Last 17 February 2015, the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) faculty and staff submitted a letter to the Office of the Chancellor expressing their intent to conduct an internal search or self-determination process in choosing the new INSTAT director.

This process entailed internal evaluation and rigorous meetings that will determine the plans of the new director as INSTAT faces the challenges to come in pursuit of internationalization and addressing K-12 issues. After in-depth review, evaluation and insightful discussions, the incumbent director, Dr. Consorcia E. Reano or Ma’am Connie as fondly called by her colleagues, was endorsed by the faculty and staff of INSTAT for her second term. A formal request was then made and Chancellor Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr. approved of the endorsement and renewal of Dr. Reano as INSTAT Director for another three years.

Dr. Reano graduated BS Agriculture in 1979 and MS Agronomy in 1984 in UPLB. In 1986, she pursued PhD in Statistics with Plant Breeding as cognate under a joint program of UPLB and Iowa State University. Prior to joining INSTAT, Dr. Reaño served as researcher at the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) for several years. Her expertise both in the field of agriculture and in theoretical and applied statistics gained her numerous projects and awards. In 2008, she was awarded the CAS Outstanding Senior Faculty during the anniversary celebration of the college. Dr. Reano was also awarded with the 2011 UPLB Centennial Professorial Chair by the UPLB Administration. In 2013, The Crop Science Society of the Philippines, Inc. awarded Dr. Reano the 2013 CSSP Achievement Award in Teaching. Aside from her renewal as INSTAT’s director, Dr. Reano serves as an active member of the Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society of Agriculture, Philippines Statistical Association, Society for the Advancement of Breeding in Asia, CSSP and as statistician in numerous project such as Project SARAI and Coconut genomics. The faculty and staff of INSTAT is looking forward to working with Dr. Reano as the director for the next three years to further the achievement of INSTAT’s mission and vision. Truly, Dr. Reano’s reappointment as INSTAT’s director ensures a more productive and active research-oriented and extension services-geared institute.

~RTMarcelino