Cavite educator becomes first Filipino Tagalog instructor at Harvard

CAVITE — A former Filipino language instructor at Cavite State University has been appointed to teach Tagalog at Harvard University, becoming the first Filipino to hold the position at the Ivy League institution.

Lady Aileen Orsal, who spent years teaching Filipino, communication, and journalism at CavSU, will handle elementary and intermediate Tagalog courses under the Harvard University Asia Center and the Department of South Asian Studies while pursuing graduate studies in communication and Philippine Studies.

Her appointment follows Harvard’s launch of Tagalog language courses in 2023, a move that reflected the growing presence of Filipino and Filipino-American communities in the United States and the broader recognition of Filipino as one of the most widely spoken languages in the country.

Orsal previously served as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant in the United States, an experience she credited with deepening her understanding of how academic institutions abroad approach the study of indigenous languages and cultures.

In a statement, Orsal said her appointment was not a personal achievement alone but a recognition of Filipino educators worldwide who have long championed the language with limited institutional support.

Harvard’s decision to offer Tagalog courses has been seen as a significant shift, as Asian language programs at Western universities have historically centered on Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean, with Filipino remaining largely absent from the global academic mainstream.