Rene Escalante is a native of Sorsogon City. He earned his baccalaureate and master’s degree in philosophy from St. Camillus College Seminary and Ateneo de Manila University respectively. In 2001, University of the Philippines-Diliman conferred on him a Ph.D. degree in History. He has been in the teaching profession from the time he finished his bachelor’s degree in 1988. The institutions where he taught include San Juan de Dios College, St. Camillus College Seminary, Sta. Scholastica’s College and in University of the Philippines-Diliman. At present, he is an associate professor of History and graduate school coordinator for History of De La Salle University-Manila. In 2003, DLSU sent him to Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee as an exchange professor.

Dr. Escalante received grants and awards from local and foreign institutions. Among them are Sumitomo Research Grant (2002), Research Faculty Grant from DLSU (2003), Philippine Young Scholar Grant given by the International Institute of Asian Studies, University of Leiden, The Netherlands (2004), and a Research Grant from Ministry of Education Culture and Sports of Spain (2004). He is also active in research and has written a number of articles in local and international journals. His first book, The American Friar Lands Policy: Its Framers, Context and Beneficiaries, 1898-1916, was published in 2002.

Dr. Escalante is actively involved in professional and academic organizations. He is currently the secretary of the Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts and a board member of the Manila Studies Association. He is also a lifetime member of the Philosophy Circle of the Philippines, Philosophical Association of the Philippines, Philippine National Historical Society, Philippine Historical Association, and Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society for Social Sciences.