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Pinoy Abroad

Fil-Am UP grad is new Seton Hall University president


Filipino-American Dr. A. Gabriel Esteban was installed as president of Seton Hall University (SHU) in the United States, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. Esteban was appointed as the first Fil-Am and first Asian-American president of the 155-year-old Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey in January this year but was installed only last October 14. In a news release, the DFA said Esteban is also the university's first lay president in a generation. Esteban was born in the Philippines and graduated from the University of the Philippines, where he earned two degrees: Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Master in Business Administration. Esteban also received a doctorate in administration from the Graduate School of Management of the University of California at Irvine and a master of science in Japanese business studies from Chaminade University in Honolulu. He also received specialized training in leading transformation and change at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education In his investiture address, Esteban narrated the personal and professional journeys that brought him to SHU. He also challenged the university to continue to "promote understanding of its rich Catholic intellectual tradition and to encourage deepening of faith among the members of the university community." During the investiture ceremony, the Philippine flag was paraded along with the US flag and the banners of Seton Hall University and its various schools and colleges. Filipino-American students belonging to the Filipino League at Seton Hall also sang the Philippine national anthem. During the giving of gifts to Esteban, Newark Archbishop John Myers, Seton Hall's board of trustees chairman and president of the board of regents, presented him with a Bible printed in Tagalog. The Philippine Consulate General to New York said in a news release, "As president of the university, he has set the goal of raising 'Seton Hall's academic profile to rank among the top 10 Catholic universities and top 100 national universities among college-bound high school students' in the U.S. by the next decade." As president, Esteban oversees more than 900 faculty, and 1,800 employees and nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia Jr. and Philippine Consul General to New York Mario de Leon Jr. attended the installation rites for Esteban. "This is a historic day for Seton Hall University. Dr. Esteban has brought a big honor for the whole Filipino-American community, especially given the fact that his investiture coincides with the celebration this October of the Filipino-American History Month in the U.S." Cuisia said. De Leon, whose consular jurisdiction includes New Jersey, described Esteban as a "great inspiration to Filipino Americans." "His accomplishment as the first Filipino-American to become a president of a major U.S. university - and of the very prestigious Seton Hall University at that - should bode well for our community," he said. A good strategist According to his biography posted on the SHU website, Esteban spearheaded the University’s strategic planning and campus master plan initiatives. Before assuming leadership positions at Seton Hall, among the positions that Esteban held were:

  • provost and dean of faculty at The University of Central Arkansas;
  • dean of the College of Business and tenured professor of marketing at the University of Central Arkansas;
  • chairman of the Conway (Arkansas) Area Chamber of Commerce and of the Women’s Shelter for Central Arkansas;
  • associate vice president of academic affairs at Arkansas Tech University;
  • assistant professor at the University of Houston-Victoria.
  • fulltime instructor at the College of Business Administration of the University of the Philippines. SHU said Esteban also served American higher education in various national roles, including membership on the Accreditation Review Council of the Higher Learning Commission and work as team chair and consultant-evaluator. Seton Hall Seton Hall's 58-acre campus is located in South Orange, New Jersey, about 30 minutes away by train from New York. SHU is home to eight schools, over 60 majors and about 10,000 students. SHU was founded in 1856 by Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and is the oldest US diocesan university under the Archdiocese of Newark. - RJMD/VVP, GMA News