To gain first-hand experiences of the Cenphilian culture and to observe the best practices of the university, partners from the University of Tennessee (UT) visited Central Philippines State University (CPSU) – Main Campus.
Mr. Brian Flanagan, UT - Program Director, and Ms. Gracie Pekarcik, UT – Program Manager, met with university officials headed by University President Dr. Aladino C. Moraca, with the CPSU-ALOFT team members last July 25.
The sojourn was essential for the implementation of the five-year “Farmer-to-Farmer: Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow” project between the UT - Smith Center for International Agriculture and CPSU which “aims to engage youth in agriculture by providing needs-based capacity development to Philippine host-organizations through short-term technical exchanges with United States volunteers.”
The fruitful partnership of CPSU with Kansas State University (KSU) through KSU research professor, Dr. Manny Reyes throughout the recent years led to KSU recommending CPSU as a partner to the USAID-funded project. This project will hopefully deploy experts and volunteers from the US for technology-sharing endeavors.
After inspecting the existing project sites of the main campus. Mr. Flanagan and Ms. Pekarcik also visited to CPSU – Victorias to see the Mangrove Forest being actively nurtured by the university.