Seven views for a new beginning
The course starts. And with it, the stories. The story of those who step on campus for the first time as a student or exchange student ; of those who face their last year, whether as a professor, employee or student; of those who begin their academic degree program ; or of those who extend it with a research stay. Seven profiles that reflect the diversity and richness of a campus with more than 14,000 students and 7,000 professionals.
LUCÍA CORNELIO, 1ST YEAR STUDENT
Enhancing the value of values
Lucía Cornelio is one of the more than 2,500 students who open the door to the University for the first time. She lands in Pamplona from the United States to study in the School of Education and Psychology. "I am passionate about helping others and better understanding human behavior, the different functions of the brain and why we act in certain ways," she says. Academic quality and values were the cocktail for choosing the University of Navarra. This, added to "the positive experience" of his sister Ariana, who this year is starting her second year of Nutrition and Dietetics and who is accompanying him at this stage. At the University he hopes, beyond knowledge, to grow in the staff: "I hope to leave as a more manager, hard-working and disciplined person".
Lucía participated in the Welcomeworkshop , an event for new Degree students and their families.
ANDREA MICCICHÈ, researcher
Research in environments of friendship and commitment
work and discipline is what he treasures Andrea Miccichè. He comes from the University of Catania, Italy, to the School of Law, where he will carry out his research stay focused on the impact of religious rights in Western secular systems.
Andrea's idyll with the University began in 2021, coinciding with his doctorate. His thesis director , Orazio Condorelli, advised him to come to Pamplona to perfect his study of Canon Law under the guidance of the successors of the "Navarrese masters" Pedro Lombardía and Javier Hervada. He then returned as Visiting Professor at the invitation of Professor María Blanco. "Pamplona is my second home. I have always found an atmosphere of friendship, welcome and commitment so that everyone can give their best," he says. On the radar of his first pending routes, those places that were engraved in his report, such as the Citadel and the Casco Viejo. And to expand the knowledge of Navarre, "a corner of paradise for its nature". In terms of academics, Andrea highlights "its internationalization". internationalizationits opportunities to support mobility and its ability to offer an environment of exchange of knowledge, values and principles between faculty and students".
Andrea is going to do a research stay at the School of Law.
JOSÉ ALVIAR, CHAPLAIN and PROFESSOR
Family flavor with international accents
That environment, Mr. José Alviar has been cultivating it for almost forty years. In 1985 he arrived at the University to study postgraduate program programs of study in Theology and two years later he began to collaborate with the School of Theology as a teaching assistant professor. On his first day, a detail that marked him: Don Lucas Francisco Mateo Seco, after teaching his class, invited them for coffee. "It was the first taste of the family atmosphere of the University," he says. Also in 1987 he began to celebrate Sunday Mass in English. It was in the small chapel at the Clinic. Today, it is celebrated in the Sciences Building chapel . The growing presence of people from very diverse cultures and mentalities is very enriching for everyone, says Don José, who points to international outreach as one of the University's hallmarks: "At the beginning, I taught all my classes in Spanish; today, three of my five subjects are in English.
Don José wrote the first draft of his thesis by hand, the second by typewriter. "It seems important to me, in the midst of the rapid changes we are living through, to know how to maintain permanent values and embrace changing circumstances," he says. And he points out two pieces of advice for university students: to seek deep knowledge and wisdom over mere information, and to save space and time for slowness, silence and recollection.
José is retiring this year, after almost 40 years as chaplain at the University.
In his last year at the university, he takes with him "the spirit that St. Josemaría wanted to instill when he founded this university, the spirit of carrying out each task to the best of one's ability, as a service to God, to people and to society. And also the friendship of many. "I feel defined not only by my individual history but also by my ties with these people," he concludes.
MARÍA TERESA LÓPEZ, TEACHER
Enthusiasm and energy, and an eye for the human aspect
Maria Teresa Lopez came from Oxford in 1985. This year she is facing what will be her last as an English teacher at the institute of modern languages. "I have decided to live it as if it were my first. I arrived at the age of 24, with a lot of enthusiasm and energy; today perhaps I have less strength, but I would like to leave with the same enthusiasm," she says. María Teresa met José Dawid, then director of the Institute, at a congress in London. And there she gave him the interview that would bring her to Pamplona without ever having set foot in the University. Diane Milner, Dawid's wife and one of the driving forces behind the Institute, was her mentor. "She was like my mother here. She taught me not only professional work , but also attention to students and colleagues," recalls María Teresa. The first group she class was made up of 18 students from Architecture, Science, Philosophy and Medicine. At the Institute's headquarters in the Sciences Building, near the auditorium. With the irruption of technology and screens, she stresses the importance of communication as a link with people. "Our challenge as professors is to fit these advances into a life where the human aspect is not lost," he says.
María Teresa arrived at the institute of modern languages at the age of 24, with a lot of enthusiasm and energy; the same with which she is facing this last course.
NACHO LAGUÍA, PROFESSOR
teaching as a dialogue to find answers
If Don José and María Teresa retire, Nacho Laguía faces his first year as a professor. Today, September 1st, he defends his thesis on the "Historical and narrative evolution of the Disney fairy tale model (1923-2023)", directed by Pablo Castrillo and Ruth Gutiérrez. And also today she is teaching her first class. "I have approached teaching as a dialogue to involve students in my concerns and, who knows, maybe to help me find answers," he says. In the first semester he teaches Film Criticism and History of Animation; in the second, Communication Theory, 3D Animation and will tutor the Final Degree Projects. She has spent the summer in Rome with a research stay, "with time to look for nearby examples that help to generate that enriching conversation with the student". In a constantly changing audiovisual environment, he says that the biggest challenge is "to keep up with the latest trends, practices and ways of doing things so that students go out into the market well-prepared and competent in an area that is arousing more and more interest. He has three goals: to help students discover vocations in research, to see alumni - "good students and good people" - who fulfill their professional aspirations over time, and to write a book.
Nacho has just defended his thesis and starts this year to class at the School of Communication.
ALBERTO RAVAIOLI, exchange student
From Torino to continue adding experiences
Alberto Ravaioli chose to add another chapter to his academic career at the University of Navarra. "I've heard good experiences from students who have already been here," he says.
She arrives as a third-year exchange student at the School of Economics along with Asia and Lorenzo, who are also traveling from the University of Turin, in Italy. "I was struck by the way the classes are organized, in small groups, and with assessment systems that are different from those followed in Italy," she says. The possibility of connecting with students of other nationalities and getting to know the Spanish educational system were other aspects that brought him to Pamplona. A path in which, he says, he has felt guided at all times: "From the University they have helped me in the process and have kept me informed of all the steps". More than 1,165 kilometers away, he hopes to continue learning about his area of interest: microeconomics and human behavior.
The School of Economics has exchange agreements with more than 140 universities in 40 countries. One of them is the University of Torino (Italy), where Alberto studies.
JAVIER ANDRÉS, SENIOR STUDENT
Biochemistry thanks to the generosity of many
Javier Andrés Vázquez is a scholarship recipient alumni. Thanks to the generosity of many, he was able to start the degree program in Pamplona. "It has been a great good fortune and I am very grateful. I think the best way to give back is to fulfill my obligations as a student and, at the same time, live a full extracurricular life," he says. Because Javier is an ambassador for Tantaka, the University's solidarity time bank, he is a student partner of the School of Science, does his bit for student representation, and has time to enjoy squash. This year he will spend his last year at the University, where he arrived with his twin brother Juan, who is finishing Biology. Javier is in his fourth year of Biochemistry and, after all these years, this Sevillian sees the campus as his home. "What I will miss most is the joy and the people. The atmosphere here is incredible," he says. An atmosphere to which "both students and professors contribute, always willing to teach with patience, and also the professor staff -administrativeadministrative office, admissions, cleaning, finance, etc.-, who have been with us at all times. His other home has been the high school MayorSharing every year with more than a hundred people has taught me to live together, to care about those around me, to cultivate an interest in culture and solidarity, and also to be a better student. I would not understand my university life without this experience". She is now focusing her degree program on research. She is a student of the Research Training Program, and at the research center Médica Aplicada (Cima) she is preparing her Final Degree work : "My idea is to take the Master's Degree offered by the School in biomedical research and then do her doctorate at Cima itself", she concludes.
Javier Andrés is studying Biochemistry thanks to an Alumni scholarship .