It was just by chance. Yes, THE Nora C. Quebral actually dropped by ATI in mid-August this year. Prof. Stella Tirol of the UPLB-College of Development Communication (DevCom) was meeting with ATI-KPMD management -- Niet Arceo and Pam Mappala -- and myself regarding a proposed study funded by ATI. To our surprise, Dr. Quebral, yes THE NCQ, UPLB Professor Emeritus, THE MOTHER of DevCom, tagged along for a separate itinerary. While I frequently bumped into her when I was still at UPLB, this was a rare visit. So, after our meeting, I asked if I could have a souvenir photo with her. To which, she warmly obliged. Again, this was a rare chance. As a product of UPLB-DevCom, I felt it was an honor for me to have a photo with the woman behind the "art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of society and the mass of its people..." And likewise, the group was ecstatic to have these exclusive photo ops with the grande dame herself. Ever prim and proper with that so characteristically NCQish gait, I thought she was sweetly amused by all that.

Dr. Quebral did confide later that she can't remember my face but that my name was indeed familiar, I hope not with an air of notoriety. I didn't get the opportunity to be her student but I did get the privilege of working for her for a short period. She was the one who signed my appointment papers in '83 for a training assistant post at the then Department of Development Communication. That was my first job and it was right after graduation. One of the earlier things I did for her was the cover and page layout (yes in the age of screen grafix and letraset transfer letters over the lightbox) of her 1988 book simply titled Development Communication -- a required reading in DevCom courses.

If you're not into DevCom yet, Google the lady. There's a Wiki about her, though not too authoritative. I'd rather direct you to a more recent accolade given by the London School of Economics and Political Science posted at the Orecomm, titled Doctor honoris causa: Mother of Development Communication.

How about DevCom people in ATI? This is by choice. By my last count, there are 10 alumni of UPLB-DevCom who are in the network of ATI, who are deep into development communication work, who espouse and practice the tenets propagated by Nora Quebral:

Niet Arceo, ATI Central Office - KPMD, lady captain of Team KPMD, the same ATI team that brought to us e-extension;
Pam Mappala, ATI Central Office - KPMD, Ms. Niet's co-captain and chief steward steering the ship when the captain is on land;
Benedict Natividad, ATI Central Office - KPMD, e-learning's point-guard delivering critical assists to our pool of courseware developers;
Yovina-Claire Pauig, ATI Central Office - KPMD, the Farmers' Contact Center's first draft pick when it started out as Text Support;
Maui Cosico, ATI Central Office, the original SOA lady;
Libay Inciong, ATI-ITCPH, pride of Lipa and resident webmanager, e-extension coordinator cum courseware developer of ITCPH;
Quezy Sison, ATI-ITCPH, the other half of ITCPH's courseware developers, and she can also give AI in pig;
Josephine Darm, ATI-MiMaRoPa, the center's own assiduous writer with an embedded smile;
Cirlo Nuyles, ATI-Bicol, head honcho of the Regional Training Center's Technical Services Support Section;
Grace Pungay, ATI-Central Visayas, demure yet ever reliable media production specialist of the center.
And of course, there was also Rex Navarro who served as ATI Director during Secretary William Dar's term.

There you go. I hope I didn't miss anybody. If I did, do let me know, or better yet, add in the comments. This list, however, does not include yet the rest of our "beauties and the best" in the other centers who are DevCom graduates from BSU, CLSU, VSU, XU -- where NCQ's book was also required reading.

Postscript. By way of a trivia, 6 from the list above have been my students at one time. You can start guessing.