The search is over!
Dr. Edgar Alcantara Orden, a seasoned academician, researcher, and administrator, has been named as the 10th president of Central Luzon State University.
He was unanimously selected for the post by the CLSU Board of Regents chaired by Commissioner Ronald L. Adamat of the Commission on Higher Education during the BOR’s meeting held at the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Central Office, Quezon City last December 11.
Dr. Orden clinched the presidency after satisfying with flying colors all the requirements of the rigid Search for CLSU President.
The Search results submitted to the BOR by the five-member Search Committee headed by Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman, former UP System President, and President Emeritus of UP Diliman, showed that Dr. Orden consistently ranked No. 1 in their scorecards thus obtaining the highest overall score and emerging as a runaway winner from among the five candidates.
The BOR members specifically agreed to dispense with the usual process wherein each member has to vote for any of the shortlisted candidates owing to the aforementioned results.
Prior to his selection as new prexy, Dr. Orden serves as the Vice President of the University Business Affairs Program. He succeeds Dr. Tereso A. Abella who is retiring from the government service on December 18 after serving over 43 years of government service capped by his four-year term as university president from December 19, 2015 to December 18, 2019.
“The recommendation of the Search Committee was very comprehensive. It was very convincing. It was detailed. And each and every member of the Board of Regents was convinced and agreed to adopt and sustain the recommendation of the Search Committee,” Dr. Orden said.
Moreover, according to Dr. Orden, the other four candidates (Dr. Esmeraldo M. Cabana, Dr. Theody B. Sayco, Dr. Ma. Agnes P. Ladia, and Patrick Alain T. Azanza) also agreed to honor the aforementioned decision of the Board. All of them affirmed that they will not contest it.
Asked how he felt after the BOR Chairman pronounced him as the new CLSU president, Dr. Orden said: “I was relieved of the tension, the pressure, the nerves…”
Right after the pronouncement, Dr. Orden took his oath administered by Chairman Adamat.
Dr. Orden admitted that he was, at first, reluctant to join the presidential race because his wife, his children, and his mother did not want him to do so. “It took them a long time before giving their nod to my candidacy,” he also said.
He added that the Search for the CLSU President was, to him, a learning process: “It’s a long process. But the good thing which I really appreciate is there were people who helped me- from packaging meticulously my documents to inputting ideas for my Vision, Mission and Goals for CLSU, up to preparing and practicing well my presentation during the Public Forum, among many other forms of support and assistance,” Dr. Orden stressed.
“I prepared well for the forum; I practiced a lot; and the lesson I learned is that if you aim for that kind of position, you have to be very well-prepared. When I dip my finger, I give my everything,” the incoming president also said.
Dr. Orden thanked the people who have been instrumental in making him cast aside his reluctance as a candidate; and to the present CLSU leadership and to all those who supported his presidential bid every inch of the way. Among many other considerations, the clincher, he admitted, was the call for him to serve CLSU as its president.
Vision, Mission and Goals for CLSU
The new president’s vision is for CLSU to have a transformative impact on countryside development being the national leader in agri-fisheries industry through continual innovation in education, science and technology and entrepreneurship. He also presented his proposed mission and target goals for the university during the public forum held last November 25 at the CLSU Auditorium attended by CLSU faculty and staff, students and other members of the Science City community with their corresponding sectoral representatives who pitched in their questions during the open forum.
Dr. Orden said he shall deliver all of his aspirations for the university as he takes the helm of leadership.
Asked what’s the first thing he would do the moment he sits as president on December 19, Dr. Orden said, “I’ll look into how the Office of the President will be managed. The particulars will come later. By January, and during our first 100 days, we have to come up with the master plan (for the university) and we have to set our short-term, medium-term and long-term targets,” he stressed.
Knowing more the new president
Dr. Orden is a CLSU alumnus who obtained his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree in 1980. He finished his master’s degree from the University of the Philippines- Los Baños in 1989, and earned his Ph.D. in BioProduction Science from Tottori University, Japan in 2000. He is currently a University Professor and has served as the Vice President for Business Affairs Program (UBAP) since January 2016. He has served the university in many capacities and key positions throughout his career- as Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Small Ruminant Center (SRC) from 2000 to 2016, to name a few.
As a researcher, Dr. Orden headed the National Dairy Goat S&T Program and the Regional Goat R&D Program for Sustainable Goat Enterprises in Central Luzon as the Program Leader with a combined research grant of about P60M funded by DOST-PCAARRD. He has published several papers and also serves as external reviewer and referee of scientific papers from local and international journals. He has received numerous awards as paper and poster presenter here and abroad.
Born on January 14, 1960 in San Manuel, Pangasinan, President Orden is married to Dr. Maria Excelsis M. Orden, Director of the CLSU Research Office. They are blessed with three children: Bjorn Calro, Kristel Marie and France Marie. – JPBurnot/ RMVSayco (from the CLSU Newsletter, December 2019)
Dr. Edgar A. Orden takes his oath administered by CHED Commissioner, Ronald L. Adamat, CLSU-BOR Chairperson (6th from left). Witnessing the oathtaking are the BOR members.
