Chair of the AIIAS Education Department, Dr. Arceli Rosario, has been appointed to the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) in Silang, Cavite, where she will serve as the university president beginning June 1, 2022.
Rosario has served at AIIAS for ten years, from June 2012 to May 2022, as a faculty and program director for the education department. She has served as chairperson of the department since June 2016. Rosario has also served as executive secretary and later president of the Asian Qualitative Research Association, an organization of over 2800 members. She co-edited the SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in the Asian Context, and has been an active presenter, qualitative research trainer, and has published extensively from her research. In addition, Dr. Rosario has conducted trainings for principals, led in the accreditation applications of the AIIAS Graduate School, and authored a 4-volume series of My Bible Treasures published by the Philippine Publishing house.
In her role at AIIAS, “Dr. Arceli” has enjoyed forming deep and lasting friendships; guiding students to “aha” moments; shaping Christian leaders, teachers, researchers; and inspiring colleagues and students to love God. She started the “God’s Food Basket” program, an inreach program to assure that students without adequate means are assured of food on their table week after week.
Rosario’s service as an educator began in 1983 as she was a teacher and registrar of Western Mindanao Academy. This was followed by other teaching and administrative work in the following places: Mindanao Mission Academy (1991-2000), Mountain View College (2000-2001), Mountain View College Academy (2001-2005), Mountain View College (2006-2010), and South Philippine Adventist College (2011-2012). Rosario concludes her ten years of service at AIIAS on May 31, 2022, when she and her husband Nimrod will begin their service on the AUP campus.
Rosario has found serving at AIIAS to be an enduring experience. “When I am at my office and the whole universe is seemingly quiet and at a standstill, I wait in that intense silence for the bursting of an idea. The most awaited moment comes when I find the word, the phrase, the sentence, or when an idea takes shape, most of the time crude and unformed, but at rare times, amazingly well-shapen and beautiful.” Rosario credits the nurturing environment of AIIAS for enabling her to grow as a Christian scholar and leader.
“Dr. Arceli is truly a symbol and an icon of Adventist Education, personifying E.G. White’s holistic education that is deeply rooted in the Bible and the ideals of our pioneers,” says Kenneth Swansi, dean of the AIIAS Graduate School. “Dr. Arceli is much loved by her students as mentor and friend, much respected by colleagues, for her scholarship and passion for teaching, and much admired by the academia in general, both in the Philippines and worldwide, as a champion of qualitative research. As you move to a higher call in God’s vineyard, as president of AUP, we wish you God’s richest blessings.”
“AIIAS is a place, but it is also an idea and an ideal that those who have been part of it carry with them wherever they go. I am not leaving AIIAS, I am taking it with me—its ideals, its spirit, its values, its people,” concludes Rosario. ”I take with me the memories, not as a dim and distant dream, but as a reality that is fresh and enduring. Those memories will cheer me on. I am not afraid, never will be, because I have seen what heaven is. Thank you for this gift.”
May God bless you in your new area of responsibility, Dr. Rosario!
— Sharnie Love Zamora, AIIAS Assistant for Institutional Writing
