The UST Office of Public Affairs held a webinar titled, “Paper Trails: Effective Engagement Through Business Letter Writing,” on April 8, 2022, via Zoom. Former OPA Acting Director Asst. Prof. Virginia A. Sembrano served as the speaker.
Sembrano, who has almost 45 years of writing, administrative, and teaching experience, focused on answering three main questions during her discussion: (a) “What makes an effective business letter?” (b) “How is clarity achieved in a concise message?” and (c) “What specific protocols should be followed in business letter writing?”
Having been the Faculty of Engineering Secretary and Office of Public Affairs Assistant to the Director for Publication for many years, Sembrano’s valuable letter writing expertise was generously shared with the target participants. Over the course of the two-hour discussion, she constructively critiqued actual anonymized letter samples, demonstrated alternative phrasing for common errors, provided proper formats and specific examples for the types of business letters usually exchanged in a school setting, and discussed memoranda and related promotional materials.
OPA Director Asst. Prof. Joreen T. Rocamora, Ph.D., echoed the importance of clear and efficient business correspondence in her opening remarks, saying that, “Effective communication has always been a primary focus of the Office of Public Affairs… may we further ease connection and communication among our offices and work together to advance the synergy among the University units.”
Over 230 administrative and academic officials, faculty secretaries, support staff, and student organization officers attended the event.
