UST College of Science academic staff Prof. Thomas Edison E. Dela Cruz, Dr. rer. nat., was appointed to represent science teachers at the Department of Education (DepEd) Teacher Education Council (TEC). He will serve a three-year term beginning February 2022.
Included in the functions of the TEC are formulating policies and standards for teacher education, reviewing curricula and programs for teacher training, adopting incentives for scholarship grants and other benefits to encourage more students to pursue teacher education, designing programs to enhance pre-service teacher training, in-service training, and teacher development, among many others.
Dela Cruz, who also teaches at the Graduate School and is a researcher at the UST Research Center for Natural and Applied Sciences (RCNAS), is a Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipino Teacher (2015). He was awarded The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Prize for Young Scientists in the Philippines – Biology in 2014 and the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Outstanding Young Scientist in the field of mycology in 2012. He has conducted research fellowships in Germany, Austria, China, and the US.
