Ramón Piñango was named Professor Emeritus of IESA
Ramón Piñango was named Professor Emeritus of IESA with the unanimous agreement of the institution's council of Professors during a pleasant act which took place in Wednesday July 10 at IESA's Völlmer Auditorium.
The distinction of Professor Emeritus is awarded by education institutions to Professors who continue to be active and give classes and conduct research, after they retire from an outstanding academic trajectory. This is the case of Ramón Piñango, Professor at IESA for 34 years, since he started in 1979 and became a senior lecturer in 1988.
IESA authorities, members of the directors' council and the executive board, employees, students, family members and friends were present at the act.
The inaugural words were pronounced by Doctor Gustavo Roosen, president of IESA: "Ramón Piñango has demonstrated his permanent capacity for learning and adaptation. He is tenacious, self-critical and passionate in his job, and he seeks to transmit this spirit at IESA as his parent organization. He is passionate about leadership, always a friend of becoming a member of groups that think and ponder; he is a person who seeks synergy and accomplishes this through permanent teamwork. Ramón is bent on promoting a type of leadership for these times, because he understands our problems, which are not problems for new men but for searching for ideas and discarding old habits”.
Roosen ended his speech by saying that IESA “has in front of it the major challenge of reinventing itself and adapting to current times; of training better leaders each and every day and of strengthening the nation's organizations. Responsible management and leadership are our main premises and -viewing them through the life of a man like Ramón- these words become alive”.
Next, Professor Josefina Bruni-Celli read a text by Professor Emeritus Édgar Elías Osuna: “This was the right thing to do: granting this title to Ramón Piñango. Ramón, enjoy this reward to a life of merits, because that is what you are: a faithful soldier of IESA, of the original IESA and the IESA of always. Since you arrived, you have let us feel the force of your exemplary presence in our classrooms and hallways, with enthusiasm and dedication”.
“Many men strive to leave their mark in life but few manage to achieve this, and even less when the road is like the one Ramón had to go through, because it is not easy to leave a footprint when the road is rough. Nevertheless, Ramón has left his mark, and a deep one at that. Thank you Ramón, we love you very much”, Osuna said.
In turn, Professor José Malavé stated that “during all these years, IESA has counted on the tireless presence of Ramón, overcoming obstacles, creating and taking advantage of opportunities, taking care of the most diverse details. When he stepped down from the chairman's position at IESA, Ramón discovered that he felt a fascination for the classroom, for his capacity to offer a live show that left a mark on the students, his ability for inventing courses, exercises and dynamics that turned out to be not just intellectually enriching but also exhilarating and exciting and from that moment on, Ramón became a determined and innovative practitioner of participant-centered-learning”.
“I can be as selfish as I want, when I thank you for all I have received from you, but in these words of thanks I must include all those who for any reason whatsoever, are and have been linked to you and to IESA”, Malavé finished his speech with.
Following on, upon reading the minutes of IESA's council of Professors, Professor Rosa Amelia González (the institute's academic director) requested permission to break the protocol and read a series of emotion-filled messages sent from various parts of the world by friends of the IESA and Professor Piñango. Professor González lent her voice and gestures to the words sent by Miguel Rodríguez, Elena Granell, Roberto Rigobón, Horacio Viana, Ana Julia Jatar, Armando Barrios, George Katsner, Paúl Esqueda, Henry Gómez Samper, Francisco Monaldi, Moisés Naim, Patricia Márquez, Jaime Sabal, Patricia Klapp, Juan Carlos Navarro, María Helena Jaén, Gustavo García and Carmen Elena Estrada, Pavel Gómez, Lud Márquez and Nelly Lejter.
Next, Professor Piñango was awarded the title of "Professor Emeritus".
Lastly, the man of the hour expressed his satisfaction with being surrounded by so many persons who are important for him. “How nice it is to be gathered here today with persons I esteem and love so much. Today is a day to give thanks to so many persons: my entire family, my children, my wife, my friends who are present here today, IESA, other persons who are not here today and also, obviously, to God. I thank you all for your support, your warmth and for putting up with me”, he said, with emotion in his voice.
He continued, reflecting on all the blessings and opportunities he has received: “When one gives thanks, inexorably one is haunted by a question: Have I corresponded to all the good I have received? Have I corresponded to so many opportunities I have been granted? Among many other aspects, I cannot forget that I belong to a privileged middle-class generation who was able to study at the UCAB, at Chicago University and at Harvard, thanks to favorable circumstances in a country which offered me many possibilities. And it hurts me to think that nowadays other persons with much more talent than me do not have the opportunities I have had and continue to have. I promise to continue working even more fervently, with tenacity and honesty, trying to do what I do best; for this reason I promise you all that I shall continue to be a pain in the butt, an emeritus pain in the butt, but a pain in the butt nonetheless. Thank you very much”, Piñango concluded.
Pleasant music was played throughout the evening by musicians Mayela Aponte, Édgar Aponte, Josefina Bruni-Celli (Professor at IESA) and María Eugenia Prado, who played Mozart's K. 285 in Re Major for flute and string quartet.
At the end of the ceremony, the attendees enjoyed a toast (courtesy of Empresas Polar) at the institution's Sánchez Salon.
To date, Professor Ramón Piñango is the fourth person to receive this recognition. Previous recipients were Professors Henry Gómez Samper (2002), Édgar Osuna (2002) and Elena Granell (2003).
During his career path, Professor Piñango has acted as a member of the academic council and the directors' council; as the editor of IESA's Debates journal, the coordinator of the leadership center, the director of research, academic director and chairman, constituting a solid bastion of the IESA's institutional and academic development.
At present, Piñango continues to give classes, lectures and seminars and offers consultancy services to organizations. His numerous publications, starting with ¨Caso Venezuela, una ilusión de armonía de 1984¨ (in English, ¨The Case of Venezuela: an illusion of 1984 Harmony¨) which has been edited five times so far; ISI papers, articles published in IESA's Debates journal and his opinion articles in El Nacional newspaper, apart from his outstanding academic trajectory in IESA, keep him with a busy academic and intellectual agenda.
