University of Luzon opens in June . . . in Pozorrubio!

by Jing Villamil

Parents save or loan or beg from a better-off relative for a child’s tuition fee through college. The day to day expenses though – fare to and from, meals and snacks, and other miscellaneous fees – these the parents themselves  are expected to shoulder.  What if the shoulders are thin and wearied from other familial burdens?

Once or twice in a parent’s college-supporting lifetime he sighed: if we had a college right here in town.

What if? A lot of Pozorrubians  had asked this question. Mayor Emma Chan not only asked, she dreamed of it. She even prioritized it in her major developmental plan submitted to Governor Amado Espino, Jr. when he convened the Provincial Development Council’s 1st marathon meeting and strategic conference last April 14.

Not even a month after the PDC meeting, and barely a year unto her term, the college stands within the town’s backyard. It is not a college though. It is a university!

Tuesday May 6, the university sent over its Dean of Graduate Studies Dr. Azucena Elegado together with Dr. Anastacio Padauit, Research Director Efren Abulencia,, MBA Prograram Coordinator, Jean Ramos, MAEd Program Coordinator Imelda Cuartel, and Computer Science Coordinator Rhomelyn Laforteza to hold a consultative meeting with the citizens of Pozorrubio especially the education sector regarding university courses and subject offerings for this its initial year of operation. To represent Pozorrubio Online, the Webmaster himself, Mr. Gin Quezada, was also present.

A day after the consultative meeting, registration starts,  at the Office of the Mayor, which serves as the university’s temporary registrar’s office pending completion of its building construction. 
 
University of Luzon opens in Pozorrubio the second or third week of June  2008, as with all the other schools and colleges and universities in the national scene.  It offers the usual regular college courses and DepEd’s pet project of a ladderized education, even graduate and post-graduate classes.

It is housed in a new and sturdily built three-storied building with fields and trees surrounding, the wind blowing through its wide-open windows, and in case the air is still and hot, a provision for air-conditioning. It stands astride the national highway, beside the Petron station, just a stone’s throw away from the Cablong crossing, thus so very accessible to Sison, Binalonan and other nearby towns.
 
 It is an extension, not a branch, and thus it is directly under the administration, supervision and control of University of Luzon, Dagupan City. Thus, the quality of its educational offerings is assured. Its college, graduate, and post-graduate students enjoy the same benefits as their counterparts in the main including access to instructors and facilities and job opportunities.   
   
 It is to be remembered that the Samson-Reyna clan had already made its mark in the town’s history, when, in an unprecedented move, its Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and also Director of the Mother Goose International Playskool Mrs. Aurora Samson-Reyna opened Mother Goose not in the city as its usual established practice, but in Pozorrubio which is the first town in Pangasinan ever to have one.