Holy Name University (HNU) has a new University President and it is perhaps fitting for the greater Boholano community to know about the one tasked at the helm of Bohol’s premier Catholic University.
Fr. Ruel Flores Lero, SVD, MAT, PhD, is the fourth and current President of HNU for the triennium 2020-2023.
He is a religious missionary of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) and was ordained a priest on March 9, 2005.
He hails from Dumaguete City and is a proud product of Dumaguete South City Elementary School and Dumaguete City High School.
He finished his communication degree from the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), after which he studied philosophy at Christ the King Mission Seminary (Quezon City) before completing his theological training (magna cum laude) at the Divine Word School of Theology in Tagaytay City.
Further studies in Tagaytay led to a Master of Arts in Theology (summa cum laude) followed by a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (magna cum laude) from the Pontifical Urban University.
He returned to UPLB to complete a Doctor of Philosophy major in Extension Education (minor in Development Communication), which earned him Academic Achievement and Best Dissertation awards.
Fr. Lero held numerous teaching and administrative positions including Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Director for Graduate Studies, National Service Training Program, Center for Research and Publication, and the Center for Local Governance at HNU.
His previous assignment prior to his current one was as Program Director of the Divine Word School of Theology before which he was Vice President for Academic Affairs of HNU in Tagbilaran City.
He served as a faculty member of the Divine Word School of Theology, Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City, as well as in Pastoral Communication at the Graduate School of the University of Santo Tomas. A member of the University of San Carlos (Cebu City) Board of Trustees since 2013, Fr. Lero is also a Trustee of Liceo del Verbo Divino (Tacloban City), Divine Word Hospital, and Word Broadcasting Corporation.
He is also a life member of the Gamma Sigma Delta International Honor Society, the Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society, the Philippine Extension Network, Inc. (PEN), and the Philippine Association of Agri-Environment Educators and Entrepreneurs Inc. (PASSAGE).