Dee on human ecology and geography

Dee

Aside from pursuing your doctoral degree, what did you do in the years after getting your bachelor’s degree?
I worked as a community organizer and environmental researcher of the Environmental Center of the Philippines from March 1981 to June 1982. This work exposed me to the different landscapes of development in ten provinces of the country. In July 1982-83, I worked as a technical consultant of the Planning Office of the Southern Luzon Polytechnic College – as part of the contract that I signed with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the government agency that provided me with a scholarship grant during my four-year stay in UPLB. In August 1983, I applied for admission to the MA program in Geography at the University of Hawaii. I got a scholarship from the East-West Center’s Environment and Policy Institute; it financed my MA in Geography which I finished in 1985. That year, I got married to Boy Nantes. I delivered my only daughter, Joey (Maria Josefa) on May 18, 1987.

Dee with her husband and daughter

I was hired by the Department of Geography in UP Diliman as a faculty member in 1986. I taught geography and social science courses and did research on a number of agrarian-related issues in Central Luzon for five years in UP Diliman. In 1992, I got a Fulbright scholarship grant and pursued my PhD in Geography in Rutgers University in New Jersey. I was finished with my academics and dissertation writing in 1997 but my family was not ready to go back to Pilipinas yet kasi napakaganda ng academic performance ng anak namin. I delayed my dissertation defense for two years para makompleto ng anak namin ang elementary education niya and to be able to stay legally in the US. In the meantime, I taught, as an instructor, in the Department of Geography in Rutgers and at the College of Human Ecology at the Douglass College. I also worked as a supervisor of the Learning Resource Center in Rutgers from 1995-1999. Yong office ko doon ang pinakamagandang office na naenjoy ko sa buong buhay ko – a corner room on the fourth floor, glass walls, ang ganda ng vista, yong pwedeng tirhan. Babaw ano? Then, I noticed that my daughter was becoming Americanized. I wanted her to know more of her roots so I yearned of coming home. I defended my dissertation and got my PhD in Geography in October of 1999. My daughter and I went home in October of 1999 and resumed my teaching in Diliman. My husband followed us a year after when he realized that I was really serious with my decision to live here permanently. Now my daughter is very Filipino in character, and yet with very noticeable traces of western influences. Regrets? Siguro meron noong una. During the first months of the year 2000, whenever we missed fresh milk, fruits and juices inside our refrigerator, at saka pera sa purse namin. Later on, wala ng regrets kasi, sanay na uli – we got used to having only what we need.

You were a human ecology major at UPLB. How come you are in field of Geography now? Can you tell us the connection?
The fields of Human Ecology and Geography are closely related. They look at the interrelationships between the physical/natural and cultural/human components of many different places on earth. Like other fields, these sets of knowledge help improve everyday human conditions.