From the University President

Our Ateneo has been in some sort of “reset” mode for some time now, as the University (and the world at large) emerges from the pandemic.

For the past few months, we've been slowly transitioning from fully-online work and classes, to an eventual return to full onsite operations. On the surface, this might look like a return to pre-March 2020; but with the lessons we've learned in the past two years, we are certainly not going back to our old, pre-pandemic ways.

Online teaching and learning, for example, will be an integral part of our way forward; our online learning platforms will support and enhance the way our students learn, and our teachers and formators teach. Our facilities and protocols are also now well-prepared to adjust and adapt to the fickleness of this pandemic.

Our campuses are slowly coming alive by the day, as more staff and students come back to their offices and classrooms -- and in the case of many students, coming to campus for the first time! It's as if everyone's a first-year student or new employee, and it's heartwarming to see them see our campuses with fresh eyes.

Soon, we'll be seeing more of our students in the classrooms, as we prepare for a wider adjustment to the way Ateneo fleshes out its educational mission moving forward. For those with children or relatives still studying (or are set to begin studying) at Ateneo, rest assured that the University will take care of them every step of the way in this "better normal."

There’s also a bigger transformation going on at Ateneo.

For the past few months, our University has been very busy reorienting towards the future. Since the beginning of 2022, we’ve been rolling out the new University Strategic Plan – a response to the challenges of a post-COVID-19 world, and a road map for the next decade. The new plans lay out our urgent response, as an institution and community, to the complex problems our world faces now, and in the coming years.

The University Strategic Plan addresses four priority areas: education, public health, the environment, and bridging cultural divides: the four most pressing issues our society needs to confront. These cover issues ranging from pandemic preparation and response to climate action; expanding access to quality education to battling fake news and historical distortion. These priority areas were determined by representatives from across the University community, including alumni, after several months of discussions and discernment.

Three common themes - digital technology, continuing and lifelong learning, and strategic partnerships and effective collaboration - tie together the responses to these four strategic priority areas. The end goal of the entire plan is for Ateneo to respond innovatively to our society's most complex dilemmas, and exponentially expand its real-world impact by the year 2030.

We have named this strategic plan Lux in Domino because it embodies Ateneo de Manila's mission to bring transformational change, grounded in Ignatian spirituality and in our uniquely Filipino, Catholic, and Jesuit identity.

And alumni such as you are integral in fulfilling this strategic plan, as envoys of transformational change in your workplaces, families, and communities. Alumni will also have roles to play in the coming months and years, as the University undergoes a lot of transformations, preparing our institution and community for the challenges of a post-pandemic, “better” normal.

I invite all of you to read more about the Lux in Domino University Strategic Plan at ateneo.edu/lux-in-domino, and start thinking about how we can work together in realizing this plan.

It may seem to be a moonshot proposition to many, but I firmly believe that Ateneo will get it done. And amid all these grand plans, one thing will remain constant: a learning and formation experience for all our students that is rooted in liberal, Filipino, Catholic, and Ignatian values.

I hope and pray that you will join us in this exciting journey, as we strive to become a force for good in our world, ad majorem Dei gloriam.

Roberto C Yap, SJ

PRESIDENT, ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY