Wherever I am, the world comes after me. It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it. Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist. "The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver
Meet the New Dean @ UP Asian Center: Associate Professor Henelito Sevilla, Jr., PhD
Meet the New Dean @ UP Asian Center: Associate Professor Henelito Sevilla, Jr., PhD
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Associate Professor Dr. Henelito Sevilla, Jr. has been appointed Dean of the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman.
His appointment came through a Special Meeting held by the Board of Regents, the highest governing body of the university, on 20 August 2021, and was announced via Memorandum No OSU2021-01-16 (a) addressed to Chancellor Fidel R. Nemenzo.
Dean Sevilla obtained his BS International Relations from Mindanao State University in Marawi City, his Master in International Relations from the University of Shahid Beheshti in Iran, and his PhD in International Relations from the University of Tehran. Fluent in Farsi (Persian), he has been teaching at the Asian Center since 2008, handling all courses on West Asia and select courses on the international relations of the Philippines, particularly with Western Asia. He has also taught PS 264 (History and Development of Philippine Foreign Policy), PS 201 (The Philippines in the Asia-Pacific), and PS 282 (The Philippines in the Global South), among many others.
His research interests also cover the political economy of the Middle East, energy security in the Middle East and Asia, Persian Gulf security, and Middle Easterners in the Philippines. His recent publications include "Middle East Geopolitics and China-India Strategic Interaction in the New Era,” which appeared in the Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (2020). He also contributed a chapter, “Marginalization of Interests: The Case of Philippine-Middle East Relations” in International Studies in the Philippines: Mapping New Frontiers in Theory and Practice (Routledge 2020). He is also the author of, in 2015. "West Asian Communities in the Philippines: An Exploratory Study of Migrant Iranians, Jews, Arabs, and Turkish,” published Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia (2015). View his full profile.
As Dean, Dr. Sevilla succeeds Dr. Joefe Santarita, who served from 2015 to 2021, and takes up the top post after Professor Rolando Talampas' service as Officer-in-Charge of the UP Asian Center since May 2021. Dr. Sevilla will also co-chair in the Tri-College PhD Philippine Studies Council, alongside the deans of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and the College of Arts and Letters.
The UP Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.
