For the first time in its 70-year history, Universidad de los Andes appoints a woman as rector

The University of the Andes announced on Wednesday afternoon that, through its Superior Council, they appointed Raquel Bernal Salazar as the new rector of the institution, thus becoming the first woman to hold that position in the 74-year history of the university.

The Uni-Andean economist was elected three weeks after the Nominating Committee, appointed by the institution's Steering Committee, selected her and the other graduates from the Andes, economist Ana María Ibáñez and civil engineer Eduardo Behrentz, as the three candidates to lead the university.

Bernal, who is also a master's degree and PhD in Economics from New York University, has been linked as a professor at the Faculty of Economics since 2006 and as a tenured professor since 2014. In addition, since August 27, 2021, she was serving as rector in charge of the Andes, after Alejandro Gaviria resigned to run as presidential pre-candidate in the 2022 elections.

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According to the University of Los Andes, the institution's current rector has been ranked among the 10 most cited economists in Colombia, according to the Research Papers in Economics (RePEC), for her research for her doctorate at New York University.

From 2019 to 2021, the economist from Universidad de los Andes held the position of academic vice-rector of the same institution, where she was responsible for leading the process of adapting face-to-face to virtuality, following the arrival of covid-19 in Colombia.

During that period of time as vice-rector, the institution stressed that “she led the team that built the Integral Development Program, which marks the University's roadmap for the next five years: with dreams, initiatives, reforms, investments and concrete goals.”

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Among her professional career with the Universidad de los Andes, Bernal also served as director of the institution's Center for Economic Development Studies (CEDE) (2012- 2017); member of the ethics committee (2013) and the Faculty of Economics (2012 - 2017); member of the planning committee of the Faculties of Economics, Administration and Engineering, and of the Superior Council of Uniandes (2016-2017).

The rector of the Andes resume is completed by her teaching position at Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) between 2002 and 2007, and her leadership in the institution's Colombian Longitudinal Survey initiative between 2012 and 2017, with which, according to Uniandes, she secured “about USD 2 million for financing two stages and specifying the consortium with DANE so that ELCA (now known as ELCO) would become part of the country's survey inventory.”

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