Silliman University (SU) proudly announces that two of its esteemed faculty members, Dr. Wilma Tejero-Libarios and Dr. Alana Leilani C. Narciso, have been selected to participate in the prestigious 2024-2025 United Board Fellows Program.
This distinguished program, established to cultivate leadership among mid-career faculty and administrators across Asia, aims to bolster whole person education and fortify academic institutions globally.
Tejero-Libarios, the dean of SU’s College of Business Administration, joins the cohort with expertise in economics, having earned her PhD from Hannam University, South Korea. Her research spans environmental economics, macroeconomics, and health, reflecting her commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship and leadership in academia.
Narciso brings a wealth of academic and leadership experience to the fellowship. Holding a PhD in English Literary Studies from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, she currently serves as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at SU. With a robust background in literary pedagogy and creative nonfiction, she has chaired the Department of English and Literature and played pivotal roles in the SU National Writers’ Workshop and academic journals.
The United Board Fellows Program, scheduled to commence in July 2024, offers a transformative experience through its comprehensive leadership development curriculum. This year, participants undergo rigorous training, including a week-long summer institute at Singapore Management University (July 22-26, 2024), a one-to-four-month placement or a two-week study trip in Asia (to occur between August 2024-June 2025), and a concluding seminar in a major Asian city (summer 2025). Since its inception in 2002, the program has nurtured over 320 fellows from 80 institutions across Asia, fostering a cadre of leaders dedicated to advancing educational excellence and institutional resilience.
A total of twenty-five (25) fellows from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, South Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan form this year’s cohort. Tejero-Libarios and Narciso’s selection underscores SU’s commitment to nurturing leadership and academic excellence. Their participation in the United Board Fellows Program not only enhances their professional growth but also enriches the university’s global perspective and leadership capacity in higher education.
SU is a partner institution of the United Board, a New York-based nonprofit organization with an office in Hong Kong that supports institutions in Asia through its programs and grants to improve the quality of higher education. (Warlito S. Caturay Jr., PhD)
