A Cup of Coffee with Sir Chito Tanchoco

Hi Sir, you are currently a faculty member of JGSOM, what subjects are you currently teaching?

POM105, POM102, DEC100. Currently, there are still some M.E. students in my classes.

How long have you been teaching in JGSOM?

I’ve been teaching as a full time faculty member since 2002.

How did you get into teaching?

Truthfully, I’ve been teaching ever since I graduated. Back then it was only a part-time option. If I think about it now, teaching was somewhat ingrained into me. Even when I was in college, I was already doing some private tutoring for other students. Aside from that, I recall that some of my brothers also ended up as teaching at some point of their lives. I guess you could say that I always like teaching.

You were the former M.E. program director before our beloved Sir Aly. How long did you hold this position?

Actually, I first came in as the chair of the Q.M.I.T department. About a year later, I was assigned to be the M.E. program director. In both instances, the previous heads went on leave. So from then, until last school year, I was the director.

How has M.E. changed throughout your involvement with the program?

When I first came in, it was already adjusted as a four year program (it was previously a five year course). From what I can recall, the program had two major changes under my time. First change was the introduction of the “super project.” To put it simply, it linked several major subjects that had to do with operations research and management in business. The problem before was that the perspective of the former project was too small and was not “looking at the big picture.” So the “super project” is now a project in which you make use of LS125, POM105 and QMT129 in analyzing a real business. The second major change that happened was the shift from STAT109 to QMT109. Basically we wanted to teach the students how to apply their knowledge of statistics in business and operations.

Another alteration during my directorship was the introduction of the “no-F rule” and the “only one D rule” for all subjects. Previously, it was just for majors but it is now for ALL subjects (core & major). This was due to some students who were “trading off” their core subjects and focusing their efforts on majors only. M.E. students are supposed to do well in all subjects, regardless of whether it is a core or major subject. Management Engineering students are of the top 15% in their batch, based on the ACET, as such they should continue to pursue excellence in their studies.

How do you view or treat M.E. students compared to other SOM students?

I’d like to think that I don’t treat them differently. I’ll admit though that I probably subconsciously push them harder as I expect more from them.

Any memorable experiences?

None that I can recall of as of now.

Is there anything in particular that you’d like to point out about how students have changed through the years?

I might be biased in saying this but I think students are slacking off more than before. It is probably due to more distractions being made available to them these days (ex: Facebook). Parang mas nagmamadali yung mga students ngayon.

How about advice? Warnings?

In a “survival” perspective, I’ll repeat the advice I’ve given to all freshmen talk: that survival in M.E. and in real life is determined by three things: focus, time management and discipline. To lessen the scare, I just want to remind everyone of the “SMEG-sem” which is 3rd year summer and 1st semester. After that, you shouldn’t have much difficulty staying in the program.

You’ve seen many successful M.E. students graduate, what expectations can you share for those who are still in M.E.?

M.E. celebrated its 40th anniversary of the first graduates in 2009 (last year). Over the years, M.E. graduates have established the reputation of the program in industry. Many of those graduates have held or currently hold senior leadership positions in industry. To put it simply, M.E. provides graduates with a lot of opportunities. Even now many high level managers have a small bias for M.E. graduates as they are known to be dependable and hardworking people. Think about it this way, given that the boss of a corporation was an M.E. graduate, he/she would like to believe that a fresh M.E. graduate has what it takes to succeed in his company. The challenge now is to live up to those expectations.

If you won the mega-lotto today, what would you do?

If I won the lotto (approximately 600M on the date of interview) now, I think I’d retire already. I would also go abroad and explore places while my aging knees can still handle it. Maybe I’ll spend time writing, on whatever I set my mind to. Aside from that, nothing else comes to mind right now.