This year, FEATI University rolls out the red carpet for Commencement Speaker Dr. Corazon Pe Benito-Claudio, Chair/President of EARTH Institute Asia, Inc., a non-profit, non-governmental organization that addresses environment and sustainability issues affecting Asia.
In her advocacy for the environment and sustainable development, she has held various positions, such as, Senior Adviser, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Chair/President, GREEN Group Inc.; Senior Adviser and National Program Coordinator, US-ASEAN Environmental Improvement Program; National Focal Point of the Partnership for Environmental Management in Southeast Asian Seas, a regional program funded by the International Maritime Organization, UNDP, Global Environment Facility, and the Philippines and other countries; Project Director of a component of the Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategy Project (APEIS) funded by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies of Japan; Senior Consultant, Philippine Environmental Partnership Program (PEPP), DENR, funded by the US-Asia Environmental Partnership; and Senior Adviser on Environment and Sustainable Development, Pasig City.
Dr. Claudio has been involved also in information, education and communication, including chairing conferences and presenting papers in national and international conferences. Her first stint in the academe was soon after graduation in 1967, teaching physics at FEATI University, where she earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering, with distinction. Then she moved on to hold various teaching and administrative positions in the academe. She served the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (as President, Vice Chair of the Board and now Trustee); the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of the Philippines (as Professorial lecturer); and the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School of Business (as Case Research and Development Director and Professorial Lecturer, MBA-SEP Program), where she earned her Masters in Business Administration in 1974.
She also holds M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1987) in Engineering-Economic Systems from the School of Engineering of Stanford University, which features her in its website as one its distinguished alumni. Recently, Stanford nominated her to the Council of Graduate Schools as one of three outstanding alumni who have contributed to the public good. The Council is composed of 493 universities in the US, Canada and outside North America.
Her passions include writing and broadcasting. To date, she has written over 400 internationally and locally published papers on environment, sustainable development, energy, and other topics. She edited the photo book Our Environment Today, co-authored the reference book Sustainable Development: A Philippine Perspective, and served as regular or occasional columnist of the Business Star/Daily, Business World and Philippine Daily Inquirer. She is now the director and host of Kalikasan, Kaunlaran!, a top-rated weekly radio program co-produced by EARTH Asia Inc. and DZRH, in cooperation with MAP, GREEN Army, PBE, PEIA, PFST, AIJC, TOWNS and DENR. Her awards include the TOWNS (The Outstanding Women in the Nations Service) Award for S&T; DOST Balik Scientist Award; “Outstanding Foreign Student on S&T in the U.S. Fellowship” from the U.S. Institute of International Education; and “Socioeconomic Distinguished Service Award” from the National Association of Accountants in the US. Her fellowships and study grants include the UN Fellowship on Population Planning and Management, Ford Foundation Scholarship, International Leadership Scholarship from the U.S. Foreign Student Service Council, Ph.D. Research Grant from Stanford and Dissertation Grant from the US Electric Power Research Institute. She is featured in DiscoveryWorks (Houghton Mifflin Co., US, 2000), as a model Environmental Engineer; in Int’l. Env. Auditing (Gov’t. Institutes, US, 1998), as chapter author; and Promoting Environmental Sustainability in Dev.: An Evaluation of the World Bank’s Performance, as member of the Asia-Pacific evaluation team.
In recognition of her achievements and for her contributions to society, she was named one of the Outstanding Alumni of FEATI University on the occasion of the University’s 60th anniversary in 2006.
Her advocacy for sustainable development and her passion to serve the poor undoubtedly have their roots in her childhood spent in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija which had no electricity then. As such (in her own words), she has “internalized the process of development”. The main subject of her development work is the indigenous people. She developed and now directs the Kalinga Para sa Aeta project which has built an eco-village for Aetas in Bamban, Tarlac with the support of donors, mainly Kaisa, MAP, TOWNSEARTH and Gawad Kalinga.
Despite her work and accomplishments, she finds time for photography, painting, badminton, swimming, snorkeling, spelunking and eco-touring while being a “single mother now to [daughter] Lizette, Artist and Media Relations Manager of MTV Philippines and [to son] Toby, VP for Operations of Toby's Sports, and his wife, Dr. Babes”. She is also a grandmother to Migo, son of Toby and Dr. Babes.
In her life’s journey, Dr. Claudio has, indeed, defied the odds and in doing so, fulfilled her dreams in the most remarkable way.
