(FEB. 8) – Prof. Hussein Sinsuat Lidasan is the new dean of The School of Urban and Regional Planning (The SURP).
His 3-year appointment was approved at the 1341st Board of Regents meeting on Feb. 4. The eighth dean of The SURP, Lidasan will serve from Feb. 4 until Feb 3. 2022. He succeeded Prof. Mario R. Delos Reyes.
In his vision-mission paper, Lidasan primarily aims to review the unit’s programs to make them more attuned to development planning and make them research-driven, more inter- and multi-disciplinary, on par with planning institutions abroad, and guided by the Philippines’ national aspirations.
Lidasan earned his PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the Institute of Planning and Policy Sciences (formerly Institute of Socio-Economic Planning) in 1995 and Master in Environmental Sciences from the Institute of Environmental Sciences in 1991, both from The University of Tsukuba, Japan. He also has a Certificate in Development Economics (1987) and Bachelor of Arts in Economics (1982) from the School of Economics, UP Diliman.
He was deputy director of the UP Office of Design and Planning Initiatives (2013-2017) and director of Graduate Studies of The SURP (2012-2016).
He joined the University in 1982 as staff at the then Transport Training Center, now the National Center for Transportation Studies (NCTS). From then on he served in various capacities such as faculty of The SURP and NCTS, director of NCTS (1999 to 2002) and college secretary of The SURP (2005).
He is presently the corporate secretary of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy, a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to the study of Islamic and democratic political thought and the search for peace, democracy and development in Muslim communities.–Benito V. Sanvictores Jr., image by Leonardo A. Reyes