...the Woodbury U Prez

UP grad becomes president of Woodbury University in California

 

July 4, 2012

GMA News

 

 

A Filipino international expert —  Dr. Luis Ma. Calingo — became the 13th president of Woodbury University, a private university in Burbank, California.

 

 

 

According to a news release on the Woodbury website, Calingo succeeded Kenneth Nielsen who will be retiring.

Calingo will be formally installed president of the 128-year-old university in a ceremony this October.

“Woodbury University is a place that believes the best way to predict your future is to create it. I am honored to lead Woodbury and to work with students, faculty, staff, and the community to honor this institution’s rich tradition of transforming lives through education, while embracing the many opportunities of tomorrow,” Calingo said.

Woodbury University said Calingo holds degrees from the US and the Philippines:

• a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh;
• an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh;
• a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines (UP), and
• a B.S. in industrial engineering from UP.

Woodbury described Calingo as an international expert in strategic planning and quality management, who has helped the governments of Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

 

He also helped establish quality assurance into the higher education systems of these countries.

 

"Dr. Calingo has made more than 80 intellectual contributions (including books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference presentations) and served as a reviewer for various scholarly journals and professional associations. He also wrote the first internationally distributed textbook in Asian business strategy, Strategic Management in the Asian Context," Woodbury said.

 

Calingo joins Woodbury from Dominican University, where he was executive vice president and chief academic officer since 2009. Earlier, he was dean of the university's School of Business and Leadership.

Before his stint at the Dominican University, he served as:

• dean of the Boler School of Business at John Carroll University in Cleveland;
• dean of the College of Business Administration;
• professor of international business at California State University, Long Beach;
• past chair of the California State University Association of Business Deans, and
• member of the Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

 

His professional interests include servant leadership, strategic planning, total quality management, and international business with a focus on Southeast Asia.

His biography on the Woodbury website said he has been married to his wife Gemeline for 31 years. They have three daughters, Ashley, Alexandra, and Arienne.

 

An article on Marinscope.com said Calingo was born in 1955 in Quezon City. He was the oldest child of Mariano and Lucia Calingo, both engineering graduates.

 

Calingo attended the University of Philippines High School and initially wanted to be an attorney. He created a church choir and was inclined toward Catholic social teaching.

 

In his teens, he protested the regime of then President Ferdinand Marcos and joined farmers, drivers and priests who marched on Plaza Miranda.

 

At UP, he helped organize farmer associations, build small-scale irrigation systems and mechanized farming.

 

He moved to the US in 1980 and then moved his family to Singapore in 1993, and became an academic force at the Nanyang Technological University.

 

In 1996, he returned to Fresno and took another leave to be Professor of International Management at the Monterey Institute business school. - VVP, GMA News