Engineer Eduardo Morales Santos (1936-2014) leaves his imprint as a great humanist and advocate of public education. With his characteristic vision of future, he promoted the opening of programs like Medicine, Journalism, Psychology and Architecture, as well as several projects to transform Universidad de Santiago in an institution of excellence.
On behalf of the University community, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi expressed his “deep regret” at the loss of “someone who really loved this institution” and his gratitude for “the big contribution that Eduardo Morales made to our University.”
Eduardo Morales Santos (1936-2014) was much more than an electrical civil engineer, former professor and superior counselor to Universidad Católica, Universidad Técnica del Estado and Universidad de Santiago. And he was much more than the President of Universidad de Santiago for two consecutive terms. He was a great humanist.
He became part of the institutional history as he was the first University President elected after the return of democracy, when he took over 24 years ago, on August 17th, 1990.
Since he arrived in the Presidency of Universidad de Santiago, he set as an immediate goal the transformation of this university in a complex and complete institution. Just like he said at that time, the University had to be transformed in a multidimensional institution.
He was studious, committed and had a vision of future; he planned a world-class university and to achieve this goal it was necessary to open it and make it more complex. Therefore, during the first two years of his first term, he presented a variety of possibilities to allow Universidad de Santiago to develop in fundamental fields like engineering (without leaving aside the institution’s historical tradition); education; medical sciences; sciences in all their complexity; and social sciences and humanities.
The challenge was huge, but Eduardo Morales accepted it. After his first three years in the Presidency, new programs and institutes were opened and the organizational structure was modified. Between 1992 and 1993 the Center of Research in Creativity and Higher Education (CICES); the Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA); the Faculty of Medical Sciences with its Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Obstetrics and Puericulture; the School of Journalism; the School of Architecture; the School of Psychology; the Technological Faculty; the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology; the Center for Bioethics and Public Health program; the Comenius program and the Sello Editorial university press, started their activities,
With a new organizational structure, the University took charge of the country’s demands and offered 16 new programs. In his own words, it was “a big step”, especially at producing new knowledge for areas important to the country, such as humanities, social sciences and medical sciences. Indeed, he said that he had recently presented a project to open the law school in our University, an idea that was eventually rejected by the Academic Council and the Board of Directors.
He did not forget graduate programs and during his two terms seven master’s programs were opened: Master´s in Telecommunications; Master´s in Informatics Engineering; Master´s in Industrial Engineering; Master´s in Tax Management and Planning; Master´s in Financial Economics; Master´s in Public Management; and Master’s in Administration and Human Resources Management. Also the following doctoral programs were started: PhD in Engineering Sciences with a Major in Automation; PhD in Engineering Sciences with a Major in Materials Science; PhD in American Studies, and the PhD in Sciences with a Major in Physics.
“Today, Universidad de Santiago stands like a more complex and complete institution with the creation of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Schools of Journalism, Psychology and Architecture. We are a Class- A university, according to the American ranking, which are the institutions with the highest level of development,” he said then, reassuring the work he had done since 1990 for two terms.
Reconciliation
Eduardo Morales was elected the University President at a very difficult political moment. He was the first University President in democracy and the first in taking a decisive step at establishing the UTE-Usach University Reconciliation Commission, which final report stated that, between September 1973 and March 1990, there were 88 people executed or detained/disappeared for political reasons.
This process concluded with a big act of redress on December 04th, 1991, when the families of the dictatorship victims of our campus received the certificates that recognized their relatives as students of our University.
First steps for inclusion
Inclusion, the imprint of Universidad de Santiago, started during Eduardo Morales’ Presidency. In 1992 the University opened its doors to talented students from public municipality-administered schools, giving a 5% of the Academic Aptitude Test (PAA, in Spanish) score to those students who were among the best of their class.
The University continued with this system for over 10 years until the Cruch (Council of University Presidents of Chile) forced it to finish it. Today, a similar mechanism has become a public policy through the class ranking; more than two decades ago it was just a quixotic act.
Eduardo Morales dared to dream big and said that we had to think of the University that we wanted in the long term. “By 2050, Universidad de Santiago should be among the 100 best universities of the world,” he said in 2012.
That was him: He imagined and dreamt the University as a big one, because he trusted the talents, energy and commitment of everyone who is part of this institution.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
Watch the interview that Eduardo Morales gave to the Department of Communications for the 20th anniversary of the Faculty of Medical Sciences
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