San Juan, September 1, 2023 - The Inter-American University of Puerto Rico (UIPR) and the Puerto Rican academic world were solemn and enthusiastic as they celebrated the Investiture Ceremony of Dr. Rafael Ramírez Rivera as the eleventh president of this institution since its founding in March 1912.
Presidents and rectors of universities in Puerto Rico, officials of institutions affiliated with higher education in and outside Puerto Rico, representatives of government and private enterprise, officials of the Inter-American University and an enthusiastic group of the university community, including faculty, administrative staff and students, were present at the investiture. The UIPR Board of Trustees, which was the body responsible for ratifying the appointment of the new president, actively participated in this emotional ceremony. The secretary of the Board, Dr. Eliezer Álvarez, led the investiture ceremonies. The protocol ceremony was held in the theater of the Metro Campus.
“From our university, we raise our voice to exclaim that the future can be created and that it can happen; that the education we do is an act of faith and solidarity; that our disciplines, curricula and courses weave desires for the future and are embedded in history, in culture, in the record of struggle and mourning, in the desire for permanence and all that we want to recover,” expressed the president of the UIPR in his message for the occasion.
From the podium, he expressed the importance of the educational responsibility that falls on the faculty. “We are the workers of knowledge and we have to answer to our country how we are going to prepare ourselves and how we are going to educate children, young people and adults to perform in a new era of unusual transformations and major and radical uncertainties”.
Dr. Ramirez Rivera also issued a challenge to the university community. “To the university community, represented here, I throw a challenge to build the university that has the responsibility to guarantee a first class education, excellence and relevance for the generations we do not know. He also advocated not to stop having illusions. We are also going to urge you, on this journey, not to leave your illusions behind. Illusions are not heavy and are necessary to live a truly new life, but without hiding the real suffering of the many that our educational proposal must seek, educate and transform”.
“In the university we are interested in contributing to the development of the inner voice of our students so that they can face trivial and cheap propaganda, ideological fanaticism, manipulative advertising... We must teach them not to allow themselves to be manipulated in their emotions and intellect, which makes it more difficult to meet and live with the heart,” said Dr. Ramirez Rivera.
Dr. Rafael Ramírez Rivera has a long history of work and commitment to higher education and to Inter-American University, which makes him worthy of this investiture. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Puerto Rico and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from the Inter-American University Metro Campus. In addition, he has participated and studied in several management schools and has been part of several international research programs. He served as president of Humacao Community College, administrator of the Escuela de Carreras Técnicas of Antilles College in San Juan, president of Columbia College, Director of the Office of Licensing and Accreditation of the Puerto Rico Council of Higher Education and as President of Huertas Junior College. For 15 years, he was rector of the Arecibo campus of the UIPR until last year, when he took over the presidency of the University on an interim basis.
The first president of what we know today as Inter-American University was its founder, the American Reverend Dr. John Will Harris, who was in charge until 1937. He was succeeded by four American presidents: Jarvis S. Morris, Edward Seel, Roland C. Bauer and Raymond Hoxeng. In 1969, the Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Sol Luis Descartes, former Treasurer of Puerto Rico, Secretary of the Treasury until 1955 and Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority until 1960, as the sixth and first Puerto Rican president. Since then, the following five presidents have been Puerto Ricans.
The president of Inter-American University has the complex and challenging task of planning, directing, supervising, evaluating and centralizing the administrative, academic and student operations of the university system composed of more than 30,000 people, including students, faculty and administrative staff at its nine campuses, two professional schools, educational centers outside Puerto Rico, schools and the system's central office.