Among these three candidates, the replacement of Alejandro Gaviria will be elected as rector of the Universidad de los Andes

The three names that will seek to assume as rector at the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, were defined. This Tuesday, the Nominating Committee, appointed by the institution's Steering Committee, reached the final stage of the process seeking the election of the new director.

“After analyzing and evaluating the resumes of a significant number of internal and external candidates, in the light of the profile defined for the position and consultations with different levels of the Uni-Andean community, the Nominating Committee agreed to submit the names of Raquel Bernal, Ana María Ibáñez and Eduardo Behrentz to consideration of the members of the High Council. All three have the required professional and academic characteristics and meet the profile established for this election,” said the Andes in a statement.

The election of the new rector will take place next Wednesday, April 20 at 11:00 a.m. and, as the institution pointed out, the winner “will be announced to the community immediately if elected”.

“The Nominating Committee has endeavored to keep both the members of the Superior Council and the entire university community informed about the evolution of this process. He wanted to do so in a participatory and transparent way, always keeping in mind the enormous responsibility of the High Council to choose the person who will lead the destiny of the University in the coming years,” said the communication.

One of the main objectives of the new rector (a) is to “implement the Institutional Development Programme (PDI) as a roadmap in the medium term, understanding that it may require adjustments in the face of the uncertainty generated by changes in the environment”.

Let us remember that Alejandro Gaviria resigned from office as rector of the Andes, in August last year, to start his campaign as presidential candidate. The former Minister of Health joined the Esperanza Center Coalition in search of imposing himself in inter-party consultations. However, let's remember, he finished fourth with 336,504 votes, with Sergio Fajardo being the winner (723,475 votes).

After Gaviria's departure, Bernal became the rector in charge of the institution. He is an economist from the Universidad de los Andes with a Ph. D. in Economics, New York University (2003). He has been in charge of several projects to evaluate the impact of early childhood care programs. These works have received funding from the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, the Jacobs Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, among other institutions.

She was a professor at the Faculty of Economics between 2006 and 2014 and is among the 10 most cited economists in Colombia, according to the Research Papers in Economics (RePEC) system.

She is an economist at the Universidad de los Andes, where she also served as dean of the Faculty of Economics, and Ph. D. in Agricultural Economics and Natural Resources from the University of Maryland. She also worked as a visiting professor at Yale University and in other entities such as Fedevelopment.

Among his most prominent publications are: Forced Displacement in Colombia: A Path of No Return to Poverty, as well as the book Economic and Social Costs of Conflict in Colombia: How to Build a Sustainable Post-Conflict, together with María Alejandra Arias, Adriana Camacho, Daniel Mejía and Catherine Rodriguez.

As explained by the educational institution, through its digital portal, this is “civil engineer and master's degree in environmental engineering from the Universidad de los Andes. He holds a doctorate in environmental science and engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health, from which he graduated with honors.”

Likewise, Behrentz worked as dean of the Faculty of Engineering and director of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He was also vice-rector for development.

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