IEP Phase 1 Completed

The Ateneo College of Computer Studies (CCS) completed its International Exposure Program (IEP) - Phase I last semester with the participation of Mark Montealegre in the Rangsit University-hosted 1st Digital Interactive Media Entertainment and Arts (DIME-ARTS) in Bangkok, Thailand. IEP is a project of Atty. Manuel Diaz Jr., CCS dean.

"The Ateneo de Naga University, particularly its College of Computer Studies, is at the forefront of IT education in Bicol, and is among the best in the country. Thus, we need to benchmark with other Asian countries just as we need to expose our faculty members to a multicultural environment, Moreover, there is no substitute for the non-academic lessons one learns by actual immersion in a different culture," Atty. Diaz explains. "The IEP is a modest effort of the University to position the CCS as a world-class, globally competitive higher educational institution."

CCS Promotes Use of Journals

The College of Computer Studies is promoting the use of free online journals, many of which are peer-reviewed and academically refereed. While IEEE and ACM journals are available at the Dean's Office as part of the O'Brien Library Extension, the College has identified at least 62 journals and 5 magazines that are freely available online.

[ A complete list of the journals and magazines is available here ].

More titles will be added to the list in due time, as it is envisioned to serve as a mini-portal to free online journals and magazines.

If you know of free online journal(s) and magazine(s) not in the list, please feel free to email the dean at allan@adnu.edu.ph. Dead links may likewise be reported using the same email address.

Montealegre is a faculty member of the Department of Digital Arts and Computer Animation (DACA). There are four fulltime permanent members of the DACA faculty, and he is so far the last to be sent abroad for a conference. It will be recalled that Rudyard Pesimo has travelled to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan to name a few in connection with his selection as an Asian Public Intellectual Fellow, while Magno Edilberto Conag and department chairperson Danilo Isidro, SJ both have been to Germany, Hongkong, and Singapore for animation conferences.

Meanwhile, the Department of Computer Science (DCS) completed its first phase of IEP in August 2006 when Dr. Bernard Marquez presented a paper in the world's biggest and most prestigious gathering of mathematicians, the International Mathematical Conference, held in Madrid, Spain.

Earlier in the same month, the dean himself received a fellowship grant from the USAID to participate in a course sequence on 3G wirless broadband under the auspices of the United States Telecommunications Training Institute, in both Washington DC and San Diego CA. In May 2006, Rey Herman Vidallo and Joshua Martinez participated in the European Union - South East Asian Conference in Singapore, crossing borders to Malaysia where they likewise conducted benchmarking visits on different universities. Jose Jones Capucao and Cecilbeth Ibañez-Vidallo, on the other hand, participated in the International Conference on Knowledge Management hosted by the Suan Dusit University, Bangkok, Thailand in February 2006, while Frederick Olaño, Froilan Rojano, and Vincent Lobrigo all participated in the Asia Pacific Conference on Computers and Philosophy at the Chulalongkorn Univeristy in January 2005.

The prior year, chairperson Ma. Katherine Joy Bamba-Llagas and Elsie Escalderon attended the International E-Commerce Conference in Hongkong, while Dr. Allan Sioson has just rejoined the faculty in June 2006 after three years of fulltime postgraduate study at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg VA.

"I am hoping that funding will still be available this year (referring to 2007, or the next schoolyear)," Atty. Diaz said, adding that "the next phase must necessarily include even those with non-permanent status and if resources would allow, academic support staff."