With a renewed vision, academic leadership and a strong commitment to institutional transformation, the Universidad Industrial de Santander has officially appointed the management team that will accompany Rector Hernán Porras Díaz during the period 2025-2028.
This new administrative cycle is consolidated with the appointment of academic and administrative leaders who have demonstrated a deep sense of belonging to the university and a clear commitment to innovation, educational equity and strengthening research with social impact.
During the ceremony, the following took office:
Olga Mercedes Álvarez Ojeda, as academic vice rector.
Cristian Blanco Tirado, as Vice Rector for Research and Extension.
Hernando Guerrero Amaya, as director of the Center for Teaching Development (Cededuis).
Sonia Cristina Gamboa, as head of the Publications Division.
Luis Fernando Arévalo, as dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences.
Professor Olga Mercedes Álvarez Ojeda assumed her new position with gratitude and determination, emphasizing her commitment to student-centered education: “I face this challenge with great commitment, with great tenacity, with great determination and convinced that teamwork is what really takes us where we want to go”. She also mentioned as a priority the strengthening of teaching, the comprehensive evaluation of the teaching staff and the expansion of academic coverage in remote regions of the country.
For his part, Professor Cristian Blanco Tirado emphasized the need to connect the UIS even more with the social and productive environment. “It is a great challenge that the rector has entrusted me with, to make several changes and transformations within the Vice Rector’s Office, with the purpose of directing the university towards our graduates, towards the community in general,” he said. He also emphasized his interest in promoting the science, technology and innovation ecosystem: “Scientific developments must be transformed into benefits for society: spin-offs, technology transfer, entrepreneurship that empowers the region”.
Regarding research, one of the pillars of the academy, he emphasized that “the research objectives are very clear, we must continue to support our research groups, promoting their structuring, stability and development, accompanying them in the processes of strengthening their infrastructure, both physical and technological, and additionally improving, in my opinion, what should become a science ecosystem within the University itself; and is to leverage, for example, also the issue of internal calls and help them to become excellent managers of resources that are available not only at regional, national, but also international level”.
With the incorporation of this team, the UIS strengthens its institutional roadmap, aimed at consolidating its academic leadership, expanding its national and international projection and generating real impact in the communities.The management that begins not only proposes to continue with the achievements made, but also to take the university to new levels of excellence, inclusion and transformation.
Thus, the UIS looks forward, with a rector’s team that reflects the diversity of talents and the firm will to build a university ever closer to the challenges of the present and the opportunities of the future.
These are the directors and administrative staff who will accompany this rector’s term of office:
- Sofía Pinzón Durán, General Secretary.
- Olga Mercedes Álvarez Ojeda, Vice Rector for Academics.
- Gerardo Latorres Bayona, Vice Rector for Administration.
- Cristian Blanco Tirado, Vice Rector for Research and Extension.
- Gonzalo Alberto Patiño Benavidez, director of IPRED.
- Amado Antonio Rincón Guerrero, director of IdEAD
- Olga Patricia Ortiz Cancino, director of Graduate Studies
- Pedro Antonio García Obando, director of the UIS Library
- Hernando Guerrero Amaya, director of CEDEUIS
- Alexandra Cortés Aguilar, director of Planning.
- Aura Cecilia Pedraza Avella, director, UIAES
- Sonia Cristina Gamboa, head of the Publications Division.
- Jorge Villamizar Morales, UIS manager in Territories.
During the presentation ceremony of his work team, Rector Hernán Porras Díaz thanked the tireless work of Professors Daniel Sierra Bueno, Fernando Rondón and Cecilia Ojeda, who served as Vice Rectors for Academics and Research and Extension, and as Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences.
