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City of Batac—The Ilocos Region’s leading educational institution, Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), celebrated its 47th founding anniversary in a month-long celebration in January 2025 with the theme “Cultivating Minds, Transforming Futures.”
To kick off the celebration, MMSU held a motorcade at dawn on
January 6, the university's founding day, parading through the Batac to Paoay
route. This was followed by the opening of the Trade Fair and Garden Show at
the InnoTech Grounds.
“The 47th year of MMSU reflects our commitment and
dedication to shaping minds and transforming lives,” the university
officer-in-charge President Dr. Prima Fe R. Franco told the university
community during the opening ceremony.
During the month-long celebration, bloodletting, a national
research and development call with the Department of Science and Technology, a
motorcade of topnotchers and passers of licensure and bar examinations, and
business pitching were among the activities.
With the increase in MMSU students and employees engaging
internationally, the university featured their experiences through roundtable
discussions to inspire the community to engage with such opportunities through
the Academic and Professional Journey Across Cultures events.
One notable feature of the university’s foundation anniversary
celebration is a victory concert of Nasudi Chorale, MMSU’s homegrown
award-winning choir, which won the Sacred Choral Music Acapella Open Category
at the 13th World Choir Games in Auckland, New Zealand, in July
2024.
MMSU also held its 2nd MMSU Film Festival, featuring
award-winning films and alumni stories produced by students and employees. It
also premiered the “Arsi,” a biographical documentary film of its alumnus and
the National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
Moreover, alumni day, theater play, awarding ceremony for student
and employee achievers, retirees’ day, stakeholders’ forum, and alumni success
stories sharing were held as part of the foundation anniversary celebration.
As MMSU looks back on its milestones in 2024, Franco highlighted
during the University Convocation that the university continuously performs
well in national licensure examinations, with high passing rates and many
topnotchers.
“It reflects both the quality of MMSU graduates and the
effectiveness of our curriculum,” Dr. Franco remarked.
In 2024, MMSU produced 12 topnotchers in teacher education, food
technology, civil engineering, nursing, chemical engineering, and electronics
technician. Dee Vanna Galacgac is the leading topnotcher, as she ranked first
in the August 2024 Food Technologist Licensure Examination.
She also mentioned the achievements of various goals in research,
production, administration, infrastructure, and internalization.
MMSU attributes its achievements to its former seven university
presidents and administrators who molded the university, such as its immediate
past president Dr. Shirley Agrupis, now a commissioner at the Commission on
Higher Education.
As the university prepares to welcome its eighth president in the
upcoming weeks, Franco said MMSU will continue moving forward with confidence
and purpose.
“With the solid foundation laid by those who came before us and
the collective strength of the MMSU community, I am confident we will achieve
even more remarkable milestones,” she stressed.
The month-long celebration culminated through the Students’ Day
and concert, featuring Ilocano and Filipino Artists, including alternative band
The Ridleys, Unique Salonga, Magrus, Limitlezz, Vintage Core, Lavenders, and
Tihtus.
MMSU was founded on January 6, 1978 through Presidential Decree
No. 1279, issued by then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr..
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a global higher education network,
rates the university four stars out of five. (Edmar Delos Santos)