In Focus: Asuncion K. Raymundo (Original Varonettes ’63)

AKR

Cion

She is known as just plain Cion to all Varrons and friends. To her professional colleagues in the university, she is simply known as AKR, not out of disrespect but because her initials carry a lot of credibility, respect, recognition, and professional authority.

If we have to describe Cion or AKR (whichever you prefer is fine with her) in one word, “Academician” will sum it all. She fits the description to the T and her credentials say it all. Consider these facts: she is an elected member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in the Philippines, she is an internationally recognized in the fields of Microbial Genetics, Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, and she is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), UP Los Baños. This is a great feat for one of the Original Varronettes’62, the women’s group who shared the same academic visions as their male counterparts when the UP Varrons was founded.

When the UP Varrons awarded her the “Outstanding Alumni Award in Academics” in 1972 (just ten years from the founding of the organization), it was a foreboding recognition by the members at that time because numerous awards were given to her since then (see inset box in the last page). And this year, as the UP Varrons approaches its 45th anniversary, she is being recognized university wide, by the UP Alumni Association no less, as one of its recipients of Outstanding Professional Award in the area of microbiology.

In nominating Cion for the UPAA Alumni Award for Professionals, Dr. Cleofas Cervacia, Director of the Institute of Biological Sciences, said of her, in what could be called a “Portrait of a Scientist as Filipino”:

AKR with MBB trainees

Cion with some of the Molecular Biology trainees at the Institute of Biological Sciences, UP Los Baños.

“Dean Raymundo’s championing the cause of microbiology education, especially of microbial genetics, in Philippine schools, is just as significant in impact. It resonates with the emergence of biotechnology as a leading form of high technology in the world of the 21st century, an event which will require extensive familiarity with and numerous specialists in the discipline if the country is to become competitive with the rest of the world.

“At a time when specialists in her sophisticated, highly technical field are deserting the country in droves, blaming, among other things the lack of facilities, Dean Raymundo, who has steadfastly refused tempting offers to move abroad, has instead chosen to build the foundation of microbial genetics and molecular biology in the Philippines and contribute to the advancement of the discipline and help the country through her work, the impact of which is both far-reaching and will reach long into the future.”

Last Updated on October 12, 2016 by Tudla_Admin