Up-close and Personal with the ASCOTs First Lady President

For twenty two years of existence, the Aurora State College of Technology (ASCOT)
was managed and administered by gent presidents. Not until this year when Dr. Doracie
Zoleta-Nantes won the presidential post and garnered majority votes casted by the
members of the ASCOT Board of Trustees (BOT). On May 15, 2015, before Hon. Patricia B.
Licuanan, Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of the Philippines
and members of the ASCOT BOT, Dr. Doracie Zoleta-Nantes took her Oath as the firstever woman being elected as the ASCOT President.
Dr. Nantes is happily married to Engineer Cristofin "Boy" Nantes and they have a
wonderful daughter named Maria Josefa, a licensed medical doctor, whom she fondly
calls Doc Joey. Although she may be considered to have a very small family, theirs is
one that is bound by love, united by God with complete package. Her family is where she
gets strong sense of motivation and inspiration to pursue her deep sense of passion to
serve with all shes got which according to her, reflects the very essence of her
existence.
She is also a former visiting fellow of the Crawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia
and the Pacific of the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia and a former UP
Professor with specialization on Environmental Geography, Hazards and Disaster Studies,
Gender and Development, Agrarian Studies, Geographic Education, Urban Geography
and Political Ecology. She obtained her Doctoral Degree in Environmental Hazards and
Disaster Management at a prestigious university in New Jersey, the Rutgers University,
her MS in Geography at University of Hawaii and her Bachelors Degree in Human
Ecology at the University of the Philippines, Los Baos, where she graduated Cum Laude.
It is very impressing that Dr. Nantes finished her bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees
as a recipient of the following scholarship programs: Ministry of Natural Resources
Scholarship Grant, The East West Center Scholarship and the Fulbright grant. This
showed that a daughter of a farming family, with perseverance and hard work can get
the best education that one needs in order to help one's country.
Her passion in public service was intensified when Typhoon Yolanda struck the
Philippines. It made her decide to come back to the Philippines and helped the people
become more aware and resilient to the possible hazards and damages that may be
brought and caused by certain disasters and calamities. With these considerations, she
applied for presidency. At that point, she asked guidance from our Almighty God to use
her as an instrument to wherever He sees her work might be fitted, helpful and
beneficial. She let the amazing grace and Divine Providence of the Lord work upon her
and put all her trust and deepest faith in Him.
According to her, being an ASCOT President is not a choice but a destiny. Lots of
opportunities came across her way but she turned it all down due to her profound
commitment to serve her fellow Filipinos. One of which was the job offered by the
Australian National University. She really made her mind set to offer herself and serve
again in her native land. She is more than willing to apply all the knowledge that she
gained in the first world country. She strongly believes that God led her in the developing
Province of Aurora, with vast natural resources and absolute beauty that has magic and
a very promising Paradise of the Pacific because she has a purpose to fulfill to be a

channel of goodwill, beacon of hope and to be a pillar of success for the youth. She also
has a very strong will to fight possible forms of corruption that may occur as a result of
malpractice of profession within her area of responsibility.
Looking at her management style, she loves the principle of innovation and with that, she
started working out on introducing systems and polishing procedures that may be very
useful in the smooth facilitation and administration of her proposed programs and
courses of action in the College. At the same time, she is focusing on the housekeeping
side of the College, particularly in four areas which include: Instruction, Extension,
Research and Production mainly for the purpose of capacitating human resources,
evaluating the condition of ongoing projects, assessing nature of researches and
reviewing and verifying the financial status of the College.
Dr. Nantes will lead and serve the College for four years, from 2015 to 2019. Within this
period, she is very hopeful to contribute small acts of changes and improvement that
may leave great impact and legacy for the development of the whole ASCOT community.
Being a woman of action with deep sense of courage, integrity, perseverance,
commitment, and dedication, she is very much ready to face the challenges and more
than willing to roll her sleeves for the betterment of ASCOT. Surely, her life will be an
inspiration not only to her immediate family in ASCOT but to the constituents in the
neighboring communities of the province, as well.