Greet UPLB students again this holiday season

On December 25, January 1, and February 14, we will deliver your holiday messages to any UPLB student! Messages will be collected starting December 20-24, December 30-January 1, and February 11-14. Messages will be delivered via SMS on December 25, January 1, and February 14, respectively.

Services such as this may be out of hand but rest assured that what we do at OSA undergo careful planning and development. This service is used by COMMIT to test our SMS facility. During the initial implementation last Christmas and last New Year, we tested the capability of our facility to send scheduled SMS. We stressed test our facility too during the Valentine season.

This time, we are testing our system for custom keywords. Each student has been assigned a unique holiday SMS keyword so that they can receive greetings from anyone without revealing their mobile numbers. At the same time, identities of the senders will never be disclosed.

Read More

17 types of photos you shouldn't upload

Profile pictures have evolved on social media throughout the years, from bad paid-for photos and poorly taken selfies to photos taken by photographers.

But unlike other social networking sites, OSAM profiles are official university records. While students who fail to follow directions make us frown, seeing the following photos somehow make us smile, laugh, and sometimes giggle. We now present these photos that will hopefully help students upload valid photos in the OSAM System.

1. The Groupie

  

A groupie is a selfie taken with a group of people. It’s basically a group selfie. Although we like the fact that you have friends whom you take your photos with, we encourage you to use a photo with only you in it.

2.  Defying Gravity

  

Trying to bend the laws of Physics? We know you’re not actually upside down while taking this photo. If you were, we would like to request that you show some respect to Earth’s mass and your distance from the center of the Earth. Thank you.

3. The Doppleganger

  

We get it, you look good. But seeing you twice, or more, is creepy and is considered bad luck.

4. Photoshop Level: Expert

 

This also applies to Instagram, Retrica, and other apps you use for editing photos. Why not let your true beauty shine? Go au naturel when uploading your profile picture. Also, avoid cropping/stretching or adding unnecessary elements to your photo.

5. The Pa-cute Angle

 

Yes, we know that photogenic people know the angle that works best for them. But we prefer a standard close-up shot (shoulder level up to tip of hair), with the student directly facing the camera in a normal angle with a neutral facial expression.

6. The Nearsighted

 

Close-up shots should not be taken literally! Keep your shoulders in the photo. Also, keep in mind that the photo must be square and must be at least 200x200 pixels.

7. The Farsighted

 

Oh, don’t use photos that include the rest of your body parts. Your good looking face and shoulders will do just fine.

8. Caution: Beware of Hands

 

Another reminder for stray hands and other body parts!

9. Pic-ception

 

Taking a photo of a photo won't do the trick. We need you to upload a photo of yourself!

Read More

Have your very own laptop in just five months

Planning to get a laptop? The university can help you earn money while you’re still taking your bachelor's degree.

By being a student assistant here in the university, you can earn as much as Php 18,000 per semester. If you don’t know where to work yet, check the list of vacant SA positions at www.uplbosa.org/jobs. Vacant positions are removed from the list automatically whenever a student assistant applies.

Read More

Blood Donor Database

Blood is vital to life. About 1 person in 30 people donate blood, but 1 in 3 people will need blood in their lifetime. In partnership with the Red Cross Youth of UPLB, OSA COMMIT created the Blood Donor Database.

Read More

10 features to expect in the new OSAM System

The new version of the OSAM System is coming very soon! Thanks for all the feedback you sent us since 2013. The Communication and Information Technology (COMMIT) is still working on the new system but here's what to expect:

Read More

SMS announcements from OSA

To receive the latest announcements from OSA, students are advised to update their OSAM profiles regularly. This means that the students must login to their OSAM accounts at www.uplbosa.org, go to OSAM Profile, and update the details in the OSAM Profile.

At the same time, students are advised to use a supported mobile carrier. Currently, Globe Telecom has partnered with OSA to send SMS to students. Thus, OSA advises students to use either a Globe or Touch Mobile SIM card. More than half of the UPLB students are using a Globe/TM SIM card.

The Communication and Information Technology (COMMIT) is in charge of sending SMS announcements to students. COMMIT has prepared a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding this service:

Read More

AlmOSAlan Registration

The UPLB Office of Student Affairs, in coordination with the University Student Council, will conduct the annual almOSAlan event to welcome the new freshmen to the University on August 11, 2014 (Monday). AlmOSAlan is a welcoming breakfast program made possible through volunteer student organizations who dedicated time and effort to serve food, drinks, and sometimes, even give freebies!

The AlmOSAlan is one of the activities that helps make new students feel at home while they adjust to the Elbi environment. With the help of their fellow Isko and Iska, different kinds of food and drinks will be served to the new students to promote camaraderie and build trust.

Student organizations including new organizations and existing organizations not recognized in the previous academic year may register! To register, students must login to www.soadosa.org, go to My Forms -> AlmOSAlan Registration.

Photo by lesleychoa

Read More

SOAD opens additional Campus Tour volunteer slots

SOAD wants to put up water stations during the Campus Tour. However, SOAD needs 30 empty (and clean) 5-gallon blue water containers similar to the image at the right. Campus Tour volunteer slots will be opened for the first 30 students who will lend a container.

Students may bring the containers to SOAD starting August 7 (Thursday) at 8AM. Volunteer slots will be given on a first come, first served basis. Students should bring their UPLB ID or any other valid ID plus Form 5.

Read More

OrgsUP is shutting down soon but it's for the best.

After three years of service to the student organizations, we have decided it's time for us to start saying goodbye to OrgsUP. Two years ago, OrgsUP gave birth to the OSAM System which now covers the automation of services in other OSA divisions.

While we truly appreciate the value of OrgsUP and how it has served as keystone of the OSAM System, we have decided to focus all our energy and resources on making the OSAM System as awesome as possible!

We are not abolishing student organizations from the university, definitely not! We are just integrating OrgsUP to the new version of the OSAM System. This allows us to concentrate our support services as we have a dedicated team developing and maintaining the OSAM System. We assure you that the new system will be more awesome than ever.

Read More

Campus Tour Volunteer registration starts today.

Due to Typhoon Glenda, UPLB servers are still down at the moment so users will not be able to login to OrgsUP and the OSAM System using their SystemOne accounts. A lot of places in Los Baños still do not have power supply and Internet access too. Since we do not want to move the Campus Tour volunteer registration again, we have decided to open the registration via SMS.

Using the mobile numbers registered by students in OrgsUP/OSAM System, students will be able to sign up by texting CAMPUSTOUR to 09176923500 starting at 9PM today (July 24, 2014). To give everyone a chance to sign up, 140 slots will be opened each day at 9PM until July 26, 2014. A total of 420 volunteers may sign up.

NOTE: Please allot up to 10 minutes for a reply from OSA. Text only once. You may be blocked by the system automatically if you flood the OSA mobile gateway.

SystemOne is now online. Registration via SMS has been disabled. To volunteer, login to www.soadosa.org, go to My Forms -> Campus Tour Volunteer Registration.

Read More

Online Campus Tour Volunteer and almOSAlan Registration Postponed

Typhoon Glenda has severely damaged a lot of things in the University. Power, water, Internet, and mobile services have not yet been fully restored in UPLB and in the nearby communities. Thus, we had to reschedule some of our activities.

Since a lot of students still do not have electricity and access to the Internet, the Online Campus Tour Volunteer Registration and the Online almOSAlan Registration have been rescheduled to July 24-26, 2014 (140 slots will be opened daily at 9PM).

Read More

Unofficial Course Offerings for First Semester AY 2014-2015

Yes, this is how it looked like in 1946.

Plan ahead what you want to see in your Form 5. This is a partial and unofficial list of course offerings for First Semester AY 2014-2015. Nothing is final yet though especially the professors teaching the courses. Just enter a course code and click Search.

Stop using Paint, Excel, or Notepad for your Dream Schedule. Use something cooler like Scheda.js!

Read More

Classes will start on August 11

Whether you like it or not, the four-month vacation is almost over. Now is the time to start your back-to school ritual. Condition yourself to start sleeping and waking up early. You should probably try to recall how to read scholarly articles, write meaningful essays, divide fractions, and solve real-world problems using equations.

Now is also the time to recall your SystemOne/OSAM username and password. We now also have the UP Mail Account which has a password you have to remember too. Do you still have a place to stay in UPLB? You may want to come back very soon because the new freshmen enrollment happened a few weeks ago - you don't want them taking your dream home from you!

Read More

Study Hub Hunt in Elbi

As the midterm exams are fast approaching, you might want to find a cozy place to write your papers, conduct meetings, and study for the first wave of exams this summer. Pressured? Fear not because here’s our review of six study hubs near the campus.

CIA reviewed them according to affordability, ambiance, availability of Wi-Fi, quietness, and business hours.

McDonald's

Most of us might have already dined at this affordable fast food restaurant not just to have a quick meal but to conduct group meetings or study sessions. This 24-hour “study hub” offers food and beverages ranging from as low as P25 to P172, and since this is basically a diner, don't expect that it’s gonna be quiet. So to keep your head cool while studying, you might want to enjoy a McFloat or a sundae with friends.

Read More

UPLB's Got Talent 2014 (Top 40 Talents in UPLB)

We asked over 13,000 UPLB students what their talents are. Some students are asking why we need this information. Some even argue that they don't have talents. Well, we ask this because we know how talented UPLB students are and we want to get to know them better. At the same time, we use our talent database to give opportunities to students so they can bring their intangible assets into play.

In the past, we've asked students to showcase their talents by performing during university events. These performances range from singing, dancing, acting, stand-up comedy, and even staged surprise performances. Last year, we looked for potential Communication and Infotech Assistants (CIA) in the talent database. These students are now getting paid to write articles and develop components of the OSAM System for us.

Here are the Top 10 Most Popular Talents in UPLB:

Rank	Talent	Frequency (N=13130)
1	singing	26.87%
2	dancing	21.71%
3	drawing	10.26%
4	writing	8.21%
5	acting	5.40%
6	playing basketball	2.85%
7	cooking	2.73%
8	musically inclined	2.48%
9	playing the piano	2.43%
10	public speaking	2.12%

The complete list of the 40 most popular talents of UPLB students form the UPLB-shaped visual representation below:

Surprisingly, sleeping has gained so much popularity that it's now a popular talent among UPLB students.

While we were tabulating and looking for trends in the talent database, we couldn't help but notice some unpopular talents that are worth mentioning. Here are 15 of these talents:

We don't really know how you do these especially fixing a broken heart and competitive eating but thank you UPLB students for sharing this with OSA. We hope that you would continue to hone your talents so you can use them to better serve the Filipino people.

And we apologize for deceiving you, there is no OSA-hosted talent show just yet. But feel free to let us know in the comments if you want us to host something like this!

Read More

5 Reasons Why You Should Vote in the UPLB USC-CSC Elections

For the past couple of weeks, our classes have been visited by familiar colors and faces for one reason: to campaign. The student council election is coming!

University and college student council candidates have been consistent and insistent in making us remember their names, faces, credentials, and colors, encouraging everyone to vote for them.

Aside from supporting your friends and earning incentives on some subjects, here are five reasons why you should vote on February 19 and 20, 2014.

1. Voting is not just a right, it is a responsibility. As students of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, it is one of our responsibilities to choose reliable student leaders who are bold enough to raise our concerns, fight for our student rights, and represent the student body. Good governance starts from good decisions and responsible actions. If you are a responsible and sensible UPLB student, vote!

Read More

What's Up this February Fair?

Activities of student organizations featured in this article are based on the activity permits processed by the Student Organizations and Activities Division.

The 2014 UPLB February Fair is here with the theme Youth Revolution: Advancing our Unified Call for Social Change. The event aims to educate the sectors not only of UPLB but also the surrounding communities about the present social issues, importance of collective leadership in instilling nationalistic values, and the democratic rights, we, as a people have to assert to gain genuine social change.

Every year, the UPLB community looks forward to the events in Feb Fair. What’s in store for us this year?

photo from UPLB Feb Fair 2013 Facebook page

Isko't Iskas love their music. This year, over twenty musical acts will perform in the fair. Watch out for Up Dharma Down, Callalily, Sandwich, Imago, and indie bands like Penguin, Maude, and Hidden Nikki. Hip hop listeners will be buzzed to see artists like JLP, Gnarrate, Protege, and Zaito. Watch out for the special performances by Theater Horse and UPLB’s very own Kairos Band. This year’s special guest is political activist Juana Change. On Valentine’s day, be ready to rock on to Rock United, a concert organized by The UPLB Jocks. The UPLB Development Communicators' Society will also hold their annual Star in Carillon singing contest. Indeed, 2014 February Fair is the ultimate concert experience!

The much anticipated pageant is here! On February 12 and 14, watch the Gorgeous 2014: Classy, Stunning, Empowered of the UPLB Nexus Filiae Sorority. Sixteen beautiful ladies from various student organizations and sororities in the university will battle it out on the stage to be crowned the next Gorgeous.

Read More

Greet any UPLB student this Valentine season!

You heard it right. We'll let you text using our SMS facility again this season! Messages you submit until February 13 (4PM) will be delivered to your intended recipients on February 14.

Services such as this may be out of hand but rest assured that what we do at SOAD undergo careful planning and development. This service is used by our office to test our SMS facility. During the initial implementation last Christmas and last New Year, we tested the capability of our facility to send scheduled SMS.

Read More

UPLB adopts new calendar for 2014

First Semester in UPLB will start on August 2014 while Summer Class for AY 2013-2014 will be on April to May 2014. The UP Board of Regents approved the calendar only for AY 2014-2015. This year's summer class may be the last summer class if the university continues with the pilot test as the term after Second Semester will be called Short Term. The following is the press statement released by the UP Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs.

The University of the Philippines has adopted, on a pilot basis, the shift in its academic calendar starting August 2014.

Recognizing the need to pilot test the shift, the UP Board of Regents approved the start of the school year in August 2014 in the following campuses: UP Manila, UP Los Banos, UP Baguio, UP Visayas, UP Mindanao, UP Open University and the UP College in Cebu.

The seven (7) campuses completed consultations over the past year and have written the Board of Regents that they are ready to shift their calendar to facilitate academic exchanges, joint research, quality assurance benchmarking, and promote students and faculty mobility.

UP Diliman has not completed its stakeholder consultations and will hold a forum on 10 February 2014 where experts will discuss historical, cultural, climatic and international context related to the shift in academic calendar.

The change in the academic calendar consist of:

Term	From	To
First Semester	June - October	August - December
Second Semester	November - April	January - May
Short Term	May - June	June - July

According to UP President Alfredo Pascual, “the decision to shift the academic calendar is part of the continuing efforts of UP to develop into a regional and global university and to maximize the opportunities offered by ASEAN integration and global educational partnerships”.

Under RA 9500 (UP Charter), one of the university’s mandates is to “serve as a regional and global university in cooperation with international and scientific unions, networks of universities…in the Asia Pacific Region and around the world”.

By 2015, ASEAN countries are expected to fully implement the Action Plan of the ASEAN Economic Cooperation that promotes, among others, the free flow of goods and services among its member countries. One of the challenges in promoting student and staff mobility is the harmonization of the academic calendar of the countries in the region.

Synchronizing the academic calendar with most ASEAN, European and American academic partners, according to Pascual, “will create more joint programs and partnerships with other universities, allow students to get transfer credits, particularly under ASEAN and ASEAN +3 Credit Transfer System (ACTS), and address the problem with semestral gaps with partner universities”.

The calendar synchronization of members of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) lays the groundwork for increasing students and faculty mobility within the region. Among AUN member universities only the Philippines starts its academic calendar in June. Most universities in China, Korea, Japan, and North America also start their classes in August or September.

Only three Philippine universities are members of the AUN: UP, Ateneo, and De La Salle University are all planning to shift to a new academic calendar either in 2014 or 2015.

Moving the calendar from June to August will also create a longer break for graduating high schools students before they enter UP. This period, added Pascual, can be used for a longer bridging program for entering freshmen who may need classes in languages, science and math before they enter start classes in UP.

Pascual further said that ending the semester in December and starting the second semester in January will create an uninterrupted semestral system that will reduce transport costs for students who go home during the holidays.

The concerns raised during the consultation process in the different campuses, such as the release of UPCAT results, schedule of licensure examinations, field activities, clinics and internship, and schedule of UP traditions like the lantern parade will be addressed by the different units during the pilot implementation period. An evaluation of the impact of the academic calendar shift will be presented to the Board of Regents after one year.

FOR INQUIRIES OR CLARIFICATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Prof. Prospero E. de Vera III, DPA
Vice President for Public Affairs
(63) 9178074722

You may download a copy of the statement here.

Read More

OSA uses a robot to send SMS

Once in a while, you may receive a message from OSA through a regular mobile number like 0917XXXXXXX. This may raise some suspicion because you are not sure whether you should believe the message or not. The last thing you'd want to happen is to come all the way to OSA only to find out that the message asking you to drop by OSA is just a prank.

But how will you know if the mobile number belongs to OSA? Just login to www.uplbosa.org using your SystemOne/OSAM account and click SMS Gateway in the rotating banner to see OSA's mobile number.

From time to time, OSA might text you to drop by the office, claim something, confirm your details, or probably tell you how special you are.

Our mobile number is not running on a regular mobile phone, it is powered by a robot. We no longer look anything like this when we ask you to drop by our office:

Instead, this is how we look like when we command our SMS robot, except of course, we are colored in real life:

Texting is tiring so we use an SMS robot to facilitate SMS sending at OSA. Thus, text messages from our staff members come from a single verifiable mobile number. At the same time, this means we can't just read messages you send us. We don't have an inbox just like what's in a regular mobile phone. It just doesn't work that way.

Our system is designed to do something based on certain SMS keywords. There are ways to send messages to our staff members through our mobile number similar to how you can text your favorite TV personality. However, this information is not yet publicly available because we are still reviewing the implications of publicizing SMS keywords of the staff members.

In the meantime, please contact us manually by visiting our office, calling our landline numbers, or sending us an email.

Read More