In a historic move
that puts the spotlight on
Filipino language and culture, Lady Aileen Orsal, a
proud alumna and former
faculty member of Cavite
State University (CvSU) in
the Philippines, takes the
helm as Harvard University’s first-ever instructor
for its inaugural Filipino
language course. Starting today, September 5,
2023, Orsal will be teaching introductory and intermediate Filipino (Tagalog)
classes, marking a monumental milestone not just
for herself, but for Filipinos
around the globe.
The Harvard University Asia Center and
the Department of South
Asian Studies announced
the hiring of the Filipino
educator as Preceptor in
Filipino Languages (Tagalog) last August 25,
following its notice earlier
this year about the new
language course offering,
the first time such an academic program will be
taught in Harvard’s nearly
four-hundred-year history.
In its announcement, Harvard noted how
Filipino (Tagalog) is currently the fourth most spoken language in the U.S.
(after English, Spanish,
and Chinese). It also gave
an assurance that Filipino
language will always be
taught at the Ivy League
school after the university
received an endowment to
fund the program.
“We are extremely happy to welcome Lady
Aileen Orsal to the Harvard community,” said
James Robson, Victor and
William Fung Director at
Harvard University Asia
Center in the Harvard Gazette report. “We look forward to working with her
to develop, highlight, and
showcase the richness
and variety of the history
and cultures of the Philippines through events on
the Harvard campus.”
Orsal received
her B.A. in Mass Communication from Cavite State
University in the Philippines in 2012, and her
M.A. in Philippine Studies
in 2017. She began teaching the Filipino language
as a Fulbright Foreign
Language Teaching Assistant at the Center for
Southeast Asian Studies
at Northern Illinois University in 2018. She also
taught Filipino at Cavite
State University.
Even while
teaching at Harvard University, Orsal will continue
her studies to complete
two degrees by 2024: an
M.A. in Communication
from Northern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in Philippine Studies from De La
Salle University (DLSU).
Aside from her
impressive teaching credentials, Lady Aileen Orsal
is also credited with notable published research on
the coffee
