Daniel Contreras
The content of this news item has been machine translated and may contain some inaccuracies with respect to the original content published in Spanish.
On October 7th, the Association of PUCP Alumni and Graduates (AEG - PUCP) held its XXIII Ceremony of homage to distinguished alumni of our University. On this occasion, the graduates who received this recognition for their valuable contributions to Peruvian society were Dr. Elsa Tueros Way (Education), Mag. Víctor Gobitz Colchado (Mining Engineering), Dr. Roberto Rojas Salcedo (Psychology) and Dr. Jaime Saavedra Chanduví (Economics).
"Each of the alumni we are honouring today represents the profile and values of the professionals who should be responsible for the destiny of our country," said Mirtha Zamudio, President of the AEG-PUCP, at the beginning of the ceremony. "Their impeccable professional career, which makes them a reference in the sector where they work, keeps the prestige of the PUCP high and constitutes them as an example to follow for the younger generations of our University", added Zamudio.
From left to right, Jaime Saavedra, Elsa Tueros, Víctor Gobitz and Roberto Rojas during their university years at PUCP.
Elsa Tueros Way has a degree in Secondary Education with a specialisation in History and Geography and a PhD in Education from the PUCP. She is currently a senior lecturer in our Department of Education. In 2020, she received the Palmas Magisteriales in the category of Amauta from the Ministry of Education.
As a teacher, she has trained thousands of teachers who are responsible for preparing new generations of Peruvians. Her dedication and commitment to her teaching career led her to train teachers in the midst of the pandemic, who have been able to reconvert their face-to-face classes to deliver them through virtual media with quality, creativity and professionalism, putting their vocation for teaching first and foremost.
"The almost five decades of dedication to education have meant a creative search for the improvement of the quality of education for all in our beloved country, so much in need of justice and equity. This has always meant the challenge to improve, in our Faculty of Education, the comprehensive training of good educators who respond to the most urgent problems of the sector," said Elsa Tueros.
"Nearly five decades of dedication to education have meant the creative pursuit of improving the quality of education for all in our beloved country".
Víctor Gobitz Colchado is a mining engineer from PUCP and holds a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from ESAN Business School. He is currently president and CEO of Compañía Minera Antamina. He is also president of the Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru (IIMP) for the period 2020-2022.
In the midst of the pandemic, Gobitz has managed to continue creating value for its shareholders, has maintained jobs by prioritising the health of his company's workers, and has also contributed to the community by supporting and accompanying the vaccination process of civil society in the department of Ancash. "As graduates of PUCP, we have a personal responsibility to use this experience, which is undoubtedly privileged, to forge a more fulfilled society for all our compatriots," said Gobitz.
"As graduates of PUCP, we have a personal responsibility to use this - undoubtedly privileged - experience to forge a fuller society for all our compatriots.
Roberto Rojas Salcedo holds a BA and MA in Psychology from the PUCP, and did his doctoral studies at the Eberhard-Karls University Tübingen. He is currently director of the Psychotherapeutic Clinic at the University of Ulm, Germany. He has received awards and prizes from the PUCP and the German Society of Social Psychiatry. As a researcher, he has conducted numerous investigations on mental health, physical health and social behaviour.
His empathy and sensitivity for Peru have led him to engage in the design and implementation of mental health clinics, so necessary due to the effect of the pandemic. "The years at PUCP sowed the seeds of my interest and passion for clinical work and research," Rojas said. "I was fortunate to attend courses taught by magnificent professors, from whom I learned to value the different perspectives in clinical psychology, and I was able to understand that the origin of human problems is multi-causal," explained the prominent psychologist.
"The years at PUCP sowed the seeds of my interest and passion for clinical work and research".
Jaime Saavedra Chanduví holds a degree in Economics from PUCP and a PhD in Economics from Columbia University, New York. Since 2017, he has served as Global Director for Education at the World Bank, and was also Peru's Minister of Education between 2013 and 2016. Saavedra has conducted in-depth research on topics such as the economics of education, poverty and income distribution, and labour markets.
From his role at the World Bank, he has not tired of encouraging countries, particularly Latin American countries, to get their students back into the classroom, as the pandemic is deepening inequalities in terms of access to education. "I want to thank the university for having allowed me to start on a path that has led me to a research centre, to become a minister and to multilateral banking," said Saavedra. "It is a path that this recognition encourages me to follow," he concluded.
"I would like to thank the university for allowing me to start on a path that has led me to a research centre, to a minister and to multilateral banking".
