After two years of online conferences due to the pandemic, the faculty met each other with smiles for the first face-to-face faculty meeting on September 23, 2022, at the University Gym.

Ms. Madonna Felicitas, editor and assistant research consultant of the research department, gave an inspirational message to the faculty about living a life of true service as a reminder of their calling. This was followed by a report by Dr. Doris Mendoza, current and founding dean of the College of Medicine, about the 2-week US trip together with Dr. Rosario, university president, who attended the annual convention of (AWESNA) PUC-AUP Alumni Association of Western North America. She shared the warm welcome of our alumni and their pledges of strong support for the university. She also shared their visit to Dr. Hart, President of Loma Linda University Health, who, together with the vice president, Ms. Rachelle Bussell, committed their assistance in guiding AUP’s philanthropic team in raising funds for the teaching hospital building project.

Dr. Arceli Rosario shared the video report presented at the convention about the updates on AUP’s successes and challenges, which was well received by our alumni. She reported a total of twenty-seven thousand four hundred sixty dollars donated by the alumni for AUP’s projects. She acknowledged the invaluable services of each worker for continuing AUP’s mission, leading to its success for the past academic year. Then she reminded the faculty and staff of AUP’s mission, vision, core values, and strategic goals in an interactive activity that brought more smiles to the faces of its workers.

Another important part of the meeting was the Appreciative Inquiry summit. It is a strategy that involves its stakeholders or the community and engages them in a four-phase process of collectively and systematically rediscovering their strengths, life-giving qualities, and aspirations, with the ultimate goal of achieving “whole system positive change.” This was facilitated by Pastor Felixian Felicitas, Dean of the College of Theology and administrative assistant for Planning; Dr. Teofilo Esguerra, Director of Records and Admissions; and Dr. Mary Grace de Guzman, professor from the College of Education. The faculty was organized into groups. All employees engaged in the activity, resulting in a productive discussion, which was followed by the reporting of selected groups. All the notes from the discussion were collated and will be used as reference for its planning. The next phase of the process is scheduled for the next faculty meeting.