After a monthslong search, the UP Diliman (UPD) Asian Center (AC) now has a new dean: Prof. Henelito A. Sevilla Jr., PhD.

Sevilla, who succeeded Prof. Joefe B. Santarita, PhD (2015-2018, 2018-2021) as dean, was appointed by the Board of Regents at its special meeting on Aug. 20.

As AC dean, Sevilla will serve as a member of the Tri-College PhD Philippine Studies Program Council, along with the deans of the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy.

The associate professor has been with the AC since 2008, and teaches courses on West Asia and select courses on the international relations of the Philippines with Western Asia.

Fluent in the Farsi (Persian) language, Sevilla has a PhD in international relations from the University of Tehran, a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Shahid Beheshti in Iran, and a BS international relations degree from the Mindanao State University in Marawi City.

According to the AC website (https://ac.upd.edu.ph/index.php/resources/news-announcements/2717-new-dean-asian-center-henelito-sevilla-jr), Sevilla’s research interests “also cover the political economy of the Middle East, energy security in the Middle East and Asia, Persian Gulf security, and Middle Easterners in the Philippines.”

He is the author of “Middle East Geopolitics and China-India Strategic Interaction in the New Era,” published in the “Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies” (2020), and the chapter, “Marginalization of Interests: The Case of Philippine-Middle East Relations,” in “International Studies in the Philippines: Mapping New Frontiers in Theory and Practice” (Routledge 2020).

Sevilla will serve as dean until 2024.