Dr. Diego Maranan is the new Dean of FICS

Dr. Diego Silang S. Maranan, the former Officer-in-Charge (OIC) for the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) and Program Chair for the Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Studies, is the new Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) effective 1 April 2022.

As Dean, Dr. Maranan has his strategic proposals for teaching, research, administration, and extension at the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) and UP Open University (UPOU). 

With over 17 years of working experience in arts-driven groups, technology companies, and social justice organizations locally particularly with the International non-profit organization named Space Ecologies Art and Design (SEADS), and the All-UP Academic Union of UPOU, Dr. Maranan is equipped with the skills in helping diverse groups of people from different disciplines find common ground. As Dean, Dr. Maranan seeks to flatten hierarchies whenever possible and desirable and create opportunities for members of staff of the FICS to freely share their thoughts and ideas.  

In terms of administration, Dr. Maranan proposed the approach that would be aligned with UPOU’s strategic thrusts in Participatory Administration and Governance (eFA3.0, CARE UPOU, and TAYO). 

Dr. Maranan recognizes the importance of work-life balance, and encourages and supports opportunities for rest and recovery. Part of his plan is to support employees’ physical and mental well-being by modeling, setting and respecting boundaries between work and personal hours. 

Dr. Maranan goals in terms of teaching is to review and potentially improve the FICS’s existing systems to provide the best quality education and learning experience for students by finding ways to turn weaknesses and constraints into opportunities. Adding to this, Dr. Maranan would like to explore the possibility of partnership with other institutions that can provide professional internships or community engagement opportunities for students in order to enhance their learning experience and help them with career opportunities. 

Using his experience as the BAMS Program Chair, Dr. Maranan plans to optimize and innovate FICS’s existing processes and systems in place to improve students’ learning experience, as aligned with UPOU’s commitment to quality assurance. 

Dr. Maranan will  continue the extension projects organized by FICS such as the Blood Donation Drive, FICS Masterclass sessions, Workshops and MeetUPs. In the construction of UPOU’s student organizations, Dr. Maranan sees this as an opportunity for FICS faculty advisers to collaborate to enact public service projects.  

With a background in transdisciplinary research, as Dean, Dr. Maranan would proactively be involved in improving the quality of the research environment not only for FICS faculty and staff, but also for students. His plan is to make sure that students have opportunities to be involved more actively in the research productivity of faculty and staff through different strategies. Other than this, Dr. Maranan considers having an abundance of facilities and redesigning or sustaining work spaces of all forms, ranging from purely virtual platforms to hybrid arrangements supported by brick-and-mortar facilities.  

Lastly, Dr. Maranan encourages not only the FICS community but the UPOU community to increase their research outputs’ visibility through the use of the UPOU Repository which is designed and co-developed by him. The goal of the UPOU Repository is to establish UPOU as a digital-first research institution that generates and co-creates knowledge for the public good. The research work of faculty members and REPS’ as well as students’ special project reports, theses and dissertations can gain global online visibility.   

Dr. Maranan’s term as Dean of FICS is effective from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2025. He succeeded Dr. Alexander G. Flor, the former Dean of FICS who served from 2004 to 2022.