Dr. Jose L. Bacusmo, VSU President, whose first term of office will end on October 31, 2011, thanked the University officials and employees for their unconditional support to his administration in his message during the Annual Academic Convocation on July 12, 2011 at the jampacked VSU Gymnatorium.

President Bacusmo quoted what Henry Ford had said: “Coming together is a beginning, sticking together is progress, thinking together is unity, and working together is success.” He said that this quotation served as his yardstick in his more than three years of sincere and dedicated services as steward of the University.

“What we have accomplished through those years is important but is of less importance than the fact that through those years, you were with the administration. You contributed all what you can to make this University a better institution and this campus a better place for all of us to study, work and live. Let me thank you for all your support and enormous manifestation of understanding and unity,” the VSU President stressed.

The VSU President revealed that “There are good things that I as the University President conceived and implemented that are credited to other officials of the University while there are excellent things that other officials of this University conceived and implemented that are credited to me being the University President. On the average, it can be said that it is just fair.”

Dr. Bacusmo credited the success of his administration to the officials and employees of the VSU System who gave their unconditional support, dedication and sacrifices for the good of the University. He humbly recognized that a number of good ideas the other officials have thought of and implemented are expectedly several folds than that of his and most of those are wrongly attributed to him. “It is clearly not fair but thank you,” Dr. Bacusmo sincerely said.

“Let me therefore express my deep gratitude to our Vice Presidents for standing by me and giving their best to the University, our executive secretary who made sure that all documents I signed are in order, our BOR secretary, deans, directors, department heads and our administration officials for helping me institute improvements to our University. I really don’t know how to thank you enough,” he added. The humble and down-to-earth VSU President made it clear from the very beginning that during his presidency, “Status quo cannot persist and changes are inevitable, that it will not be business as usual but rather it has to be transformational.” Dr. Bacusmo acknowledged the full support extended to him by almost all VSU constituents who worked together to convert most of his promises into reality.

The President also laid down his accomplishments in the past 12 months and his future plans in the coming months or years. In Instruction, the VSU President happily announced that the combined students’ population (graduate, undergraduate, and high school) breached for the first time the 6,000 mark or 6,146 enrolled students to be exact.

Dr. Bacusmo also bared that during the VSU Grand Alumni Homecoming, he proposed three areas where VSU is strong and never be irrelevant to the country’s development—Agriculture and Natural Resources, Education, and Engineering.

Aside from the new curricular offering this semester, the BS in Mechanical Engineering, the president also revealed that new programs will be offered next semester. These are the BS in Meteorology and the TESDA Skills Training on welding, electrical, and heavy equipment operation. The president also reported the good performance of some VSU graduates in Board Examinations, which some of them landed in the top ten places. Likewise, he recognized the awards received by some faculty and students that brought honor to the University.

Dr. Bacusmo also announced that VSU is the only university in the country accorded with an institutional accreditation by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines, Inc. (AACCUP). Soon, the University will be submitting for the Institutional Monitoring and Evaluation for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (IQuAME) accreditation by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Dr. Bacusmo further said that a total of 1,237 students are enjoying scholarships, of whom 803 are VSU-funded scholars, while 434 are non-VSU funded.

In Research, the president enumerated some of the projects conducted by some VSU researchers that brought significant results and received several awards. The most prestigious awards received by VSU were: Tanglaw Award or Outstanding Research Institution Award given by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) to PhilRootcrops; the PANTAS Award (Research Administrator Category) given to him; and the PANTAS Award (Researcher/Scientist Category) given to Dr. Roberto C. Guarte.

Dr. Bacusmo also said that a huge project on Watershed R&D will soon be implemented with funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). He added that VSU just received the funding from GIZ-Germany of close to six million for two big projects on Large-Scale Composting and the project on Protected Cropping of Vegetables.

In Extension/Community Engagement, Dr. Bacusmo pointed out that some of the extension projects undertaken by the University resulted to abaca value chain improvement, promotion of low cost protected cropping technology, and adoption and expansion of promotion of the protected cropping technology. The President also mentioned that aside from the construction of the TechnoMart, the Technology Business Incubator will soon be erected with funding from the AGHAM Party-List Representative Angelo B. Palmones.

Other accomplishments revealed by the VSU President include: finalization of the Five-Year Strategic Plan of VSU; continuous improvement of the income generating projects; NBC implementation; secured eight new Instructor I positions from the DBM; conversion of 20 part-time instructors to regular faculty members on contractual status; 43 contractual faculty appointed on temporary status charged to regular item and no longer charged to lump sum; 14 faculty members who already met the minimum requirement for an Instructor I position as required by CHED officially granted plantilla items;

Increased the take home pay of par-time teachers; reduced the number of casual positions to almost comply with the official number as authorized by the DBM; facilitated the coverage of part-time teachers and Job Order employees with PhilHealth and GSIS accident insurances; expecting the final receipt and approval of additional ten (10) Instructor I positions and one (1) University Professor position from the DBM; increased and standardized the wages of Job Order employees based on their skills and qualifications effective this year;

Renovation and conversion of cottages vacated by some employees who retired to student dormitories; renovation of class rooms; expansion of OVPRE/ODREx Building and restoration of the main hall of the building to a big function hall; construction of sidewalks; construction of sea wall and river control with joint support from Cong. Jose Carlos L. Cari of the Fifth District of Leyte and Cong. Neil Montejo of An Waray Party-List; improvement of water supply, acquisition and repair of two generators from PCARRD; and transforming the campus into a clean and beautifully landscaped campus.

Future plans of the President include: embark on a 3-year improvement of the high school facilities; construction of a P30-million new Library Building which will be constructed in a vacant space west of Ilang-Ilang and Molave dormitories; possibility of constructing a large dormitory through a loan from DBP; restoration of the hydro-electric power plant; conversion of the water reservoir into an Olympic-size swimming pool; tapping more springs for adequate supply of water in the campus; and joint venture on tourism facility development.

Dr. Bacusmo concluded his message saying, that “There are many things that we need to undertake to make this University better. As president I can only achieve a little, but with you joining and helping we can accomplish a lot.”