Based on the data released by the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC), NORSU is the only school in Central Visayas that registered a 100 percent passing rate after its three takers all passed the PLE.

There were only six schools in Central Visayas that have takers in the recent PLE. These schools include NORSU-Main Campus I, University of San Carlos, University of the Visayas-Cebu City Campus, Southwestern University, Cebu Doctors University, and University of Bohol.

Dr. Dalisay Dumalag, dean of the College of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences (CNDPAHS), believed that NORSU is one of the top schools not only in Region 7 but also in the entire country for its high performance in the previous and present board examinations.

Dumalag reminded all students in CNDPAHS to always have the determination not just for the sake of the college or the university, but most importantly for themselves. She advised them to constantly have faith in God and to become successful health workers someday.

“That appears to be the case,” said CNDPAHS Assistant Dean Novalisa Leon when asked if NORSU is really the top performing Pharmacy institution in Region 7.

According to her, NORSU is also one of the top performing Pharmacy schools in the entire Philippines, having been one of the six Pharmacy schools in the country that clinched a 100 percent passing rate in the recent PLE last January 25-26.

NORSU-Pharmacy Department Chair Analiza Bais also agreed with the latter statements, adding that the ranking of the top performing Pharmacy schools in the Philippines will be based on the number of takers and passers of a particular institution determined by the PRC.

According to PRC, schools with at least 25 takers and obtained at least 80 percent passing mark will be included in the list of the top performing Pharmacy school all over the country.

During the launching of the newly constructed amphitheater, NORSU President Henry A. Sojor commended the faculty, staff, and students of CNDPAHS for their hard work in gaining a 100 percent PLE passing rate.

Last year, the first batch of Pharmacy graduates took the PLE, placing NORSU third top performing Pharmacy school in Central Visayas and eighth in the entire Philippines.

NORSU is the only school in Negros Oriental and one of the very few institutions in Central Visayas that offers Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. NORSU started to offer its Pharmacy program in 2005 after it became a university under the leadership of Sojor.

Grateful Pharmacists

Sophomore Pharmacy student Venus Mae Tan credited the success of the Pharmacy graduates in NORSU for their courage and determination. She also commended the Pharmacy teachers who unselfishly imparted their knowledge to the students and to Dr. Sojor’s unwavering support to the department and to the entire CNDPAHS family.

Tan said that despite being one of the youngest colleges in the university, CNDPAHS continues to produce top caliber graduates.

Glory Bell Policher, another BS Pharmacy student, said that the result of the board exam makes every Norsunian proud to have studied in this state university.

Policher said that the result only proves that NORSU can do more achievements with fewer facilities by recalling the humble beginnings of CNDPAHS and NORSU.

(Source:  by: Ramie L. Bulaybulay, Jr. , The NORSUnian, The Official Weekly Student Publication of the Negros Oriental State University System, Main Campus, Dumaguete City)

The 2010 NORSU’s Outstanding Alumni are Elias Cuba Bayking, Jr. in the field of Geothermal Engineering and Cecilia Apiag-Abringe in the field of Education.

Engr. Bayking

Dr. Abringe

The awarding ceremony is on Wednesday morning, December 1, 2010, during the University Academic Convocation at the NORSU Cultural Complex.

To know more about this year’s Outstanding Alumni, visit http://www.norsunian.org/awardees/2010/.

EDC has about 88 EVSAT-CVPC-NORSU Alumni while the Green Core Geothermal Inc. [Former Napocor] has 39 EVSAT-CVPC-NORSU Alumni, working in different departments, attended the Assembly and lecture, The NORSU Mechanical Engineering Students and faculty facilitated the registration of the attendees.

The Assembly were attended by PSME national officers from Manila, Cebu and Iloilo Engr. Renato A. Florencio-National President, Engr. Antonio Tompar-VP Internal, Engr. George Yurobe- VP Luzon, Engr. Ely S. Bagtasus-VP Visayas. One of the highlights of the assembly was the accreditation of the Chapter as CPE [Continuing Professional Education] provided, this will help all Mechanical Engineers in the Province in their license renewal. The Chapter will also assist the NORSU Mechanical Engineering Department on its programs.

Engr. Winston P. Grapa EVSAT HS’77-Chapter president, Engr. Renato S. Infante, Jr, pme. EVSAT HS’75-Assembly Chairman, Engr. Jonathan S. Aragones, pme EVSAT HS’75, Engr. Ferdinand A. Lantaca, Mr. Avelino R. Jumuad,Jr. cpm CVPC BSIT’92 and the NORSU 5th year ME and Faculty assist and provided help during the activities.

by: Engr. Renato S. Infante, Jr.

This was based on the 2009 Nurse Licensure Examinations (NLE), where 17 pioneering examinees from NORSU passed, giving the university an automatic 100 percent passing rate.

According to the announcement released by CHED, the top-performing schools offering BSN were rated based on the results of the recent NLE, with 40.70 percent national passing average set by the Professional Regulations Commission, while for those who got higher than the average was based from the school’s number of board takers.

For range three [those schools with 10 to 99 takers], NORSU Main Campus I shares the number one spot as top nursing performing school with Bukidnon State College-Malaybalay Campus and University of the Philippines-Manila Campus, both of which also acquired a 100 percent passing rate.

Meanwhile, Far Eastern University-Manila Campus topped the range one post [those schools with 1,000 and up takers] with 1, 982 passers out of 2, 656 takers or 74.62 passing rate. Whereas for range two [those schools with 100 to 999 takers], the number one top nursing school is Saint Paul University-Iloilo Campus who got a 100 percent passing rate.

In an interview, University President Henry A. Sojor said that the whole NORSU community is happy and proud of CHED’s announcement citing the university as one of the top performing nursing schools for range three.

“We are all happy and we are all proud of that achievement, and we directly give our appreciation to the College of Nursing [Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences (CNDPAHS)] faculty and staff and to the graduates themselves,” Sojor remarked.

“I believe in the potentials of every Norsunian [and] whether you are poor or rich, intelligence does not distinguish and that proves that even if Norsunians come from poor families, they have the intelligence and this intelligence can be shaped and developed in NORSU, and it is my hope as president in this university,” Sojor said.

Asked for her reaction, BSN freshman Lovely Angelith Unajan said that with that announcement, she is very proud of NORSU. She added that she decided to enroll in NORSU due to the school’s affordable tuition fee while enjoying a high standard instruction.

Having not seen the CNDPAHS’ equipment yet, she is optimistic that the college has enough facilities.

Another freshman BSN student Petty Juga Nacario echoed the same feeling, expressing her happiness for the pioneering nursing students who passed in the recent NLE.

Moreover, she hopes that the university will continue it’s excellence in bringing pride. “NORSU is very excellent in the field of nursing even if it’s a public school,” proving wrong the common notions of the public that once a school pays high, the standard is also high, said.

Student Government of Dumaguete City I President Mary Dawn Valencia expressed gratefulness for the said announcement. She added that the good news will encourage and inspire many students to enroll and to keep the good work, not just in BSN but also in all courses offered by NORSU.

(Source:  by: Ramie L. Bulaybulay, Jr. , The NORSUnian, The Official Weekly Student Publication of the Negros Oriental State University System, Main Campus, Dumaguete City)

The pioneering BS Nursing (BSN) and BS Pharmacy (BS Pharm) graduates of Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) registered an impressive performance in their respective licensure examinations after exceeding the national passing rate.

In a result released recently by the Professional Regulation Commission, NORSU obtained a 100 percent passing rate in the November 2009 Nurse Licensure Examination after all of its 17 BSN pioneering graduates successfully passed the exam. The said licensure examination has a 39.73 percent national passing rate with only 37,527 passers out of 94,462 examinees.

Meanwhile, in the January 2010 Pharmacist Licensure Examination, NORSU registered a 63 percent passing rate which is 20 percent higher than the national passing rate. Out of eight NORSU pioneering BS Pharm graduates, five passed. The national passing rate is 44 percent with 1, 091 takers and only 481 passers.

NORSU, as the newest pharmacy school in the Philippines, ranked third among the top performing pharmacy schools in the Visayan Region and eighth in the whole country, based on the overall performance in the Pharmacist Licensure Examination.

Beyond the expectations

University President Henry A. Sojor told The NORSUnian that he is an administrator who is very optimistic, but he admitted that he thought that the Norsunians who took the board examinations would only get a 50 percent passing rate or within the national passing average. “The results appear beyond my expectations as they are much higher than the national rating average,” he said.

Sojor credited the success to the strong quality faculty of College of Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Allied Health Sciences (CNDPAHS). “I’m a believer in quality faculty [and] only quality faculty can deliver quality instruction and that quality instruction is evident in the results of the licensure examinations of the pioneer graduates of BSN and BS Pharm,” Sojor said.

The university president further shared that he is happy upon knowing the results of the board examinations because according to him, he is responsible for the offering of BSN and BSPharm in NORSU.
Not an easy road

CNDPAHS Dean Dalisay Dumalag said that the road that the passers took was not an easy one because they had to undergo an in-house review facilitated by the CNDPAHS faculty plus an external formal review from an accredited review center held at Foundation University.

Dumalag added that since the external reviewers usually update the college about the performance of their students, they were able to know that their students were doing well because they usually topped the quizzes that the reviewers gave. They were also able to pinpoint those who performed weakly and call their attention to help them do well in the review.

Dumalag related that the college oversaw the welfare of the students physically, intellectually, and spiritually. She said that the college offered several masses for the graduates, and the students were also given a chance to draw-out their stress and anxieties during an activity that the college prepared.

The dean, on the other hand, shared that she was surprised with the performance of the Pharmacy graduates knowing that the licensure examination was really tough. According to her, even if the Pharmacy graduates only had two professors at the beginning of their study, they were still able to equip themselves with the needed armaments to pass the exam.

Pharmacy Department Chair Analiza Bais said that despite the lack of equipment of the department, the graduates were still able to pass. She admitted that they do not have one-eighth of the equipment required by the Commission on Higher Education.

Dumalag articulated that the outcome is a blessing to everyone. She added that it is the success of the college and of the people who worked hard for it.
A challenge and inspiration

“The results [of the recent board examinations] are a challenge to the graduating students [and] I am expecting topnotchers from them,” Sojor said when asked to give his message to the next batch of BSN and BS Pharm students who will be taking licensure examinations.

The university president also advised the newly licensed nurses and pharmacists of NORSU to be true to their profession and to use their profession as an instrument to serve God and the people.

CNDPAHS Governor Charlene Baldoman, commented that she is really happy with the result. She stated that the passers’ hard work will serve as a challenge and an inspiration to other students of their college and of the whole university.
Humble beginnings

BSN and BS Pharm courses are some of the new courses initially offered by NORSU in school year 2005-2006, a year after the university acquired its university status under the administration of Sojor.

Proud by the outcome of the licensure examination, Sojor recalled that when he came in NORSU, then Central Visayas Polytechnic College, there were only two courses offered by the college which were BS Industrial Technology and BS Industrial Education. The latter, according to him, was later on phased-out by the Department of Education because of its irrelevance.

“All these courses now that we have in the university are products of study, concern for the public, and hope that NORSU will be an instrument to improve the lives of people,” he pointed out.

“The poor can rise up through this university,” Sojor emphasized.

The university president reminded all Norsunians with his favorite line, “No person shall be denied the thrill of university life by reason of poverty; hence, poverty should not be a hindrance to success.”

“Their [Norsunians] future begins here and their future is shaped here and we will be building personalities and communities,” he stated.

(by Ramie L. Bulaybulay Jr. and Jonas B. Alcoriza; Source: http://www.thenorsunian.com)

Renato M. Infante Sr. (NOTS ‘55) receives an Outstanding NORSU Alumni Award in the field of Real Estate Development. He is a graduate of the then Negros Oriental Trade School (NOTS) in 1955. Roberto C. Atmosfera (NOTS ‘56) receives an Outstanding NORSU Alumni Award in the field of Business Education. He is a graduate of NOTS in 1956, high school valedictorian. Donald Fuentes Mascardo (CVPC ‘84) is recipient of this year’s Outstanding NORSU Alumni Award in the fi eld of Construction Technology. He is a high school graduate of the then Central Visayas Polytechnic College (CVPC). Julmar Shaun S. Toralde (CVPC ‘99) is recipient of outstanding NORSU Alumni Award in the field of Geothermal Engineering. He is a college graduate of CVPC, magna cum laude. He belongs to the first batch of graduates of BS in Geothermal Engineering.

Infante obtained his BS Architecture and Planning from Mapua Institute of Technology in 1962. He practiced his profession in the Manila area and at the US Naval Base in Subic Bay, Olangapo City. He worked in Riyadh in 1984-86. In 1988, he engaged himself in real estate development in Dumaguete City. After a brief stay in Toronto, Canada where his family had emigrated, he resumed his building, planning/designing/construction and supervision activities which included the Dumaguete City Hall Extension, the COSCA gymnasium, a commercial building, some lodging houses and residential houses. He constructed the NORSU Balay sa Alumni in 2005.

Atmosfera with an intense drive for advancement and achievement, set out for Manila and earned his BS Mechanical Engineering degree in 1961 at Mapua. He obtained MA Economics in 1969 and MBA at UP-Diliman, Quezon City in 1978. He then joined the corporate world. Since 1964, he had been in the academe, teaching fi rst at Central Philippine University, then De La Salle University, University of Asia and the Pacifi c, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Philippine Christian University, University of the East, and the National Institute for Business Administration in Pakistan. From 2000-07 he had been teaching at Wesleyan University, Manila. In 2007 he had been elected president of the University of Cabuyao in Cabuyao, Laguna.

Mascardo, initially intending to pursue electrical engineering courses, his studies were interrupted when he went to the USA in 1986. In 1989-1996, he worked with two geotechnical engineering consulting firms in California and Hawaii. He completed Applied Science courses on Construction Technology at the Air Force Community College in 2003 and Accounting at Delta College in 2004, and a BS in Organizational Behavior at the University of the Pacifi c in 2006. He has served in the US air Force Reserve for 20 years – which took him to different places in the world including a couple of humanitarian missions in Costa Rica and Belize in the Central America; and a 6-month deployment to Iraq in 2007-08 as Chief of Engineering Services. His background in construction technology (drafting, surveying, and material testing) contributed to his current work as an associate regional planner for transportation projects in San Joaquin County in California. He said he is thankful to the strong foundation that CVPC provided him in high school.

Toralde’s big break came at the end of 2005 when he became a trainee-engineer at the PNOC-EDC aerated fl uids geothermal drilling project in Leyte which used the innovative Weatherford aerated drilling system. The report on the operations which he co-authored and was read at the pressure drilling conference in Galvestone, Texas in March 2006 led to his introduction to International Geothermal Energy Circles and his employment with the Weatherford International Oil Service in Indonesia. To date, he has been involved in no less than 12 drilling operations, in such varied capacities as drilling program writer, data collator and analyzer and report writer, mud cap drilling field engineer in 2006; assistant drilling program supervisor in offshore and onshore drilling in 2007; and project engineer in no less than five drilling operations in Indonesia from 2006-2009.

(Source: 82nd Founders Day Newsletter)

Chair for this year’s celebration is Dr. Ma. Elsa Ilona A. Bulado, vice president for administration and special concerns. Her co-chair is Dr. Mary Evangeline F. Gajunera. The following are the activities of the six-day celebration:

In 1927, NORSU was then known as Negros Oriental Trade School (NOTS). In 1956, NOTS was changed to East Visayan School of Arts and Trades (EVSAT). In 1983, it became Central Visayas Polytechnic College (CVPC); and in 2004 it became NORSU, created through Republic Act 9299 on June 25, 2004. August 19, 2004 marked the day for the investiture of Dr. Henry A. Sojor as first president of NORSU.

(Source: 82nd Founders Day Newsletter)

Equipped with enough facilities to be a home, Balay sa Alumni Building now accommodates university visitors and visiting alumni.

According to NORSU Alumni Director Dr. Eulalia B. Ridad, the hotel type rooms in the second floor of Balay sa Alumni are perfect for visitors and alumni to stay whenever they come to visit the university and Dumaguete. He said that the air-conditioned luxury room is equipped with complete amenities like comfort room, television, telephone, and computer with internet connection. The other room is a dormitory type which could accommodate twelve persons.

NORSU Balay sa Alumni has been made available for guests since March 2008. For inquiries and reservation, you can call at (035) 422-0876 and (035) 225-9400 local 160.

(Source: Alumni Link Vol.X, No.1)