kasi mga nasa non-government organizations, civil society sila. May mga development programs sila, so they can become partners of our academic programs,” she said.
The CSWCD Alumni Association elected the new members of their Board of Trustees (BOT) during the alumni homecoming. Francis Ronald R. Perez and Maria Theresa Niña Espinola-Abogado were elected representatives of the community development discipline, Maricel Cruz-Deloria and Suzanne Magalona-Nazal represented the social work discipline, Albert L. Dimarucut represented the social development discipline, and Maria Beatriz A. Peña represented the women and development discipline.
The BOT also includes faculty representatives from each discipline. Hazel Cometa-Lamberte, assistant professor at the Department of Social Work, has been selected as member of the BOT, with the other representatives to be determined this September. Polotan-dela Cruz, as CSWCD dean, sits as an ex-officio member.
One of the first tasks the new BOT will tackle is the preparations for the CSWCD’s 60th founding anniversary in August 2027.
The alumni homecoming, with the theme Pag-alabin ang Pusong CSWCD was held on Aug. 31 at the CSWCD Bulwagang Tandang Sora.