After being known as one of the biggest departments in the Visayas State University (VSU) - Main Campus under the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences (DLABS) officially split into two different departments last July 1.
Through the BOR Resolution No. 26, series of 2023, the DLABS was officially dissolved to form the Department of Arts, Languages, and Literature (DALL), which will handle the Language and Humanities section of the former department, and the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences (DPSS), who will take over the Social Sciences section.
The DPSS names former DLABS-head, Dr. Guiraldo C. Fernandez Jr. as its officer-in-charge Department Head, while Dr. Maria Vanessa Gabunada manages the DALL.
“This proposal was long overdue, it was first drafted in 2017… during the time in 2017, the proposal to split DLABS was not yet pushed through because the Social Sciences section did not have their [undergraduate] offering yet because during that time AB Philosophy was not yet approved. By the time AB Philosophy was approved and was offered, it was a very high time to separate the department,” Dr. Gabunada said.
In an interview with Amaranth, Dr. Gabunada also added the different advantages that this separation would give to DPSS and DALL.
"In doing so, under our several advantages, each department can have separate resources in terms of facilities… in terms of hiring more faculty members that would teach in social sciences and the languages, and to also hire more admin staff to help our regular [admin staff]," Dr. Gabunada added.
More curriculum efforts are also one of the benefits Dr. Gabunada expects as the two departments begin to stand on their own this academic year.
"Both have their offerings already and more curricular proposals. For DALL, we have AB Literature on the pipeline and also the Intensive English Program for Speakers of Other Languages (INEPSOL), that is to offer more programs and [to] enhance the department in terms of facilities and human workforce," Dr. Gabunada said.
Furthermore, she pointed out that DPSS and DALL have already begun hiring new part-time professors to serve both departments while occupying the same offices as before.
“Last June, we hired part-time instructors for DALL and DPSS, and these changes will go on until the department is here. But in terms of facilities like office space, we still occupy the same building kay wala pa may laing building for us. The Social Sciences (DPSS) people are staying on the left wing of the old department (DLABS) and the DALL faculty are staying on the right wing…” she explained.
Finally, Dr. Gabunada also disclosed that the proposal of DALL on offering a Bachelor of Arts in Literature program is currently in the works and has reached the level of the university curriculum review committee.