April 22, 2025
The College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) held a Seminar-Workshop on Community Resilience Strengthening through Effective Engagement in Communication yesterday, April 22, 2025, bringing together BA Communication students, CAH faculty and staff, and a distinguished guest expert to expound the role of communication in building resilient communities.
The event featured Dr. Robert Alexander, an Independent Research Scholar and Director of Rural Livelihood Risk Management Consulting, who shared insightful perspectives on principles of community resilience, strategies for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, approaches for resilience-building, tools and technologies for crisis communication, and actionable plans to enhance community resilience.ย
In her opening message, Dr. Mariel R. Estrella, Dean of the CAH, ย emphasized the event's significance and viewed it as an opportunity to break barriers and forge partnerships, encouraging students to step forward as catalysts of change in their communities.
Thus, participants actively engaged in the learning sessions and dialogues that connected theory and practice in the context of real-world challenges. They also immersed in workshop sessions like the Knowledge Co-Creation of Locally Relevant Messages, where they crafted key messages reflective of the event's topic, and Arts for Participatory Communication, where their talents in poem, songwriting, visual arts, and theatre served as a platform for relaying their advocacies.ย
Meanwhile, Dr. Michael A. Clores, Vice President for Academic Affairs, highlighted that "resilience is not just an aspiration, but a necessity," noting that the event serves as an avenue for students to learn the art of effective communication, which was supported by Dr. Raul G. Bradecina, Vice President for Research, Extension, and Knowledge Management, underscoring the seminar-workshop's role in promoting sustainable development, particularly in helping contextualize response preparedness and reinforce socioecological resilience.
In conclusion, the participants said the activity was "a blessing in disguise," where they learned valuable inputs from Dr. Alexander while boosting their creativity and communication skills, which they can apply in real-life settings.ย
This initiative links academic excellence and civic responsibility, underscoring the vital role of education in empowering future communicators to become agents of resilience and promoting sustainable communities.ย
