Lillian Pagaduan Villamor graduated from BYU–Hawaii in 2002 with a degree in Biology. Today, she is a devoted mother and a Ph. D. biotechnologist in Agricultural Science with the National Livestock Cryobank of the Philippine Carabao Center, Department of Agriculture. Her livestock genetics research feeds the Philippines and has earned her national and regional recognition across Southeast Asia. Through success and adversity, including a ten-year journey to earn her master's degree while raising young children, Villamor's story is one of discipline, sacrifice, and unshakable faith.
Rooted in the Rice Granery
Villamor grew up in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, nestled in the Philippine’s Rice Granery. The third of seven children, she was raised in a close-knit family. With parents rooted in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Villamor first heard about BYU–Hawaii through her seminary teacher and her father, who worked for the Church Educational System. She quickly fell in love with the idea of BYU–Hawaii.
"I love diversity," Villamor said. "I wanted to learn about different cultures, and even more, I wanted to study at a church school where I could pursue a high-quality higher education while also living the gospel standards." It was a decision, she said, that meant leaving behind her medical technology studies and her aspirations of becoming a physician, and the familiarity of her life and studies in the Philippines, in exchange for something she couldn't yet fully picture but felt certain about.
Long before attending BYU–Hawaii, Villamor was already a college student in the Philippines, studying medical technology with dreams of becoming a doctor. Because the Philippine school system operates differently from the American system, she entered college earlier than her future BYU–Hawaii classmates would have; she was living away from home and learning to be independent by the time most of her American peers were still finishing high school.
A Candle Dance and a Confirmation
Villamor says the Spirit confirmed her decision to attend BYU–Hawaii again and again, in large and small ways. The first came through the Filipino Club's Culture Night performance, where she performed a traditional Filipino bamboo dance, Tinikling along with a candle dance for the very first time in her life. Sharing that piece of her own heritage, surrounded by students from dozens of other cultures doing the same, confirmed something in her.
"That's how it confirmed to me that every time I joined different cultural activities — not only in the Philippines but also in other countries — I would think, ‘this is the diversity I'm looking for and learning from different cultures,’" she said. The experience did more than expose her to other traditions; it deepened her own relationship to being Filipina, giving her a greater love and appreciation of her own culture even as she learned about everyone else's.
DNA and Divine Direction
The second confirmation came during her major coursework. Among her professors, one stood out: Dr. Douglas Oba, her advisor in the biology program. Dr. Oba steered Villimor toward a molecular biotechnology project studying the genetic relationship between Filipino and non-Filipino populations. The project grew large enough to become a collaboration with BYU's flagship campus in Provo, feeding into a bigger molecular biology initiative there.
That collaboration turned into an internship at BYU in Provo, Utah, where Villamor continued the work in molecular genealogy, with research tracing genetic lines and population relationships. From there, BYU sent her to present her findings at a science conference. "I felt so privileged that I could share it not only in the laboratory with classmates and other professors, but also in a bigger avenue: the science community," she said.
That season of research did something specific for her— it gave her enough confidence in her own scientific ability that she felt ready to go home, even without knowing exactly what shape her career would take.
"I don't know everything about what I'm doing,” she said. "But I know I have something to bring forward and put into practice in the Philippines.” Her very first job upon returning to the Philippines was in a DNA analysis laboratory, where she worked on research related to understanding the genetic relationship of the People in the Philippines project. The work built on her undergraduate research experience at BYU-Hawaii, where she had first become involved in the study of genetic relationships among Filipinos.
Choosing Better Over Busier
None of this success came without cost. As a student, Villamor worked 20-hours-per-week on top of demanding science labs, all while serving as her ward's Relief Society president.
"I never regretted going to BYU–Hawaii,” she said. “Being away from home allowed me to grow spiritually and secularly because of the good mentorship I had on campus, as well as good relationships with other cultures, with dorm-mates, and with the whole community on the BYU–Hawaii campus."
Her solution to the overload was not to do less, but to be more deliberate about what she did.
"It's a matter of prioritizing what matters most, organizing my time, and keeping the Sabbath day holy," she said. "When you know that you don't have to study on Sunday, you will find ways to really organize your time and choose only the activities that will have more impact on your schooling and your work." For Villamor, that meant skipping the extracurricular pull of Hawaii's beaches and malls, a trade-off she still describes without regret, and one she credits with building the discipline that carried her through everything that came after.
Marriage, Motherhood, and a Master's Degree
Villamor graduated from BYU–Hawaii in 2002 with a degree in Biology (Pre-Professional), and her research followed her home almost immediately. She landed a position as a science researcher at the University of the Philippines, one of the country's top-ranked institutions, built directly on the quality of the thesis and research work she had done in Hawaii.
She married in the temple soon after and began building a family. It was in that season that the balancing act she had first learned as an undergraduate returned, this time with far higher stakes.
She began a master's program while raising two young children and eventually stepped away from her studies entirely for five years to be a full-time mother.
"I basically delayed my master's degree because I had to take care of my kids ,” Villamor said. “It was a hard road to finish; it took me ten years to complete my master's." When she finally returned to her studies, she didn't stop at the master's degree; she pushed on to a Ph. D. in Agricultural Science, all while continuing to serve in Church callings, including as a seminary teacher and in welfare and self-reliance leadership.
Laboratories and Livestock
That long road eventually led to a permanent position with the Philippine Department of Agriculture, where Villamor now applies biotechnology in advancing genetic conservation across a range of livestock species, including water buffaloes, cattle, goats, swine, poultry and other livestock — work she describes as directly tied to the conservation of animal genetic resources towards the nation's food security. Along the way, her contributions have earned her recognition at the national, local, institutional, and regional Southeast Asian level.
"I can't imagine how it all started from that balanced education and spiritual learning I had in Hawaii," she said. "So I love Hawaii. I love BYU–Hawaii, my training, and my life in the Philippines."
An Intelligent Mother
Villamor's advice to current students, especially to mothers trying to balance school with young families, is not to set one aside for the other. She remembers a Church leader who visited BYU–Hawaii's campus during her student years and repeatedly emphasized that education opens the door to economic opportunity, a phrase that has stayed with her across the two decades since.
"I always dreamed of being an intelligent mother," she said, describing the years she spent as a full-time parent before finishing her education. "That requires knowing how to really take care of them, being focused especially on their early childhood years. That's very important."
For Villamor, fulfilling her calling as a mother and developing her own education was never a trade-off so much as two commitments she was determined to honor at the same time, even when it meant her master's degree stretched across a decade instead of two or three years.
Returnability
Villamor believes in the hope that students will eventually carry back home what they learned in school. She calls it “returnability,” the belief that gaining an education and experiencing other cultures at BYU–Hawaii is meant to prepare graduates to return to their own countries and lead. "
Returning home is not a question at all,” she says. “We can always gain education everywhere, but there is something unique about going to Hawaii, because you grow not only secularly, but also spiritually, so that you become a good leader. And that leadership you carry with you to your home country."
Beyond the Bubble
Looking back over more than two decades, Villamor says the deepest lesson BYU–Hawaii taught her was how to live the gospel standard consistently, not just while on campus, but for the rest of her life.
"Being a student in a Church school is a good training ground for living the gospel standards," she said. "If you're not able to live that in school, it will be a struggle for you to keep up with the gospel standards when you're out of that bubble."
She remembers school dances held in a small, humble hall on campus, where students still dressed and carried themselves with care even while having fun.
"When you're working outside the Church environment, nobody will scold you," she said. "But people look closely at you, many eyes are on you, because they know that you are a Latter-day Saint. So don't forget your standards, because that carries a greater responsibility that will challenge your faith. When you have that consistency in obeying it, you will have no problem when you finish your schooling."
Lillian Pagaduan Villamor's story is one of an education built on faith and a deep love for her children. It's a story she hopes today's students, especially those trying to balance as much as she once did, will recognize as their own, one still being written.
