Outgoing Woodbury University President Luis Calingo Named to Head Holy Angel University in the Philippines

    LOS ANGELES, CA, April 02, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Luis Maria R. Calingo, Ph.D, outgoing president of Woodbury University, has been named president of Holy Angel University (www.hau.edu.ph), effective at the start of the 2015-2016 academic year, Woodbury announced today.

Holy Angel (HAU) had served as the recruitment and training ground for the radical student movement that fought the regime of then-president Ferdinand Marcos during the 1970s, eventually leading to the imposition of martial law, Dr, Calingo recalled. The university has had a long tradition of social justice, commitment to the mission of a Catholic university, and the education of students from economically disadvantaged groups.

In February, Woodbury University announced Dr. Calingo's decision to step down at the conclusion of the current academic year rather than seek another term. At that time, the Board of Trustees granted Dr. Calingo a sabbatical leave from March 1 to June 30. Dr. David Dauwalder, formerly the university's provost, has been serving as interim president since then. The Board has formed a search committee and initiated a nationwide search for a permanent replacement, and endorsed continued execution of the existing strategic plan.

"Woodbury continues progressing on major projects and initiatives, including establishing a consolidated student services center, relocating the front gate for safety and easy access, constructing a new residence hall, and continuing our long tradition of providing students with a transformational college experience," Dauwalder said.

"The Board hired me three years ago to develop and execute a strategic plan that would bring Woodbury to the next level of competitiveness, distinction, and excellence," Dr. Calingo said last month. "The first phase of that strategic plan is our ongoing capacity building in preparation for a period of growth. Not only is that period of capacity building substantially complete, we have also achieved in less than three years what I originally thought we would accomplish in five years. Over the next ten years, when the university will be pursuing the growth and sustained excellence stages of our strategic plan, Woodbury will need to be led by one or two presidents whose skill sets are different from mine."

In a statement, HAU Acting President Geromin T. Nepomuceno, Jr., said that Dr. Calingo's experience as consultant for various Asian governments' quality assurance programs and as examiner for the U.S. Baldrige Award and will help strengthen HAU's own quality assurance efforts. Dr. Calingo has been the Asian Productivity Organization's principal consultant to several Asian governments, including the Philippines, in the establishment of their national award programs for quality and business excellence. The World Bank had engaged him to assist Thailand's Ministry of Education in instituting a Baldrige-based Education Performance Excellence system to 20 universities. These relationships would bode well for HAU's strategic intent to internationalize within the Asia-Pacific region.

"My most significant challenge would be ensuring HAU's financial sustainability at a time when the conversion of basic education from K-10 to K-12 would result in no college freshmen for two years and building HAU's capability to internationalize and compete in a regional education market when the ASEAN economic integration commences at the end of 2015," Dr. Calingo said. He cited his attraction to HAU's Catholic heritage and educational environment "that prepares students to build lives, create careers, and serve the community," as well as his family roots and his desire to give back to his native country, as the main reasons for accepting the position. Although Manila-born and bred, Dr. Calingo's father was born from the Central Luzon region where HAU is located.

Dr. Calingo has received the Distinguished Alumnus in Education and International Development Awards from the University of the Philippines (UP) Alumni Association (UPAA) both in the Philippines and the U.S., as well as the Most Outstanding Alumnus Awards from both the UP College of Engineering and the UP School of Urban and Regional Planning.

An international expert in strategic planning and quality management, Dr. Calingo has assisted the governments of Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam on the establishment and implementation of their national awards for quality and business excellence, as well as the infusion of quality assurance into their higher education systems. He has served as a member of the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the country's highest award for quality and performance excellence, since 1997.

Dr. Calingo's professional interests include servant leadership, strategic planning, total quality management and international business with a focus on Southeast Asia. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines, and a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of the Philippines.

About Holy Angel University
Founded in 1933, Holy Angel University is the first Catholic school in the Philippines that was founded by the laity. It is a doctorate-granting university and is the largest university in the rapidly developing region of Central Luzon with almost 20,000 students and 900 employees. Basic education (K-12) accounts for about 20 percent of its students. It offers higher education through seven colleges, with Business and Accountancy, Engineering and Architecture, and Hospitality and Tourism Management students accounting for about 75 percent of its post-secondary students. It has been granted Autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education, accreditation by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education, and reaffirmation of accreditation by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities.

About Woodbury University
Founded in 1884, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California. Woodbury offers bachelor's degrees from the School of Architecture, School of Business, School of Media, Culture & Design, and College of Transdisciplinarity, along with a Master of Arts (MA) in Media for Social Justice, Master of Architecture (MArch), Master of Interior Architecture (MIA), Master of Science in Architecture (MSArch), and Master of Leadership. The San Diego campus offers Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees, as well as an MSArch degree with concentrations in Real Estate Development and Landscape + Urbanism. Woodbury ranks 15th among the nation's "25 Colleges That Add the Most Value," according to Money Magazine. Visit http://www.woodbury.edu for more information.

Media Contact:
Ken Greenberg
Edge Communications, Inc.
(323) 469-3397
[email protected]

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