Central Philippine University


College of Education Dean, Dr. Merle Junsay (left) with the College secretary Miss Joy Dugayo.

Between the closing and the opening of classes is an opportune time to listen to Dr. Merle Junsay, Dean of the College of Education. The young dean opened the conversation with her idea of the word “quality performance.” Borrowing from the English poet and social thinker, John Ruskin’s famous quote, “Quality performance is never an accident,” Dr. Junsay believed that quality is always a product of proper planning and skillful execution of tasks.

Dr. Junsay’s expertise in mathematics, and in education in general, is well manifested in the way she has lead her college to where it is now as inspired by the former deans of the college. She obtained her degree, Doctor in Philosophy in Science Education Major in Mathematics, from West Visayas State University in 2015, her Master in Education Major in Mathematics from U.P Visayas in 2011 and her Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics at Central Philippine University in 1994. Dr. Junsay is married to Engr. Radley John F. Junsay and they have a 3-year-old son, Juan Niño Francisco.

Dr. Junsay talked about the strategies and values which she uses in order to sustain quality of instruction which she used from her time as a faculty member and which she now shares with her faculty at the College of Education (CoEd). She has already proven that this quality principle is an edge in expanding and extending academic programs in the local and international markets.

In June, her college will open a new course, the Bachelor in Sports Match Analysis which will be offered particularly to Korean students and other international students who may be interested. Another breakthrough for the College is its Student Internship Abroad Program (SIAP). The CHED-approved program of the college opened its doors to international student teaching practice effective school year 2017-18. The first batch of students was sent to Vietnam in November 2017. This endeavor is the first of its kind in Western Visayas in Teacher Education. Moreover, the Greg Secker Foundation Educational Outreach in Lemery is a sterling project of CoEd for elementary pupils in Barangay Capiñahan, Lemery. In this outreach activity, Dr. Junsay sends out students of the College every other week to extend remedial instruction in mathematics and reading.

Under the management of Dr. Junsay, the College of Education has achieved the following: maintained Level 4 status for BSEd and BEEd programs; candidate status of its BSPEd program; and Level 4 status for both MAEd and EDd, the highest accreditation status that serves as a privilege for the college to offer transnational programs for CPU. Above all, the college can boast of its Center of Development (COD) status in Teacher Education effective May 2016 until December 2018.

Challenges for the vibrant and ambitious Dean have never hindered her to aim for quality in every aspect. In fact, another commitment she had with her faculty, staff, and students is to make CPU CoEd the Center for Inclusive Education (CIE) in Western Visayas in the near future.

Her mastery of what she is teaching is coupled with the Christian values she learned in CPU. Such include humility and sincerity on her job. This multi-awarded Math teacher is one of the best teachers in the subject area in CPU High School in 1999 until 2010. In 2008, she was awarded as the Most Outstanding Teacher in High School in Western Visayas by DepEd and PRISAAP.

For budding teachers she has this advice, “Love your work, love your students and be committed until the end. Master your craft and be the best teacher that you can be. Remember that you are a teacher and you influence lives. Wherever you go, be one.”

Dr. Junsay challenges her faculty, unit heads, as well as students to go out of their comfort zones and make a difference in the lives of others—to accomplish things whether they are requirements, or tools for development.

Again the amiable and dynamic Dean of the College of Education emphasized, “Quality is never an accident.”