Ateneo de Manila University

The Ateneo de Manila University (also called "Ateneo de Manila" or simply "Ateneo") is a private university run by the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. It began in 1859 when the City of Manila handed control of the Escuela Municipal de Manila in Intramuros, Manila, to the Jesuits. It was then a state-subsidized school. It became a private school during the American occupation of the Philippines, and has moved from Manila to its current location. It received its university charter in 1959.

Its main campus in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Metro Manila is home to the university's college and graduate school units, as well as its high school and grade school. Two other campuses, in Rockwell Center and Salcedo Village, both in Makati City, house the university's professional schools of business, law, and government. A fourth facility in the Don Eugenio López, Sr. Medical Complex in Ortigas Center, Pasig City houses its school of medicine and public health.

The Ateneo offers programs in the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Its academic offerings include the Arts, Humanities, Business, Law, the Social Sciences, Philosophy, Theology, Medicine and Public Health, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Information Technology, Engineering, Environmental Science, and Government. Aside from teaching, the Ateneo de Manila also engages in research and social outreach.

It was one of only two universities in the Philippines to receive Level IV accreditation--the highest possible level—from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). Its Level IV accreditation granted in June 2004, has since lapsed. It is also one of few universities granted autonomous status by CHED, which likewise recognizes a number of the University's programs and departments as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development.

Its grade school and high school have been granted Level III accreditation by PAASCU and FAAP, the highest possible level for basic education.

Among the Ateneo's alumni are José Rizal, the National Hero of the Philippines. Several Philippine Presidents, including the incumbent Benigno Aquino III, as well as his predecessors Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Joseph Estrada, and Fidel Ramos, and Corazon Aquino are alumni of or have ties with the university. Also among its graduates are several leaders of the propaganda movement during Philippine Revolution against Spain and the Philippine-American War, politicians, political activists, professionals, businessmen, writers, scientists, educators, and artists. This body of alumni was all-male until women were admitted to its graduate programs, and later, to its college.

The University's patron saint is Ignatius of Loyola, while María Puríssima is its patroness, as is evident the pontifical name "University of the Immaculate Conception" and in the selection of blue and white as the school's colors. The patron saint of its law school is Thomas More, the high school has Stanislaus Kostka as its patron, and the grade school the Holy Guardian Angels as its patrons.

Institution
The Ateneo de Manila University operates from several campuses in Metro Manila, with each campus housing academic and research units. Several thousand faculty members serve a student body in different academic levels, from elementary to postgraduate. The Loyola Schools have around 8,000 undergraduate students and around 3,000 graduate students making the Ateneo small, in terms of population, relative to many other Philippine universities.

The University began in 1859 when the City of Manila turned over the Escuela Municipal de Manila, a public primary school in Intramuros, to Spanish Jesuits. The school took the name Ateneo when it began offering secondary education in 1865, and has since grown into a university engaged in teaching, research, and social outreach. Its academic programs are geared towards research coupled with real-world output through which the university and its community engage social problems, especially in areas of national development and addressing poverty.

Social initiatives
The Ateneo has grounded its vision and mission in Jesuit educational tradition. Because of the Jesuit educational tradition of engagement with the world at large, the university is involved with civic work. Social involvement is a key part of Ateneo education, being integrated into the curricula of practically all university programs. Social entrepreneurship is also a key thrust now integrated into many of the university's academic programs.

Some of the Ateneo's social projects include the Ateneo-Mangyan Project for Understanding and Development (AMPUD) and Bigay Puso in grade school; and the Christian Service and Involvement Program, Damay Immersion, and Tulong Dunong program for senior students in high school. In college, social development is fostered by programs of the Office of Social Concern and Involvement, including house-builds with Gawad Kalinga, and the Ateneo Labor Trials Program tied into junior Philosophy classes. Student organizations and offices of the Loyola Schools also operate their own social involvement programs. At the Ateneo Professional Schools, programs and units like the Graduate School of Business' Mulat-Diwa, the Leaders for Health Program, the Law School's Human Rights Center and Legal Aid programs aim to form leaders. Other Ateneo initiatives include Pathways to Higher Education, a response to the problem faced by academically-gifted yet financially-underprivileged youth who seek a college education; and the Ateneo Center for Educational Development (ACED), which conducts national teacher and principal training programs.

The centerpiece social program of the university is its university-wide social action program, its partnership with Gawad Kalinga, which, to date, has helped build communities and schools in Payatas, Quezon City, in many Nueva Ecija municipalities, and three villages in Bicol. GK-Ateneo has also driven Kalinga Luzon, the massive rehabilitation effort for victims of the late 2004 Luzon typhoons, GK Youth-Ateneo, arguably the largest and most active student social program of the Ateneo, Kalinga Leyte, an ongoing program which aims to provide long-term rehabilitation for the victims of the Southern Leyte landslide, and ongoing reconstruction efforts for typhoon-stricken Bicol.

Administration
The Ateneo de Manila is governed by a Board of Trustees, chaired by alumnus Edward Go, who succeeded former Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. A central administration, led by the outgoing University President, Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, S.J., oversees key initiatives related to academics, international programs, university development and alumni relations, personnel, security, and other university-wide concerns. Fr. Nebres will be replaced by Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, S.J. on April 1, 2011.

Individual units and departments are usually led by a vice president, with the exception of the basic education units, led by a director who oversees the leadership of both the High School's principal and the Grade School's headmaster. The Loyola Schools and Professional Schools are led by their respective vice presidents, who oversee school deans, who in turn oversee department chairs and program directors.

Admissions and financial aid
Individual schools such as the Loyola Schools, the Ateneo Professional Schools, and the Ateneo de Manila Grade School and High School handle their own admissions. Admission into one unit does not guarantee admission into another unit. The Ateneo receives thousands of applications every year. Applications from foreigners to the college and graduate school programs are quite common. In 2005, the Loyola Schools admitted 2,023 freshmen, a figure larger than the projected average of 1,800 freshmen from recent years. 20% of the entering class was composed of valedictorians (83), salutatorians (62), and honorable mention graduates (277).

The university also extends financial aid to students. Scholarships are available in all academic units, with funding coming from the university, third parties, and donations made by alumni, the government, and the private sector. The Loyola Schools offer Merit Scholarships for the top scorers in the Ateneo College Entrance Test (ACET), and the San Ignacio Merit Scholarships are given to top ACET takers from public high schools. Applicants who belong to the top 2% of ACET takers are included in the Ateneo Freshman Director's List. However, they do not receive a tuition and fees scholarship.

University units
The Ateneo de Manila University is composed of school units and auxiliary units. Affiliated units contribute to the work of the different school and auxiliary units, facilitating the work of learning, teaching, research, and social involvement. Individual units enjoy a considerable amount of autonomy from the central administration.

Professional Schools
The Ateneo Professional Schools (APS) is the main professional education division of Ateneo de Manila. The Professional Schools offer degrees such as Master of Business Administration and Master of Arts, and the Law School confers the Juris Doctor (JD) degree in lieu of the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree. The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, which opened in 2007, offers an integrated Doctor of Medicine and Master of Business Administration program. The Professional Schools also confer certificates for short courses.


 * AGSB-BAP Institute of Banking
 * Ateneo Graduate School of Business
 * Ateneo Information Technology Institute
 * Ateneo Law School
 * Ateneo School of Government
 * Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health
 * Center for Continuing Education

Loyola Schools


The Loyola Schools offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the arts and sciences. It is composed of four schools, the School of Humanities, the John Gokongwei School of Management, the School of Science and Engineering, and the School of Social Sciences. The current Vice-President for the Loyola Schools is Professor John Paul Vergara (PhD Computer Science and Applications, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). She replaced Professor Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng (PhD Chemistry, University of Regensburg). Vice-President Vergara assumed the post in April 2010.

The Loyola Schools' programs are geared toward student-centeredness. The Ateneo was one of the first schools in the Philippines to enact a Magna Carta for Undergraduates.

The Commission on Higher Education has designated several departments and programs of the Loyola Schools as centers of excellence (COEs) and Centers of Development (CODs).

High school
The Ateneo de Manila High School is a Catholic preparatory school for male students.The principal is Fr. Raymund Benedict Q. Hizon, S.J.. His assumption of the post marks the first time a Jesuit has held the position since Mrs. Carmela C. Oracion was principal from 1998-2006.

The campus has two libraries, the Instructional Technology Center, the Tanghalang Onofre Pagsanghan (Dulaang Sibol), and a large athletics complex with one of the largest school-based covered courts facility in the country. In 2003, the High School opened a new building called the Center for Math, Science and Technology (commonly known as "MST"), which contains the school's science and computer laboratories and the faculty room for the Science and Math teachers.

The High School also offers religious formation programs, such as the Christian Service and Involvement Program (CSIP), which comprises the Dungaw-Exposure Trip for freshmen, Damá-Christian Service Program for sophomores, and the Damay Immersion and GK Programs for juniors. Other religious formation activities include the Tulong Dunong program for seniors, recollections and retreats. The Ateneo de Manila High School is notable for being the first school to hold sessions of Days with the Lord.

The High School also divides its students into honors, semi-honors, and regular sections. The honors section is section A. The semi-honors classes are sections B, M, and N (except for 1st Year, which is section 1O instead of N). Sections B, M, and N emphasize Mathematics, Filipino language, and English, respectively, while Section A emphasizes all 6 subjects. Students who are in those classes will be classmates for their entire high school life provided that they do not fail a year, with the exception of Section M, where regular section students from 1st Year, (1C-1N) will have to take the Class 2M Test which will evaluate their skills and abilities in Filipino. Honors and Semi-Honors classes have additional plus points in exam scores and final marks in each subject, but of course, their curriculum is much more advanced and rigorous than that of the regular sections. Students from those sections can also take joint classes in English, Science, and Math with students from the honors and other semi-honors sections.

Grade school
The Ateneo de Manila Grade School is an elementary school for boys with a population of around 4000 students. It has facilities and classrooms for students from the preparatory level to the seventh grade. It is an integral part of the Ateneo de Manila University governed by its own by-laws and administrative set-up. Its current headmaster is Fr. Norberto L. Bautista, SJ.

Library system and Museums


The Ateneo library system comprises several libraries housed in the Loyola Heights campus, and the Professional Schools campus. The university's main library is the Rizal Library, located in Loyola Heights. The Ateneo Professional Schools Library, on the other hand is housed in the Professional Schools building. Also included in the library system are the libraries of the Ateneo Grade School, High School, and those of the East Asian Pastoral Institute and the Loyola School of Theology which hold large collection of books in religious studies. Libraries of other Jesuit universities in Naga, Zamboanga, Davao and Cagayan de Oro are likewise linked to the Ateneo de Manila Libraries.

As of 2007, the Rizal Library's resources are estimated at more than 500,000 materials. The library also keeps rare Filipiniana materials, which include a permanent exhibit of Rizal memorabilia, the Trinidad Pardo de Tavera collection, the American Historical Collection, the Ateneo Library of Women's Writings (ALIWW) and other special collections and manuscripts by Filipino scholars, writers, and artists are likewise housed. A new five-storey Rizal Library building was completed in 2009, and opened in November of the same year. The new building houses the library's circulation section, the undergraduate and graduate reserve sections, the multimedia collection, the periodicals collection, the Japanese collection, online database access terminals, an information commons, and the Library's technical services facilities. The former Rizal Library building will now be known as the Rizal Library  Special Collection, and houses  the Microform Reading Center, Art  Book Collection, Filipiniana Section, American Historical Collection, the Ateneo Library of Women's Writings, the Pardo de Tavera Collection, and the Theses and Dissertations collection.

The Professional Schools Library holds one of the largest collection of materials in the fields of law, business and government in the Philippines.

Art Gallery
The Ateneo Art Gallery is housed in the basement of the Rizal Library main building. The gallery is the first museum of modern art in the Philippines, and is the only museum in the country dedicated to the collection, display, and interpretation of Philippine modern art. The heart of its collection is a large selection of post-war art donated to the University by Fernando Zóbel de Ayala.

University Archives
The University Archives are housed in the Rizal Library annex building. Since 1958 it has served as the central repository of non-current records of the administrative offices, academic departments, and student organizations. Among its collections are papers and documents from key university people, relics and personal effects of alumni, some archived publications, theses, and dissertations, as well as other materials such as maps, photographs, and art work.

Affiliate units
Affiliate units are allied institutions which may or may not formally be part of the Ateneo de Manila, but which are based in an Ateneo campus, and support or augment the work of the university in various fields.

Membership in organizations
The Ateneo de Manila University is part of the following networks and academic consortia:

International

 * ASEAN University Network (AUN)
 * Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA)
 * Asia Europe Foundationa (ASEF)
 * Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASEACCU)
 * Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP)
 * European Studies Consortium
 * Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC)
 * Hong Kong Baptist David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies (HKBU-LEWI)
 * Hong Kong Baptist University-Wing Lung Bank International Institute for Business Development (HKBU-IIBD)
 * International Association of Universities (IAU)
 * International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU)
 * Jesuit Conference for East Asia & Oceania (JCEAO)
 * Philippine Scholarship Award for Canadian Students (PSACS)
 * University for Peace (UPEACE)
 * University Mobility in Asian and the Pacific-Commission on Higher Education (UMAP-CHED)

Local

 * Association of Catholic Universities in the Philippines (ACUP)
 * Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP)
 * Jesuit Conference for East Asia & Oceania (JCEAO)
 * Philippine Academic Consortium for Latin American Studies (PACLAS)
 * Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU)
 * Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS)
 * University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP)

International programs
The Ateneo has international linkages with universities, institutions, and organizations, particularly in Asia, Australia, North and South America, and Europe. Through these cooperative efforts, the university hosts visiting faculty and research fellows from institutions abroad, and in turn, Ateneo faculty members also engage in teaching, research, and study in institutions abroad. International cooperation also includes active student exchange through Philippine immersion programs for a month or two for small groups of 15-18 students or full study programs wherein students from partner institutions abroad take regular courses.

The Loyola Schools also offers students an opportunity to study abroad under a student exchange program during their undergraduate or graduate years. Students engage in either semestral or yearly study or exchange programs in partner universities abroad. Students of the John Gokongwei School of Management, the School of Science & Engineering and the Fine Arts Program of the School of Humanities can also sign up for the Junior Term Abroad program, wherein they will spend a semester in one of the Ateneo's partner schools for undergraduate business studies.

Early history
The founding of the Ateneo de Manila University finds its roots in the history of the Society of Jesus as a teaching order in the Philippines. The first Spanish Jesuits arrived in the Philippines in 1581 as missionaries. They were custodians of the ratio studiorum, the Jesuit system of education developed around 1559. Within a decade of their arrival, the Society, through Fr. Antonio Sedeño, founded the Colegio de Manila in Intramuros in 1590. The Colegio formally opened in 1595, and was the first school in the Philippines. The Colegio de Manila was often referred to as the Colegio de San Ignacio or Colegio Máximo de San Ignacio in historical textbooks. It was sometimes also called the Colegio Seminario de San Ignacio, a name which describes the Colegio de Manila and its extension residential college, the Colegio de San José, established in 1601, and the precursor of the present San Jose Seminary

In 1621, the Colegio de Manila was authorized to confer university degrees in theology and arts by virtue of the privileges conferred by Pope Gregory XV on colleges of the Society of Jesus. In 1623, Philip IV of Spain confirmed the authorization, and the decree arrived in Manila in 1625. In 1732, Philip V of Spain founded two regius (royal) professorships in the Colegio, one in canon and another in civil law, making the school both a pontifical and a royal institution. The institution was frequently referred to in contemporary documents as the Universidad de San Ignacio, the first royal and pontifical university in the Philippines and in Asia.

However, by the mid-18th century, Catholic colonial powers, notably France, Portugal, and Spain, had grown hostile to the Society of Jesus because the Jesuits actively educated and empowered colonized people. The Society was particularly notorious for encouraging indigenous people to seek self-governance. Because of this, the colonial powers eventually expelled the Society, often quite brutally, from their realms. In 1768, the Jesuits surrendered the San Ignacio to Spanish civil authorities following their suppression and expulsion from Spain and the rest of the Spanish realm, including the Philippines. Under pressure from Catholic royalty, Pope Clement XIV formally declared the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in 1773. Pope Pius VII reinstated the Society in 1814, after almost seven decades of persecution and over four decades of formal suppression. However, the Jesuits would not return to the Philippines until 1859, almost a century after their expulsion.

19th century
Through an 1852 Royal Decree from Queen Isabella II, ten Spanish Jesuits arrived in Manila on 14 April 1859, nearly a century after the Jesuits left the Philippines. This Jesuit mission was sent mainly to do missionary work in Mindanao and Jolo. Because of the Jesuits' entrenched reputation as educators among Manila’s leaders, on August 5 the Ayuntamiento or city council requested the Governor-General to found and finance a Jesuit school using public funds. On 1 October 1859, the Governor-General authorized the Jesuits to take over the Escuela Municipal de Manila, a small private school maintained for some 30 children of Spanish residents. Ten Spanish Jesuit priests and a Jesuit brother began operating the school on 10 December 1859. The Ateneo de Manila University considers this date its foundation day.

Partly subsidized by the Ayuntamiento, the Escuela was the only primary school in Manila at the time. The Escuela eventually changed its name to Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1865, when it became accredited as an institution of secondary education. It began by offering the bachillerato or bachelor's degree, as well as courses leading to certificates in agriculture, surveying, and business. José Rizal, who would later be named National Hero of the Philippines, enrolled for his secondary studies in 1872, and went on to graduate in 1877 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He continued studying at the Ateneo for a license in land surveying.

After Americans occupied the Philippines in the early 1900s, the Ateneo de Manila lost its government subsidy from the city and became a private institution. The Jesuits removed the word Municipal from the school’s official name soon after, and it has since been known as the Ateneo de Manila. In 1908, the American colonial government recognized the Ateneo de Manila's college status and licensed its offering the bachelor’s degree and certificates in various disciplines, including electrical engineering. The Ateneo campus also housed other Jesuit institutions of research and learning, such as the Manila Observatory and the San Jose Major Seminary.

Early 20th century
American Jesuits took over Ateneo administration in 1921. Fr. Richard O’Brien, the third American rector, led the relocation to the grounds the San Jose Major Seminary in Padre Faura St., Ermita after a fire destroyed the Intramuros campus in 1932. The Ateneo campus was devastated again during World War II. Only one structure remained standing – the statue of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus which now stands in front of the Jesuit Residence in the Loyola Heights campus. Salvaged ironwork and statues from the ruins have since been incorporated into Ateneo buildings such as the Ateneo monograms on the gates of the Loyola Heights campus, the iron grillwork on the ground floor of Xavier Hall, and the statue of the Immaculate Conception displayed at the University Archives.

Despite the apparent destruction of the campus, the university survived. Following the American and Filipino liberation, the Ateneo de Manila reopened temporarily in Plaza Guipit in Sampaloc, Manila. The Padre Faura campus reopened in 1946 with Quonset huts serving as buildings among the campus ruins.

In 1952, Fr. William F. Masterson S.J., moved most of the Ateneo units to its present Loyola Heights campus. This decision faced some opposition, with an American Jesuit supposedly saying that only the "children of Tarzan" would study in the new campus. But over the years, the Loyola Heights campus has become the center of a dynamic community. The Padre Faura campus continued to house the professional schools until 1976. Fr. Francisco Araneta, S.J. was appointed as the Ateneo de Manila's first Filipino Rector in 1958. In 1959, its centennial year, the Ateneo became a university.

Late 20th century
The following decades saw escalating turbulence engulf the university as an active movement for Filipinization and a growing awareness of the vast gulf between rich and poor grip the entire nation. Throughout the 1960s, Ateneans pushed for an Ateneo which was more conversant with the Filipino situation and rooted more deeply in Filipino values. They pushed for the use of Filipino for instruction, and pushed the university to implement reforms that addressed the growing social problems of poverty and injustice. During that time, the Graduate School split into the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, which eventually became the Graduate School of Business.

In 1965, Fr. Horacio de la Costa, became the first Filipino Provincial Superior of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus. On 25 September 1969, Pacifico Ortiz, S.J., was installed as the first Filipino President of the Ateneo de Manila. A year earlier, the Ateneo co-founded the Asian Institute of Management.

Ateneans also played a vital role together with student organizations from other prominent colleges and universities as student activism rose in academe in the 1970s. Students faced university expulsion and violent government dispersal as they protested the dismissal of dissenting faculty and students, oppressive laws and price hikes, human rights violations, and other injustices. On 21 September 1972, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. The university administration had great difficulty reconciling the promotion of social justice and keeping the university intact. They locked down on the more overt expressions of activism—violence and miltancy—and strived to maintain a semblance of normalcy as they sought to keep military men from being stationed on campus.

In 1973, Jesuit Superior General Fr. Pedro Arrupe called for Jesuit schools to educate for justice and to form "men and women for others." The Ateneo college opened its doors to its first female students in that same year. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences moved to Loyola Heights in 1976, and the Padre Faura campus finally closed in 1977 as the Graduate School of Business and the Law School moved to H.V. de la Costa St. in Salcedo Village, Makati. That same year, the Ateneo, then the ‘winningest’ school in men's basketball, left the NCAA, which it co-founded, due to violence plaguing the league. In February 1978, the Ateneo opened the Ateneo-Univac Computer Technology Center, one of the country’s pioneering computer centers. This later became the Ateneo Computer Technology Center. The Ateneo also joined the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

On 21 August 1983, Ateneo alumnus Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated upon his return from exile in the United States. Ateneans continued to work with sectors such as the poor, non-government organizations, and some activist groups in the dying years of the martial law era. On 11 February 1986, alumnus and Antique Governor Evelio Javier was gunned down. Two weeks later, Ateneans joined thousands of Filipinos from all walks of life in the peaceful uprising at EDSA which ousted Ferdinand Marcos.

Recent history
In 1987, nine years after the Ateneo joined the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the university went on to win its first crown in UAAP men’s basketball. The Blue Eagles won a second straight title in 1988. In 1991, the Ateneo joined in relief operations to help the victims affected by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. That same year saw the School of Law phase out its Bachelor of Laws degree to become the first Philippine law school to confer the Juris Doctor degree. In 1994, the Ateneo was one of the first Philippine schools on the Internet, and was part of the conference that connected the Philippines to the World Wide Web. In 1996 the Ateneo relaunched the Ateneo Computer Technology Center as the Ateneo Information Technology Institute and established the Ateneo School of Government. In 1998, the Ateneo’s Rockwell campus, which currently houses the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, the Ateneo Law School, and the Ateneo School of Government, was completed in Rockwell Center in Bel-Air, Makati. The Science Education Complex was completed in the Loyola Heights campus.

In 2000, the School of Arts and Sciences which comprised the College and the Graduate School restructured into four Loyola Schools: the School of Humanities, the John Gokongwei School of Management, the School of Science and Engineering, and the School of Social Sciences. The Moro Lorenzo Sports Complex was completed in the Loyola Heights campus to bolster the sports program. Midway through that year, high school alumnus and Philippine President Joseph Estrada faced grave corruption charges connected with economic plunder and jueteng, an illegal numbers game. The University hosted KOMPIL II and other organizations and movements in its Loyola Heights and Makati campuses. Members of the university community participated in the Jericho March at the Senate and other mass actions. In 2001, Ateneo Master of Arts alumna and former Economics faculty member Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as the 14th President of the Philippines, overthrowing Estrada after top military officers withdrew support from his as commander in chief. In April 2002, the office of the University President established Pathways to Higher Education-Philippines, one of the university's outreach initiatives, with the help of the Ford and Synergeia Foundations. On July 31, the feast of St. Ignatius, the University Church of the Gesù was completed in the Loyola Heights campus, and was consecrated by Cardinal Jaime Sin. The year also saw the Blue Eagles end a 14-year drought in men's basketball. In 2003, the Ateneo entered into its partnership with Gawad Kalinga, its first formal, university-wide social action program. In response to the typhoons and flooding that devastated most of the Philippine Island of Luzon in November 2004, the Ateneo launched Task Force Noah, its disaster response initiative, which has continued to contribute to disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas that include Calatagan in Mindoro and Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte. The Ateneo earned the highest possible accreditation status, Level IV, the second Philippine university to earn this, from the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). That same year, the Ateneo de Manila celebrated its 145th anniversary, and the 145th anniversary of the return of Jesuit education in the Philippines. It also launched the countdown to its sesquicentennial in 2009.

As typhoon relief efforts wound down in January 2005 the Ateneo, Gawad Kalinga, and other partners launched Kalinga Luzon (KL), a program dedicated to the long-term rehabilitation of typhoon-stricken communities in Luzon. 2005 also saw the rise of initiatives such as the Social Involvement Workshops and other fora, especially in light of the political crisis sparked by allegations of President Arroyo's cheating in the 2004 presidential elections. The Ateneo also established more tie-ups and foreign linkages, as well as prepared efforts leading to the development of the Leong Center for Chinese Studies in the university.

In early 2006, members of the Ateneo de Manila University and affiliated Jesuit institutions were part of movements calling for action on the political issues that continue to rock Filipino society. The Ateneo de Manila University also intensified its social development efforts, launching Kalinga Leyte, a program for the long-term rehabilitation of Southern Leyte, with its GK partners. The Ateneo has also expanded the scope of its involvement with Gawad Kalinga and has begun to drive GK initiatives throughout Nueva Ecija, and in other provinces such as Cotobato and Quezon. Midway through 2006, the Manuel V Pangilinan Center for Student Leadership was completed The University also began ground-breaking for the development of several projects: the Ricardo Leong Hall, which houses several units of the Loyola Schools' School of Social Sciences and the Confucius Institute for Chinese Studies,  as well as the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health facility in Ortigas, which welcomed its pioneering batch of professional students in June 2007. In December, the Ateneo also launched AGAP-Bikol in cooperation with other Jesuit-affiliated and civil society groups, in response to the devastation wrought by typhoons in the Bicol area. On 5 December 2007, University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., launched Frontline Leadership, a book project of the Ateneo School of Government (sponsored by German foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung), which narrates the performances of four former local officials, an unnamed female governor in the Visayas and one incumbent: Naga Mayor and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Jesse Robredo, former San Fernando, La Union Mayor Mary Jane Ortega, former Bulacan Gov. Josie de la Cruz, and former Surigao del Norte Gov. Robert Lyndon Barbers.

In October 2008, 66 faculty members from different departments, including members of the Theology Department, challenged the position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the Reproductive Health Bill pending before the Philippine Congress  University president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. explained that their position was not the position of the university, but stressed that these faculty members had a right to express their views as individual Catholics and that there should be continuing efforts on the critical study and discussion of the bill among Church groups including the University and in civil society.

In November 2008, the University began work on building a new Rizal Library facility. In December, the a new set of university dormitories was inaugurated. the Ateneo High School was granted Level III accreditation by the PAASCU, the highest level in the country.

Sesquicentennial Celebration
December 10, 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of the Ateneo de Manila University, as well as the 150th anniversary of the return of the Jesuits to the Philippines. The University began a countdown to the celebrations back in 2007. The three years 2007, 2008, and 2009 were all given themes: Celebrating Excellence (2007), Deepening Spirituality (2008), and Building the Nation (2009). Also, in celebration of the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Ateneo de Manila, the new Rizal Library was inaugurated and blessed on December 8, 2009, two days before the official celebration.

Loyola Heights campus


Overlooking the Marikina Valley, the main campus is located in Loyola Heights, along the eastern side of Katipunan Avenue, and is south of and adjacent to the campus of Miriam College. The Grade School, High School, and Loyola Schools are located in the Ateneo's Loyola Heights campus. Beside the Grade School is the Henry Lee Irwin Theater, built in 1995 to house the school's formal events and productions. Complementing the old buildings of the Loyola Schools are the Science Education Complex, as well as the PLDT Convergent Technologies Center-John Gokongwei School of Management Complex.

Within this campus is the Rizal Library, the main university library. Also located here are numerous units and research centers affiliated with the Ateneo, such as the Institute of Social Order, Institute of Philippine Culture, Institute on Church and Social Issues, Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowships, the Philippine Institute for Pure and Applied Chemistry, the Jesuit Communications Foundation, the Jesuit Basic Education Commission, and others. Also situated here are the East Asian Pastoral Institute, Loyola School of Theology, and San Jose Seminary, all Jesuit formation institutions federated with the Ateneo de Manila University. The Manila Observatory is also located on campus.

Athletic facilities include the Blue Eagle Gym, also known as the Loyola Center, standing at the southern end of the campus, and the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center (MLSC) on the northern end. The Blue Eagle Gym is one of the largest gymnasiums among the universities in Metro Manila while the MLSC is often used by the Philippine National Basketball Team as well as other professional teams for their training needs.

The Church of the Gesù, completed in July 2002, stands on top of Sacred Heart Hill and overlooks the rest of the campus. The school's chapels include the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel and the Chapel of the First Companions in the High School, the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the College complex's Gonzaga Hall, the chapel at the Loyola House of Studies, and the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angels in the Grade School, among others. Though strictly speaking not a part of the University but standing on its campus, San Jose Major Seminary also has a chapel. Moreover, walking distance from the University Campus are two parish churches: the Our Lady of Pentecost Parish Church and the Santa María della Strada Parish Church. The latter parish includes the university in its territory.

The university has three on-campus dormitories for college students: Cervini Hall, Eliazo Hall, and the University Dormitory. Located near the Loyola Schools, Cervini accommodates approximately two hundred male students, while Eliazo houses one hundred and sixty female students. The University Dormitory, completed in 2008, houses six hundred students. Other dormitories which are also open to college and graduate school students are those of the Institute of Social Order, Arrupe International Residence, and the East Asian Pastoral Institute. The Ateneo de Manila is also home to the largest Jesuit community in the Philippines, most of whom reside at the Jesuit Residence in the Loyola Heights campus. These Jesuits are involved in teaching, administration, and research within the University and others work with other affiliated units.

Recently, majority of the units in the Loyola Schools Campus have been participating in the environmental initiatives started at the student organization and administrative levels. These have been grouped under the banner of the Ateneo Environmental Management Coalition with the main objective of environmental footprint reduction, as one manifestation of the community's desire to right it's relationship with the Creator by practicing responsible stewardship of God's creation. These efforts have resulted in major changes in student lifestyle and resource management all over campus.

Rockwell Center campus
The Rockwell Center campus of the Ateneo de Manila University houses the Ateneo Professional Schools, namely the Law School, Graduate School of Business, School of Government, AGSB-BAP Institute of Banking, and the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education. The campus was donated by the Lopez Group of Companies to the Ateneo de Manila University. The Rockwell structure houses the different faculty departments, classroom and teaching facilities, several research centers, a moot court facility, and the Ateneo Professional Schools Library.

Salcedo Village campus
The Salcedo Village campus houses the different facilities of the former Ateneo Information Technology Institute (AITI) and the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education (CCE). This facility formerly housed the Professional Schools prior to the completion of the Rockwell campus in 1998.

Ortigas Center campus
The Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health at the Don Eugenio López, Sr. Medical Complex in Ortigas Center, Pasig City opened its doors to its pioneering batch of students in June 2007. Beside the ASMPH is its partner hospital, The Medical City.

The Ateneo name
The word and name Ateneo is the Spanish form of Athenæum, which the Dictionary of Classical Antiquities defines as the name of "the first educational institution in Rome" where "rhetoricians and poets held their recitations." Hadrian’s school drew its name from a Greek temple dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The said temple, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, was where "poets and men of learning were accustomed to meet and read their productions."

Athenæum is also used in reference to schools and literary clubs. The closest English translation is academy, referring to institutions of secondary learning. The Escuela Municipal de Manila actually became the Ateneo Municipal only after it began offering secondary education in 1865. The Society of Jesus in the Philippines established several other schools, all named Ateneo, since 1865, and over the years, the name "Ateneo" has become recognized as the official title of Jesuit institutions of higher learning in the Philippines.

When the United States withdrew subsidy from Ateneo in 1901, Father Rector Jose Clos, S.J. dropped the word municipal from the school name, which then became Ateneo de Manila, a name it keeps to this day. Since its university charter was granted in 1959, the school has officially been called the Ateneo de Manila University.

Lux in Domino
The Ateneo's motto is Lux in Domino, meaning "Light in the Lord". This is not the school's original motto. The Escuela Municipal's 1859 motto was "Al merito y a la virtud": "In Merit and in Virtue". This motto persisted through the school's renaming in 1865 and in 1901.

The motto Lux in Domino first appeared as part of the Ateneo seal introduced by Father Rector Joaquin Añon, S.J. for the 1909 Golden Jubilee. It comes from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians, 5.8: "For you were once in darkness, now you are light in the lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth."

Seal
In 1859, the Escuela Municipal carried the coat of arms of the city of Manila, granted by King Philip II of Spain. By 1865, along with the change of name, the school's seal had evolved to include some religious images such as the Jesuit monogram "IHS" and some Marian symbols. A revision was introduced in the school's golden jubilee 1909 with clearer Marian symbols and the current motto, Lux in Domino. This seal was retained for 20 years. Father Rector Richard O’Brien, S.J. introduced a new seal for Ateneo de Manila’s diamond jubilee in 1929. This seal abandons the arms of Manila and instead adopts a design that uses mostly Jesuit and Ignatian symbols. This is the seal currently used by the Ateneo.

The seal is defined by two semi-circular ribbons. The crown (top) ribbon contains the school motto, "Lux-in-Domino", while the base (bottom) ribbon contains the school name, "Ateneo de Manila". These ribbons define a circular field on which rests the shield of Oñaz-Loyola: a combination of the arms of the paternal and maternal sides of the family of St. Ignatius.

In precise heraldic terms, the Shield of Oñaz-Loyola may be described as: "Party per pale: Or, seven bendlets Gules; Argent, a two-eared pot hanging on a chain between two wolves rampant." In plain English, the shield is gold, and divided vertically. To the viewer's left is a field of gold with seven red bands. These are the arms of Oñaz, Ignatius' paternal family, which commemorates seven family heroes who fought with the Spaniards against 70,000 French, Navarese, and Gascons. To the viewer's right is a white or silver field with the arms of Loyola, Ignatius' maternal family. The arms consist of a two-eared pot hanging on a chain between two rampant wolves, which symbolize the nobility. The name "Loyola" is actually a contraction of lobos y olla (wolves and pot). The name springs from the family's reputation of being able to provide so well that they could feed even wild wolves.

Above the shield is a Basque sunburst, referring to the Basque roots and heritage of Ignatius. It also represents a consecrated host. It bears the letters IHS, the first three letters of the Holy Name of Jesus in Greek, and an adaptation of the emblem of the Society of Jesus. Both scalloped and unscalloped versions of the seal are extant. Since scallops are not formally a part of a seal's design in traditional heraldry, they are merely a decorative element applied for aesthetic or nostalgic purposes.

The seal’s colors are blue, white, red, and gold. In traditional heraldry, white or silver (Argent) represents a commitment to peace and truth. Blue (Azure) represents fortitude and loyalty. Red (Gules) represents martyrdom, sacrifice, and strength. Gold (Or) represents nobility and generosity.

White and blue are also Ateneo’s school colors, the colors of Mary. Red and gold are the colors of Spain, home of Ignatius and the Ateneo’s Jesuit founders. Finally, these four color mirror those of the Philippine flag, marking the Ateneo’s identity as a Filipino University.

Marian devotion
Ateneans value symbols of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, María Puríssima, Queen of the Ateneo. Among them are the rosary in the pocket, the "October Medal" (the Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Conception with a blue ribbon), and the graduation hymn, "A Song for Mary."

In official Jesuit documents (e.g., Catalogus Provinciae Philippinae Societatis Jesu), the Ateneo de Manila is also referred to as the "University of the Immaculate Conception BVM", the Immaculate Conception being the official patron of the University. This is why the eighth of December, the Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception is always a school holiday although the University community honors her liturgically a few days before or after the feastday itself.

"A Song for Mary"
Before the Ateneo de Manila moved to Loyola Heights, the school anthem was "Hail Ateneo, Hail," a marching tune. When the Ateneo moved from Padre Faura to Loyola Heights in the 1950s, the school adopted "A Song for Mary" as its graduation hymn. Fr. James Reuter wrote the lyrics, and Ateneo band moderator Colonel Jose Campaña adapted the melody from Calixa Lavallée's patriotic hymn "O Canada," composed in 1880, which eventually became Canada's national anthem in 1980. Over the decades, the graduation hymn eventually supplanted "Hail Ateneo, Hail" and is now widely considered the Ateneo de Manila's alma mater song.

Colors: blue and white
The Ateneo has adopted blue and white, the colors of its patron Mary, as its official school colors. Marian blue is traditionally ultramarine, a deep ocean blue tincture derived from lapis lazuli, which historically has been used to color the vestments of Mary in paintings. But since Mary is honored as Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) and Queen of Heaven, various shades of blue, such as royal blue and sky blue are acceptable shades of Marian blue as well.

Athletics
The Ateneo de Manila University is a member of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, where it fields teams in all events. It was originally a founding member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the 1920s. The Ateneo left the NCAA in 1978 due to the league-wide violence prevalent at the time, and then joined the UAAP in the same year.

Aside from the UAAP, the Ateneo also participates in the Father Martin Cup, the Home and Away tournament, and the Shakey's V-League. Different university units also field teams in leagues such as RIFA (football), PAYA and PRADA (basketball), the Inter-MBA Friendship Games and inter-university golf tournaments. The Ateneo also fields teams to the Jesuit Athletic Meet, an athletic meet of the Jesuit schools in the Philippines.

Mascot: The Blue Eagle
Prior to the 1930s, Ateneo had no mascot. Meanwhile, Catholic Schools in the United States, particularly those named after saints, were distressed by the cheekiness with which they were mentioned in newspapers' sports pages. Headlines read "St. Michael’s Wallops St. Augustine’s", or "St. Thomas' Scalps St. Peter’s". It was then agreed that each school adopt a mascot, a symbol for the team which sportswriters could toss about with impunity. The idea caught on in the Philippines. By the 1930s, the Ateneo adopted Blue Eagle as a symbol, and had a live eagle accompany the basketball team.

The choice of the color blue is based on the Ateneo's colors. The choice of an eagle is a reference to the "high-flying" basketball team which would "sweep the fields away" as a dominating force. Furthermore, there was some mythological— even political—significance to the choice of the eagle as a symbol of power. In On Wings of Blue, a booklet of Ateneo traditions, songs, and cheers published in the 1930s and reprinted in the 1950s, Lamberto V. Avellana explains the significance of the Blue Eagle in the context of Ateneo tradition:

"The Eagle — fiery, majestic, whose kingdom is the virgin sky, is swift in pursuit, terrible in battle. He is a king - a fighting king... And thus he was chosen—to soar with scholar’s thought and word high into the regions of truth and excellence, to flap his glorious wings and cast his ominous shadow below, even as the student crusader would instill fear in those who would battle against the Cross. And so he was chosen — to fly with the fleet limbs of the cinder pacer, to swoop down with the Blue gladiator into the arena of sporting combat and with him to fight — and keep on fighting till brilliant victory, or honorable defeat. And so he was chosen — to perch on the Shield of Loyola, to be the symbol of all things honorable, even as the Great Eagle is perched on the American escutcheon, to be the guardian of liberty. And so he was chosen—and he lives, not only in body to soar over his campus aerie, but in spirit, in the Ateneo Spirit... For he flies high, and he is a fighter, and he is King!"

Cheering tradition
The Ateneo de Manila was successful in athletics even before the NCAA began. To help cheer the Ateneo squad on, the Jesuits decided that the Ateneo ought to have some sort of organization in its cheering. The Ateneo then introduced organized cheering to the country by fielding the first-ever cheering squad in the Philippines, which is now known as the Blue Babble Battalion. The Ateneo claims that its brand of cheering is both unique and rooted in classical antiquity. In the 1959 Ateneo Aegis (the college yearbook), alumnus Art Borjal explained:

It all started about 2,000 years ago along the Via Appia in Rome. The deafening cheers of Roman citizens, lined along the way, thundered in the sky as the returning victorious warriors passed by...The type of cheering that the Ateneo introduced was, in a way, quite different from that of the Romans. When the warriors came home in defeat, the citizens shouted in derision and screamed for the soldiers’ blood. To the Atenean, victory and defeat do not matter much. To cheer for a losing team that had fought fairly and well is as noble, if not nobler, than cheering for a victorious squad.

The words of some of the cheers seem incomprehensible or derived from an exotic language. Loud, rapid yells of "fabilioh" and "halikinu" are used to intimidate and confuse the enemy gallery. Meanwhile, fighting songs help inspire the team to "roll up a victory".