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DANNY DEANO AND PHILIPPINE-BASED CLASS 67 MEMBERS MET WITH NEW DEAN OF UST COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY
by Danny Deano (as published in the December, 2006 Newsletter)

A contingent of Manila-based classmates, i.e. Neri Dimatulac-Santos, Hilda Teodoro-Rabago, Juliet Aliga-Yap and Menchie Buenviaje-Sarrosa and I met with the new Dean of UST College of Medicine and Surgery, Grace G. Gonzaga, M.D. (class '77 ). Because of the national holiday, the meeting was held at the Philippine Plaza Hotel. Our very hospitable Manila classmates feted me and the Dean to a lovely breakfast where we carried on some social pleasantries. I gave Dean Gonzaga several unique items from Chicago including a Chicago Bears football cap, a replica of the football jersey of Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher and a framed poster of the same.

As the Dean was at least 10 years younger than the rest of us, she requested to forego any address of respect on our part. She impressed me as very intelligent, friendly, very approachable and unassuming. She was a Rhodes scholar at Harvard and understands the many nuances pertaining to the functions of a foundation like ours. We also met with her husband who happens to be the chairman of the  Pathology Department.

As a group, we made it very clear to the Dean that our Foundation is committed to providing our Legacy with the financial support needed and that we all  desire its successful fruition if at all feasible.

I also made it clear to the Dean that I was there as an emissary to pave the way for more detailed talks with the members of the Legacy committee; that Nong Testa-Feliciano will meet with her before the end of the year and that there are IRS requirements that our Foundation has to fulfill.  

Dean Gonzaga acknowledged that she was aware of our situation and that she has been studying the matter very carefully and that there are certain major structural, construction and logistic issues that need to be resolved. She is hoping that she can have all the answers to our queries before long.

We all felt that our meeting with Dean Gonzaga was very successful in many respects.