A Message from the University President


MESSAGE

The quest for excellence and service is a challenge handed down to every Ateneo generation. Over the last eleven years since I assumed the presidency of Ateneo de Manila, this quest has brought many dreams to fulfillment. To alumni and friends returning after several years, most visible are the new buildings and renovated facilities on all campuses: in the Loyola Schools, the High School and Grade School in Loyola Heights, the Rockwell and Salcedo campuses of the Professional Schools.


These buildings are but the physical embodiment of our aspirations and our quest. This quest has taken us on a journey bringing each of the four new schools that now comprise the Loyola Schools to new levels of growth in numbers and physical facilities – and to greater achievement in excellence and service. The Ateneo Grade School’s division into Primary and Middle Schools places more effective focus on the different development needs of our boys. The High School has finally seen its long-time dream of a Center for Math, Science, and Technology come true. The School of Government, the newest of Ateneo’s schools, affirms Ateneo’s focus on the central role of leadership and governance in our time. We are now into detailed planning for the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. We have launched a Sports Development Fund to strengthen several non-basketball sports. The initial funds have gone into lighting and improving the football fields beside the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center and improving the badminton courts in the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center.

The Ateneo has sought to remain rooted in its fundamental values of service and excellence – in its schools, institutes, and research and development centers. The pursuit of excellence is visible in our efforts to strengthen research and faculty development, develop international linkages, strengthen our sports programs, foster programs and research on character and discipline and actualize student-centered learning. The vigor of the Ateneo’s social centers and the many socially oriented activities on campus, particularly in improving educational opportunities for the poor, also reflect our commitment to place this excellence at the service of others. These fundamental values find their roots and nourishment in a shared spirituality, which now finds an icon and a home in the Ateneo Church of the Gesù.



Bienvenido F. Nebres, S.J.
President