On January 27 this year, in the Auditorium of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and under the presidency of the Minister of Science of the Spanish Government, Menéndez Pelayo was appointed Rector of the International University, Dr. Professor Ángel Pelayo González-Torrebecame the sixteenth rector of this unique university.
This act, solemn and sober, was even more than an administrative intermediary: it symbolized institutional support for a solid academic and human trajectory, coherent and deeply compromised with the public university, critical thinking and the international project of knowledge.
The appointment of Ángel Pelayo as part of the Ministry undoubtedly represents a definite and timely decision.
At a time that requires intellectual leadership, governmental experience and a humanistic conception of knowledge, the choice of a new rector of UIMP expresses a clear desire to strengthen a university that has historically had room for dialogue, openness and excellence.
The Ministry not only recognized the perfect trajectory, but adopted the form of understanding the university as a public service and as a critical consciousness of his time.
“True friendship is the slow ripening of affection and friendship,” he wrote Cicero.
Ángel Pelayo González-Torre.
Few university experiences will enable us to prove this with as much truth as the work shared in the service of an institution we love.
There are companions who are there by circumstance, and there are others, a very few, who become part of that elegiac family that life builds with time, loyalty, and intellectual complicity.
I met Ángel Pelayo González-Torre during the years we shared management responsibilities at Menéndez Pelayo International University, during the directorship Salvador Ordonez.
“Working alongside Ángel Pelayo has always been like navigating with someone who knows the maps well but doesn’t forget to look at the horizon.”
They were years of intense work, constant travel, complete decisions and absolute dedication to the university we intended and pursued as a public service to thought, science and culture.
At this time, between academic inaugurations, courses in Verano, headquarters dedicated to Spanish geography and great conversations beyond, it was the discovery of a relationship that went beyond professional transform into a deep, calm and faithful friendship.
Working alongside Angelo Pelay has always been like navigating with someone who knows the maps well but never forgets to look at the horizon.
Discreet in form, firm in principle, generous in treatment, he skilfully combined intellectual rigor with a rare human quality: the ability to care for people without giving up claims.
Because these lines were born only from the institutional recognition of the new rector of UIMP and also from the sincere affection of the person with whom he shared a common project, a form of understanding of the university and an honorable way of being in the world.
In this time of intense work and joint projects, my heart and love are also directed in a very special way to two exceptional women who have been the soul and support of the government team of Governor Salvador Ordóñez.
Mari Cruz Díaza great agricultural engineer, president of the Real Colegio de Ingenieros Agrónomos and an academic of enormous prestige, she was much more than a vice-chancellor to all of us: she was a solid and warm refuge. Like a good earth that nourishes without becoming visible, let us become the people we work with on our sidewe care, literally, like a sandy and generous mother.
you are to her Virginia Maquieiraable to organize the cultural life of UIMP as usual, to endow every activity with feeling, beauty and humanity. He observed the right word and the appropriate gesture; it was like background music harmonizing, accompanying and giving voice.
This same coral concept of the university also supports the relationship with the directors of the UIMP offices, the authentic stewards of the spirit of the institution in each territory.
Each occupies a very special place Antonio Monclúsa great friend, co-supervisor of my doctoral thesis and director of the headquarters of La Línea de la Concepción during the decisive years. Antonio was and still is one of those university students who taught without raising their voice: firm in principle, generous in support, deep in reflection.
Falleció happened ten years ago, but its presence remains alive, latent and constant in my mind and in my heart.
Junto and el, Carmen Sabana great academic, co-supervisor of my diploma thesis Antonio and above all a great person, an unconditional and admirable friend. Carmen had that rare virtue of combining intellectual rigor and human kindness; It is one of these presences who support the essential without the need for protagonism.
There are universities that are ranked according to statistics. And there are others, the less, who are recognized a little longer; a way of thinking and being in the world. Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo belongs to this last line.
To talk about UIMP is to talk about the geography of thought. Santander, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona, Cuenca, Cartagena, A Coruña, Pirineos, Madrid and La Línea de la Concepción. Each location is a space where knowledge enters the territory and opens up to the world.
Traveling with UIMP means participating in a shared intellectual experience, where academic dialogue continues beyond the classroom.
And you have a place that thickens your spirit, that is the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander. With a view of the sea, the university acquires a symbolic dimension. Allí el paisaje forms part of the idea.
With a special love and with that calm nostalgia that in itself allows time to be so alive, I remember the dinners and meals at Magdalena, shared with my dear friend Ángel Pelay, when the university was expanded into a red table and academic dialogue turned into human conversation.
“Angelo Pelayo’s deep love for his dear brothers, extraordinary women, is an essential part of his human balance.”
Below, these techniques borne by history coincide with personalities who form part of the intellectual and moral memory of our time: Queen Sofia; Mario Vargas Llosa; Gregorio Peces-Barbamaster of masters and master of the Angel; the president of the united states of america Jimmy Carter; Nobel Mario Molina; Margarita Salasthe most important Spanish science of the 20th century and a helpful friend, in which the Qi school celebrates its 25th anniversary this year; Montserrat Caballé I wonder and always record Teresa Berganzawhose voice and humanity ennoble each other; my friend Bernardo Hernandezan example of Spanish talent on the global stage; y Philip VI y Letizia Ortizformer princes of Asturias and at present our most desirable kings of Spain.
These events were a celebration of the idea. As I wrote it French philosopher“conversation is the most fruitful exercise of the spirit”.
And as night fell, the Cantabrian light streamed through the crystals, the sound of the cubes marked the suspended rhythm of time, and footsteps resonated in the pasillos of the palace. Posts one understood, p Ortega and Gassetwhich only moves forward when it thinks big and looks small.
There is, moreover, an intimate dimension that accompanies and explains the way of being Angel Pelayo. A deep bond with your loved ones, special women, is an essential part of your human balance.
And above all her affections, she will always remember her mother, with whom she shared unconditional love. Let’s think about it, from this quiet place where people live, we are taught to love without thinking, reflect today with justified pride on the journey of your beloved child.
With Ángel Pelay at the helm, the UIMP begins a new era in full time, which calls for open, international, interdisciplinary and deeply compromised universities with the great achievements of our time.
The 21st century university requires intellectual rigor, memory, innovation, and a vocation to public service.
The journey continues.
With rumbo signatures.
And with the conviction that knowledge, however alive, it continues to be one of the highest forms of service to society.
*** Fernando de Saavedra is the patron of UIMP Campo de Gibraltar.
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