October 19, 2023 - The Universidad Panamericana held the launching ceremony of the Institute of Humanities was held in the Mexico City campus auditorium. The Institute is an intercampus area with presence in our three campuses (Aguascalientes, Guadalajara and Mexico City).
In the company of Panamericana authorities, the General Director of Universidad Panamericana and IPADE, Dr. Fernanda Llergo Bay, said: "Students, the center and raison d'être of the university, in addition to academic training, aspire to find answers to the ultimate questions or queries that give direction to the whole of existence: who am I, where does my dignity as a person lie, why does evil exist, what makes me happy, what makes me happy?
"Hence the importance of providing students with a solid philosophical and theological background," he added.
About the Institute of Humanities
The Institute of Humanities is an academic-cultural project, rooted and framed in Christian humanism, whose sphere of influence encompasses:
- Teaching institutional subjects and offering undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs.
- The development of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research oriented to the understanding and resolution of classical and current human problems, which will be materialized in the research of each professor in his or her areas of specialization.
- The support in the doctrinal and human formation first of all of the professors and collaborators of Panamericana and of the community in general.
Are the humanities for everyone?
During the launch event, visiting professor Dr. Sean Kelsey, from the University of Notre Dame, presented the keynote lecture Are the Humanities for everyone? The Case of Philosophy.
During this he pointed out: "Philosophy is a task that must be done. It is necessary to do it because it is essential to discover our principles (...). Intellectual self-mastery, to which this study points, is an integral part of what it is to assume responsibility before others and before ourselves, of who we are and how we see things, how we act and why".
"This is a responsibility we cannot fulfill as long as we remain a mystery to ourselves. Getting to know ourselves requires a self-examination, a reflection on our principles. To interrogate the reasons for thinking and continuing as we do in order to articulate those reasons in language as best we can," he concluded.
Why was the Institute of Humanities created?
Since the beginning of UP and IPADE, a fundamental pillar has been to have an area or coordination that watches over the institutional ideology and thecore curriculum, providing philosophical and humanistic training. As of 2021, the Institute of Humanities has been an intercampus and interdisciplinary academic area.
The Pan American System is of Christian inspiration. In order to be lasting, this identity has to shape the corporate culture, its principles, values, professional practices and style. The projection of identity in the culture confers unity, direction and meaning to the organization, in addition to making it enduring, in spite of changes.
The specific features of Christian identity are evident in the areas of research, teaching, corporate activities and human relations.
Time for reflection
Panamericana, faithful to its mission of "preparing people for a professional profession and, at the same time, for the profession of being people", continues to proactively assume the responsibility of building a more just society and promoting the common good.
The above, derived from the respect for the dignity of the person, through the strengthening of the Institute of Humanities, and in constant dialogue with the environment, accepting the risks, difficulties, dangers, the onslaughts of society with the ability to project a hopeful future.
Dr. Alberto Ross, director of the institute said during the presentation: "Today we must reflect from Christianity on the subject of women, the family, migrants, human rights, the relationship between city and beauty, the history of Mexico, the philosophy of culture, the relationship between theology and the university and a long etcetera".
"We are already working on these issues and the protagonists of this work are the teachers present here," he added.
Functions of the Institute
Panamericana has unified the Humanities departments of all its campuses into a single, transversal structure, giving Christian humanism a fundamental role in the institution.
In addition, the Institute of Humanities remains in constant dialogue with the faculties and schools to integrate the contents and sources of Christian humanism in the academic programs; and in different ways to make the humanistic perspective not an addition, but an articulating axis of the formation of the Panamericana student.
The institute focuses on understanding Christianity within the historical context, deepening the reality of the person, offering ethical and social orientation, and promoting the integration of knowledge in an approach articulated with life and faith.
In summary, the Humanities Institute at Universidad Panamericana contributes significantly, through a highly specialized academic body and robust academic work, to the formation of professionals who seek the truth and are committed to fundamental human values.
