The Philippine Association of Communication Educators (PACE) has once again demonstrated its position as the country’s largest and most dynamic professional organization of communication educators by successfully hosting the Communication and Media Studies Conference (CMSC) 2023 on October 20-21 at the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Cavite.

Themed “Communication and Media Education in the Time of AI: Values, Ethics, and Practices,” the event attracted an impressive turnout, with about 300 participants from over 40 schools nationwide. This attendance marked the highest number of participants in the conference’s history since 2015.

The opening plenary featured keynote speakers Dr. Dominic Ligot, co-founder of the Analytics Association of the Philippines, and Dr. Maarit Jaakkola, co-director of Nordicom. Meanwhile, Dr. Hsuan-Pei (Jason) Ho of Hungkuang University, Taiwan, delivered the closing keynote lecture.

PACE President Mark Lester del Mundo Chico expressed his gratitude to the people behind the success of the conference. 

“I thank our partner, LPU-Cavite, through our secretary, now VP for Luzon Reginald Gonzales, for their all-out support in hosting CMSC 2023 and the first PACE of the Future Student Camp (PFSC). We appreciate the efforts of our volunteers and collaborators, institutional and individual members, and all our participants, both faculty and students, in making our events truly remarkable,” Chico said in an interview.

This year, CMSC was held back-to-back with the first PACE of the Future Student Camp, which featured different communication projects of students of media and communication all over the country.

“Kudos to the PACE Board of Trustees 2021-2023, particularly to our CMSC Organizing Committee headed by Rechelle Ann Barraquias and our PFSC Coordinator Anansa Dijan, for their hard work. We have proven once more that PACE remains committed to providing opportunities to our students and colleagues in the media and communication fields for lifelong learning and meaningful collaborations,” Chico furthered.

The next PFSC and CMSC are set to be hosted by the Benguet State University and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, respectively, in 2024, promising yet another exciting gathering of communication and media educators and students.