TARLAC CITY, Tarlac (March 10, 2024) — Tarlac State University (TSU) will soon publish its historical book centering on the academe’s chronicled past later this year.
TSU’s decision to publish the book was reached last week during the meeting of its Records-Archives Unit and Tarlaqueño Studies at the TSU Hotel, Lucinda Campus.
Spearheading this effort is the former Director of the Center for Tarlaqueño Studies (CTS) and now National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Commissioner Dr. Lino Dizon, who will be serving as the group’s overall coordinator.
Joining Dizon are Dr. Lolita Sicat, former Academic Affairs Vice President; Dr. Rodrigo Sicat, former CTS Director; Dr. Lorna Dimatulac, former Administration VP, and; Dr. Dalisay Rigor, former Finance VP.
According to the NHCP Commissioner, he has donated his historical collections to this project. Alumnus Engr. Jose Dimatulac will also provide his 1971 collection of photos of the Tarlac School of Arts and Trades and The Work, the university’s official student publication.
According to an article written by Dizon and found on the TSU website, the university, as we know it today, started as the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas in 1899. This was succeeded by the Tarlac Provincial High School right after the Philippine Revolution in 1902.
This again quickly evolved to Tarlac Trade School (TTS) – a primary to secondary school with vocational classes, specifically in carpentry – from 1906 until the end of the Second World War.
Post-war, from 1946 to 1959, the TTS shed its primary and secondary offerings and focused primarily on a vocational school.
In 1959, the Philippine Congress approved a Republic Act converting the Tarlac Trade School into the Tarlac School of Arts and Trades (TSAT), offering collegiate technical education courses in the province.
In 1965, Republic Act 4337, TSAT acquired its full-fledged status as a college – the Tarlac College of Technology -merging the former with Tarlac National Agricultural School in Camiling, Tarlac.
On Oct. 13, 1989, RA 6764, converted TCT to TSU.
