UP Diliman (UPD) has new deans on the block.
The UP Board of Regents, at its 1,406th meeting on Feb. 26, approved the appointments of Carmen Bettina S. Bulaong, PhD as dean of the College of Architecture (CA), and Joanne R. Bantang, PhD as dean of the College of Home Economics (CHE). Both will serve until 2029.
Bulaong’s plans for the CA are anchored on instruction, research, partnerships, infrastructure, and operations. Among her major objectives is to complete the ongoing review and development of the BS architecture curriculum as well as other existing architecture and landscape architecture programs.
The 11th person to hold the position, Bulaong has extensive experience in architecture and architectural heritage conservation. She served as permanent representative of the CA dean in the Cluster C Curriculum Committee and as director of the Doctor of Philosophy in the Designed and Built Environment Program.
Bulaong earned her PhD in environmental science from the University of Shiga Prefecture in 2023.
Meanwhile, Bantang’s plans for the CHE are anchored on the pillars tao, bahay, and programa (people, dwelling, and programs). Tao is about providing wellness and development initiatives for all CHE staff including non-UP and outsourced personnel; bahay deals with creating safe, well-managed, and humane spaces for learning and service; and programa ensures quality, relevant, and possessing integrity in teaching and learning, research, and service.
Bantang is a professor from the CHE Department of Home Economics Education. She is a licensed professional teacher who specializes in home economics, consumer education, evaluation, and supervision, curriculum and quality assessment, research methods and instrument development, among others.
She earned both her doctorate in research and evaluation in 2015 and her Master in Education (Educational Psychology) in 2004 from UPD.
Bantang is the current chair of the science and technology cluster for the curriculum committee and coordinator of the college curriculum committee. From 2025 to January 2026, she was chair of the university council committee on university instruction. She also served as chair of the Home Economics Education Department from April 2010 to May 2013. In a related development, two college deans were appointed for their second term and will serve until February 2029: Kristoffer B. Berse, PhD of the National College of Public Administration and Governance and Melisa R. Serrano, PhD of the School of Labor and Industrial Relations. They first took office in February 2023.