Maria Asuncion Miralles Hije is an assistant professor of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management at the College of Home Economics. Her current research focus is on Philippine food culture and heritage cuisine. She also plans to explore the sociology of food and eating, the anthropology of food practices, and sustainable practices in the restaurant industry. Her research on the Sasmuan and Guagua tamales won the best paper award for the thesis-in-progress category at the Asia Pacific Tourism Association 2021 conference. She recently published a paper entitled “Tamales-making in Sasmuan: Family Livelihood to Community Tradition” in The Journal of PATHESCU.

As friends and colleagues call her, Allyson handles subjects on Food and Culture, Purchasing Management, Cost Control and Analysis, Macro and Micro Perspectives in Hotels, Restaurants, and Related Institutions, and Practicum. Aside from teaching, she performs other department and college duties. She is the current department representative to the CHE Museum Committee, an alternate member to the CHE Research Ethics Committee, a junior member of the Department Academic Personnel Committee, and a member of the department's local linkages committee.

She holds membership positions in the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Educators of the Philippines (COHREP), the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (International CHRIE), and the Philippine Association for Technology in Home Economics of State Colleges and Universities (PATHESCU), Inc.

She holds a master’s degree in hotel, restaurant, and institution management and a baccalaureate degree in hotel and restaurant administration, which she earned at the University of the Philippines. Before teaching, she was employed at the Mandarin Oriental, Manila, as part of the culinary team.