The Rector is the highest unipersonal authority responsible for governing the University and managing its assets in accordance with the provisions of the Corporation’s statutes. Rodrigo Vidal Rojas, PhD in Urban Planning, is currently in charge of the Rector’s Office.
See the Rector’s Office Website here
Rector’s Resume
Rodrigo Vidal Rojas is an architect who completed his studies at the University of Bío Bío. He furthered his academic background with master’s degrees in Social Sciences and Urban Design from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He brings 37 years of experience in professional practice, teaching, and research within the university environment. His work has encompassed fields such as education, urban and architectural design, environmental sustainability, and heritage preservation. For over three decades, he has undertaken various responsibilities in university management, including leadership, planning, and institutional coordination. At the University of Santiago, Chile (USACH), he has served in a number of capacities, including as a member of the USACH Restructuring Commission, Vice President of the Infrastructure Commission, and Director for the Master Plan and Campus Management. He also served as Director of the School of Architecture and as Academic Vice-Rector. Additionally, he was the founder and first Director of the Integrated Master's Degree in Architectural Design (MIDA). Professor Vidal Rojas has also contributed as a manager and evaluator in higher committees for the Academic Vice-Rector's Office, the Postgraduate Vice-Rector's Office, and the Vice-Rector's Office for Research, Development, and Innovation. He has served as editor of the Journal of Architecture and Culture, a peer evaluator for CNA Chile and Qualitas, and a member of various institutional, national, and international evaluation and planning committees.
Since August 2022, he has been Rector of the University of Santiago, Chile, as well as a member of the Governing Council of UNESCO's Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC); member of the Steering Committee of the Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group (AUGM); member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of State Universities (CUECH); Rector in charge of the Internationalization Commission of the Council of Rectors of Chile and President of the Consortium for Access to Electronic Scientific Information (CINCEL).
-See Rector Rodrigo Vidal Rojas’s resume
Executive Director of the Rector’s Office
The principal objective of the Executive Office of the Rector encompasses several critical functions: providing comprehensive support to the Rector in university management, maintaining the President’s informed status regarding corporate activity development, managing coordination efforts with respective University Government authorities, implementing the Rector’s strategic directives concerning University Government management, monitoring the University Government program’s progress, and ensuring the optimal administrative performance of the Executive Office.
The Executive Office of the Rector is organized into three functional areas:
- Communications Management and Public Relations
- Protocol
- Administrative Area
This task currently falls to Noemí Quintana Duarte.
Communications Manager of the Rector’s Office
The mission of the Communication Management and Public Relations Department is to strategically plan the Rector’s Office’s communications, both internally and externally, and to determine the institution’s communication guidelines, in direct coordination with the University Government’s communication departments.
Belén Pellegrini Pfeffer is currently in charge of this task.
University Ombudsman Unit
The purpose of this unit is to defend the human and labor rights of the members of the Usach community.