DMC’S MOVERS AND SHAKERS
January 22nd, 2009 | By
The Hale Band last year performed later than scheduled, and the queue of eager fans outside the gate was so long it reached almost at the first road intersection. A black Toyota pick-up came up towards the gatekeepers, and its occupant commanded for immediate opening of the entrance, allowing every soul to enter and waiving the availability of tickets from the crowd. The people cheered and went inside; the show started with a smash.
The Computer Department of DMC three years ago was a small, musty room with about twenty functioning PCs and a very cute cubicle for the CCS Faculty. Students with computer courses must depend on a tooth-and-nail fought schedule, or otherwise share with two other frustrated classmates for a 5-minute usage of one PC with a small prayer that it worked. Now the IT Center is a four-room, sleek, high-tech building with about sixty wonderfully functioning computers, a beautiful, colorful, café-inspired staff office where the server is housed like the king’s ransom, and an air-conditioning that could cause temporary hypothermia to some hapless, skinny victim.
The campus’s classrooms were once so in dire need of repairs that it was considered a health risk to hold classes inside them. The walkways around these classrooms were once so gravel-ridden that people wearing high-heels were guaranteed to sprain their ankles or mutilate their footwear upon treading on these pavements. Now, a four-story building rises like a behemoth, looking strong and absolutely termite-less; its first floor looks like an ISO-credited office building, complete with sensors and a courtesy booth. The health risk now would be the shiny, spotless and very slippery tiled floor. And the driveways and paths have been so neatly cemented you could wear all your stilettos and five-inch platforms anytime.
Who are the personas responsible for these things to happen? Who are capable of ordering for any activity to cease, hold or start with one casual word? Who have been working incredibly hard for the welfare and future of DMC and its students? Who are the movers and shakers of DMC?
For starters, the Administration has three separate, independent sectors under the supervision of three brilliant supervisors. These three are the Assistant Vice Presidents of DMC, all of whom are at the topmost levels of the administrative organizational ladder but directly below the office of the President and the Vice President. These men work hand in hand, combining their powers to run, improvise and propel DMC to its well-deserved status of becoming the best school in the region.
Atty. Albert T. Concha Jr., the AVP-Academic Affairs, is casually known among employees as Sir Flint, which aptly describes the tough, smart boss that he is. He runs the academic sector of DMC with remarkable perspicacity and fortitude, especially with respect to reinforcing policies and procedures. Undoubtedly one of the cleverest people of DMC, his standards are quite astronomical, though he bends some when the need arises. Begging for grades is totally unheard of in his office, not even if the student is the present Duchess of York. It is commonplace for department heads to balk when summoned to his office, whether for just a casual chat or a full-blown meeting. He must be informed of every twitch and flick in grading and failing students, and he absolutely does not tolerate mediocrity and laxity in teaching. He also has an unerring knack of guessing a person’s capabilities as well as his weaknesses. And he doesn’t mince words, he would tell you outright what he thinks you did, did not do and must do.
An excellent example of this AVP’s sheer insightfulness is the big-time formation of an overseas agency, which is not exactly a walk-in-the-park undertaking. Sir Flint’s somewhat austere charisma, combined with his quick intelligence and a surprisingly endearing nature, has counterbalanced the administration’s flexibility and corroborated its motives of aiming for nothing but the best for the college. He symbolizes an immovable pillar in DMC’s Parthenon.
The AVP-Administration comprises of the various operations, services and other non-academic offices of the college, and is headed by the bright, youthful and very efficient Gerald T. Concha, MPA. Sir Gerry is a classic paradigm of power and sophistication. His great propensity for class makes him the perfect overall marketing man of DMC. It is through Sir Gerry’s brilliant insights that DMC’s image and profile flourished in the critical public eye. His talent of presenting DMC and all its glory through multimedia marketing has made people realize the enormous prospects of DMC as big, academically competitive institution. His pet project was IT Center and the College of Computer Studies, and now that his plans have materialized with exceptional success, he now faces the challenge of advancing the CCS into a Center of Development and Excellence (CODE-IT) in Region IX. The Night class program of the BSN and the E. Y. Tan Scholarship Program are two more of his brilliant ideas. He is the driving force behind computerization and technology applications inside the classrooms. His unparalleled creativity and finesse have enjoined the rest of the school to look and act the professionals that they are, as he believes in maintaining propriety and decorum inside the campus at all times, and is rarely seen in an informal setting. When Sir Flint gives DMC wisdom, Sir Gerry gives it class.
Engineer Richard T. Concha, the Assistant Vice President for Administrative Services, is the man behind all the magnificent buildings and infrastructures of DMC. He controls the physical plant of the school, which encompasses everything from actual construction of each physical asset from four-storey buildings to faculty tables, to rigorous maintenance and massive clean-ups, from offices to grounds. Engr. Concha, or Sir Mao as informally known by employees, heads the school’s physical workforce with strength and genius. He usually is silent and enigmatic, but his ideas rise around the school as gigantic manifestations of his art. It is unnecessary to enumerate what his contributions to DMCCFI are because they are all over the campus like titans. Though one of his projects is soon to rise, and which everyone should know about: Sir Mao has started the preliminary preparations of DMC’s first-ever (and undoubtedly the city’s first ever) first-class covered court, right at the heart of the campus! Its materials are fabricated from Korea, and according to a very reliable source, its estimated date of completion is within the third quarter of the school year. Sir Mao’s vision for the school has always been polished to perfection, and combined with his penchant for speed and efficiency, his projects are never delayed. This AVP gives the entire DMC its framework, working tirelessly to realize his vision of giving the school its worth in terms of beauty, greatness and strength.