Following the online reunion of the ME alumni hosted by Dean Ferdinand Manegdeg on June 6, the Class of 1980 decided to pool their resources to set up The ME Class of 1980 Professorial Chair in Mechanical Engineering, to be offered starting AY 2021-22. The convenor is Jomie Francisco. The select group of pooled donors include Class members from the USA. 

Benjie Lava also donated two Teaching and Research Awards for instructors and junior faculty members, in the names of Class ‘80 and Class ‘81.

Earlier, Christopher “Tophie” Barrameda, ME Class ‘79, set up The Abba’s Orchards Professorial Chair in ME. He is the founding director of the Orchards of the Abba Corporation that runs Montessori Schools located in Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro.

Faculty development, by way of Professorial Chair Awards and Teaching and Research Awards, is UPCOE’s priority for the year. The awards incentivize basic and applied research by the UPCOE faculty in various and emerging fields in engineering.