From the start she was Dr. Francisco "Dodong " Nemenzo's personal choice to replace him as UP President. After some voting deadlocks between her and Edgardo Espiritu, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr. Emerlinda Roman became the 19th and first woman President of the University of the Philippines by a vote of 7 -5.

Rallies of support for Dr. Roman marked the election for UP President in 2004. Students, faculty members, alumni and workers of UP were all rooting for her and Dr. Roman's victory was a triumph of the UP Community. It was also a personal triumph for Dr. Nemenzo but he would not make big thing of it, even refusing a post-election interview. She is homegrown, having started her UP life in UP high school Los Baños. She rose the ranks, holding various positions in the state university before getting elected as President. During her term as the Chancellor of UP Diliman, the chaotic enrollment that we had known became automated. Even now at the helm of the university, she retains teaching units for herself, and she would not admit this is for pure love of teaching. The reason why she still teaches, she says, is that she would not like to deprive herself of the experience to tell students what to do without being questioned.