The Uruguayan benchmark for university extension was recognized in an emotional act at the ECU. “I want to thank this distinction that, although it is personal, it is also collective, because what I carry in my backpack are collective constructions”, he expressed moved.
La Universidad Nacional de Rosario distinguished the Uruguayan Humberto Tommasino with the title Doctor Honoris Causa in an emotional ceremony that took place at dusk on Friday, April 29 at the University Cultural Space (ECU).
With an affectionate audience that applauded the honoree over and over again, the recognition was led by the rector of the UNR, Franco Bartolacci and the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Arts, Alejandro Vila, who sponsored the distinction to the Uruguayan , a Latin American benchmark for university extension.
Bartolacci highlighted the breadth of the auditorium that filled the ECU with faces of joy, with tears in their eyes, to which the honoree was in charge of thanking almost one by one when, upon entering, he walked towards the podium and stopped to greet the public . The rector also highlighted the magnitude of the audience that followed the act through the transmission of the Official YouTube Channel of the UNR. “Almost on the same day that Lula was honored,” he recalled.
“It is a pleasure and a privilege to be able to give him this recognition, it is a caress, a caress from the Public University to Humberto, which is a synthesis of being a university student as we claim it to be”, summarized Bartolacci, who thanked Tommasino for his generosity, “something not very common in academia”.
“In general, when institutions decide to recognize someone with a degree of such importance, they emphasize the abilities of that person and also what type of institution we want to be, what mirror we choose, what university we want. With this title to Humberto we prioritize the university we want to build, the one we project, the one we want it to be”, argued the rector.
Bartolacci took advantage of the occasion to recognize the extension work of the UNR led by Eng. Santiago Dearma. “It is one of the fundamental tasks that our university fulfills the mandate of a university in the territory, what many young people dreamed of more than a century ago in Córdoba, in the University Reform, and find in the work of Humberto, and in the work of each one of you, to that university that considers itself linked to the problems, and to the situations of your society, of your people”.
Before, Alejandro Vila, exclaimed: “It is a very important day for the UNR, for the recognition of the enormous academic trajectory of the admired Humberto Tommasino. I want to dwell on the special merit for the work in the university extension, that means prioritizing the extension, promoting knowledge, expanding the universe of the university”.
"Humberto Tommasino is a benchmark of the best traditions of the university, of what we project for our house of studies, that recognizes the knowledge of society and incorporates it into university life, he comes from Uruguay but always talks to us about the Homeland Great to build a better future, another destiny”, added the Dean of Humanities.
academic trajectory
Matias Agustin Apa, Senior Teaching Advisor of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, was the one who promoted the laudatio to Tommasino and was in charge of covering the academic and professional career of the Uruguayan who is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Technology from the University of the Republic of Uruguay , with postgraduate degrees such as a Master's Degree in Rural Extension from the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, and is also a PhD in Environment and Development from the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil.
During his journey through university management, he was Pro Rector of Extension of the University of the Republic (2006-2014) and President of the Latin American Union of University Extension (2007-2009).
He is also Associate Professor of the Extension Area, Coordinator of the Department of Social Sciences and Coordinator of the Master's Degree in Education and Rural Extension. In his imprint as a researcher and teacher, he has published numerous articles in magazines and books related to sustainable development and the University and rural Extension; and he was a speaker at congresses in various countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
"Critical extension, political path of a university in transformation"
Before beginning his conference, Tommasino dedicated words of thanks to repay so many compliments. "I wanted to thank this distinction that although it is personal, it is really collective, because what I carry in my backpack are collective constructions, with teachers, with graduates, social movements of the popular sectors with whom we have been working for 40 years, it is a tribute to them who have taught us during all these years and with whom we will continue working and working”.
Then he developed the conference entitled: "Critical extension, political path of a university in transformation" in which he urged to reinvent the university, to socialize the production of knowledge, to promote group educational processes, "where we can all teach, university students and the popular sectors, together in a democratic space of mutual interaction with a possibility of interpellation of knowledge”.
“I have wonderful memories of working in the neighborhoods, that marked us, it took us to discover worlds that we did not see, since we come from the middle sectors, more affluent, and suddenly, being in a villa finds us with other situations, with other knowledge , and this to see how an honorable life is led with what others threw away, with what was left over from society. Those beginnings have marked me forever, learning linked to social movements that led me to think of another world, another better world ”, he concluded.
Journalist: Micaela Pereyra / Photographer: Pablo Correa