Prof. Emeritus Leticia Hofileña Tison, founding member and former chairperson of the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA), passed away on Jun. 9 due to pneumonia. She was 91.
Tison was appointed Professor Emerita, by the UP Board of Regents (BOR) at its 1092nd meeting on Nov. 29, 1995. She served the University for more than 30 years.
She was a founding member of the Department of Speech and Drama (DSD) when it was established in 1959 as an independent unit from the Department of English and Comparative Literature. DSD was renamed DSCTA with the approval of BOR at its 895th meeting on Nov. 29, 1977.
In 1959, DZUP management was turned-over from the College of Engineering (COE) to DSD, but with the technical component remaining at COE. DZUP is the official UP radio station. Tison served as a program pioneer for DZUP. Presently, the radio station is now managed by the College of Mass Communication.
Tison served as chairperson of DSD (1971-1977) and DSCTA (1977-1985).
On Sept. 22, 1971, former UP President Salvador P. Lopez through Administrative Order (AO) No. 155, appointed Tison as one of the members of the committee tasked to “study and formulate a project in the field of art, music, literature and library development (documentation) for submission to the foreign aid agency of the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries.”
In 1973, through Lopez’s AO No. 61, Tison served as Secretary of the University Committee on Cultural Presentations. She was also the Committee’s Officer-in-Charge in July 1979 and from Mar. 5 to Jun. 30, 1981.
Through Tison’s help, Professor Emeritus Antonio O. Mabesa launched in 1976 the first season of Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (Dulaang UP/DUP). DUP’s first production was Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” and the Filipino adaptation of Lilia Antonio “Pagkahaba-haba man ng Prusisyon” at the Abelardo Theater.
Tison was also Professorial Lecturer in Broadcast Communication in UP Iloilo from November 1977 to May 1978.
In 1981, through Memorandum No. 34 of then UP President Emanuel V. Soriano, Tison was assigned to Chair the Committee that drafted a Memorandum of Agreement between UP and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas with the “idea of establishing a national broadcast training center designed to integrate the objectives/activities/resources of academe and the broadcast industry in order to develop and upgrade the industry and its role in national development.”
From July to August 1995, Tison was assigned to be a member of a Task Force formed by then UP President Emil Q. Javier to “conceptualize the UP Mindanao Arts and Science Program.”
Tison was also an actress and product endorser. She did a famous beer commercial with National Artist for Film Fernando Poe Jr. in the 1980s.
During DSCTA’s 60th Founding Anniversary in 2019, the Department concluded the celebration with the conference “Orality, Theatricality, Performativity” on Apr. 25 and 26 at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, in honor of Tison and Mabesa.