Yeguare Valley, February 2011
To the Zamorano community:
In my first letter as the new President I want to pay tribute to the Panamerican Agricultural School, its glorious past, its present, and it ambitious and promising future.
Why do I speak of Zamorano’s glorious past?
Since 1946, Zamorano has graduated 6,242 men and women professionals from 29 countries, including 72 women and 148 men from 13 countries who graduated on December 4, 2010. Zamorano graduates have excelled as top officials in Latin American governments, as businessmen around the world, as officers of international organizations, national and transnational corporations and NGOs and as university professors. Different graduates have served and continue to serve in different positions at Zamorano, including participation on the Board of Trustees.
Zamorano has executed a variety of projects throughout its history, amounting to millions of dollars, including more than 8 million in 2010. This demonstrates the confidence placed in the institution by different private and public organizations around the world, as well as by multilateral agencies, foundations and other organizations, in addition to philanthropists who support the institution. It also demonstrates Zamorano’s historical commitment to encountering solutions to Latin American countries’ priority problems. In addition, Zamorano has always had an international and multicultural academic, administrative and support staff of exceptional quality.
Zamorano has played a key role in transforming the agricultural sector and fostering rural development in the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and others around the world.
Zamorano has succeeded because the university community works together, with a shared vision and clear mission, guided by brilliant trustees whose work on the Board is the passion of their lives. It has also been successfully led by excellent Presidents with magnificent teams of collaborators.
This community of students, teachers, instructors, managerial, administrative and support staff, graduates, executives and trustees has guided this remarkable institution through a positive evolution over the decades. It has time and again prepared Zamorano to venture successfully onto new paths and overcome obstacles, paving the way for future triumphs.
The Zamorano community also includes thousands of people who live near the university in this beautiful part of Honduras and that for decades since the institution’s founding have provided their input and diligent work. Zamorano has a strong commitment and sense of social responsibility to these neighbors with whom it seeks to work together for mutual benefit.
We must thank the Honduran government, which since Zamorano’s founding has believed fully in its mission and supported it with concrete actions, such as funding for scholarships and financial aid programs. These have allowed 1,759 Zamoranos to graduate during the university’s 68 year history and they have become, or are on the path to becoming, national and international leaders. Of course, we also thank the support of many other governments on the American continent and around the world.
I invite you all to pay tribute to Zamorano’s founders and all members of the Zamorano community, who have worked together daily to construct what is now a glorious institution. We must honor them with actions in the present, setting our eyes, minds and hearts on the future, to allow Zamorano to continue on its path of excellence.
What lessons does our history as an institution with a clear set of imperishable values teach us?
We should not think that the founders and our predecessors created Zamorano’s form, organization and size to remain fixed forever. Rather we believe that this institution has flourished because our predecessors acted with ingenuity, imagination, discipline and determination. They designed, established and managed the University for the long term, always holding firm to its core values, while ready to make the changes required by the changing circumstances, opportunities and challenges of each era. Zamorano’s imperishable values have been a guide to action, but never an excuse for complacency.
In addition to its foundation, design and establishment, there are other far-reaching milestones in Zamorano’s history, such as converting from a three-year program to a four-year one, the transformation from a one-size-fits-all program to offering four specialized majors and the essential decision to go coeducational, with the latest statistics showing that women make up 30% of the newly admitted class of 2014.
The physical and organizational infrastructure has also evolved thanks to support from a community of Zamorano friends and supporters, including students’ families, the governments of their countries and other generous donor countries, as well as foundations that have supported us over the years. The alumni have also contributed significantly, as well as numerous trustees who have led us and share in the success.
It is now up to us, the Zamorano community of the 21st century, to respond to the challenges and opportunities of our time, based on our enduring values and working with ingenuity, imagination, discipline and determination to ensure that Zamorano University shall continue on its successful path for many years.
I would now like to discuss Zamorano’s ambitious and promising future.
In 2012 Zamorano is at an important moment in its history, ready to celebrate its 70th anniversary. It has several generations of successful experience in not only training young people in agriculture-related science and technology, but also in inculcating them with Zamorano’s fundamental values, starting from the first day they arrive at the campus.
At this historic moment, Zamorano is recognized as a one of a kind university in Latin America and the Caribbean, serving human society by generating and transmitting knowledge, skills and values in order to form tomorrow’s leaders. Zamorano attracts students with high potential, who, under the guidance of the highly qualified and diverse faculty and staff, graduate to become professionals ready to impact their families and society in a far reaching fashion. The results of their rich learning experience in the Yeguare valley extend beyond the borders of Honduras, Central America and the American Continent.
With the strong and talented Zamorano community we have today, it is an opportune moment to aim higher. Together we can make Zamorano University even more outstanding, the best university possible, among the best in the Americas and the world of its kind. It is also a critical moment because the challenges of agriculture in the Panamerican region, climate change and regional and global economic and political turmoil require Zamorano to take all necessary actions and precautions, continuing to serve society effectively, forming the leaders who are prepared to work for the sustainable development of increasingly complex and crowded nations.
Zamorano it has been has proclaimed and proven that LABOR OMNIA VINCIT.
Work conquers all. In honor of the Learning by Doing philosophy, we will all work together in a strategic planning process to create a vision of the new Zamorano, shared by all, with clear and ambitious but realistic and measurable objectives, backed up by appropriate annual plans and the necessary resources.
With a rigorous, transparent, and participatory approach, in 2011 we will design a clear and feasible strategic plan to guide us the effective compliance of our mission, building on the strengths and talents with which we are blessed. Under the direction of the Board of Trustees, it is our responsibility to decide where we want to take this extraordinary institution, how we want to be remembered by future generations and what our role will be in leading Zamorano to this promising future.
As the new President, I can assure you that I will work to guarantee that the following mainstays will be essential elements of this strategic and operational effort. Zamorano must continue to be a leading and competitive university, based on academic excellence and practical training, dedicated to forming tomorrow’s leaders with a value-based education; it must be respected as a modern, well-managed, disciplined and effective organization that contributes to the solution of social problems; and it must be known as a university with a productive and ambitious, multicultural and multinational, community facing the future with a high sense of optimism and humble pride.
How can we keep Zamorano on top, as a leading university of academic and practical excellence that provides a value-based education? How can we preserve the essence of Zamorano as a student-centered institution?
I consider it important to support research, knowledge management and innovation. Knowledge management is one of the ways that Zamorano can play a critical role in serving the Honduran, Central American and Panamerican society through the effective resolution of real problems, thereby improving the quality of life and reducing poverty.
It is necessary to reinforce a disciplined and practical education and to promote the entrepreneurial spirit with high-level skills, as Wilson Popenoe believed. At the same time efforts should be made to exploit modern science and technologies, as well as communication and information systems, since professionals of the 21st century are immersed in a global society connected by complex physical, informational, economic, technical and social networks, and Zamorano students must not be left behind.
It is essential that Zamorano have sufficient resources to provide for efficient operation, adequate maintenance and renewal of infrastructure and equipment, necessary capital investment and institutional improvement and long-term sustainable financial stability. We have received significant contributions from many donors and friends to whom we are highly grateful. We need to receive even greater contributions so that the Zamorano students of today and tomorrow can complete their formation in a constantly streamlined environment and so that Zamorano can modernize, promote applied research and outreach and contribute to the struggle for development in Latin America.
Zamorano must continue in its efforts to hire most qualified human resources, thinkers who are or have the potential to be leaders in their fields, who not only know the theory but are also recognized in the Americas and abroad as actively involved in applied activities and knowledge management in their fields. These professors will reinforce the essential component of Learning by Doing and contribute to the integral formation of students.
We must promote equity, social integration, collaboration and service. This applies to all Zamorano administrative and support units, which should reinforce their key role of service, support and attention to our institution’s objective and main goal, which is to train future Panamerican leaders. As the new President, I value discipline, efficiency, communication, collaboration, transparency, honesty and openness, with objectives and principles that are clear at all times.
As a professional engineer, I am great believer in real and concrete facts, translating theory to practice, the logic of cause and effect and of problem solving, as well as the essential function of control. We must decide how to measure Zamorano’s progress: whether we have achieved our aspirations, if our budget is sound, if our employees are satisfied, and if physical and financial resources are being well managed. Let us determine how we will evaluate whether we are realizing the dream of Samuel Zemurray and Wilson Popenoe of providing an integral formation to young Panamericans, particularly those of scarce resources and high potential.Escuchar
We must know how to respond to questions about how we operate, on the skills of our new graduates and their ability to fit into the economic and social world as professionals and on their achievements. Are we giving opportunities to the best students of the region? Are we attracting and receiving more and greater donations? Is our reputation growing? Are we living up to our reputation and maintaining our position among other universities that compete with us? Are we recruiting and keeping the best faculty and administrative and support staff and supporting them in their professional development? Are we promoting Panamericanism and Zamorano’s multinational nature? Are we effectively contributing to solving the problems of countries with innovative measures, good relationships with governments and efficient knowledge management? Are we working for human rights and the environment? Are we operating at maximum levels of efficiency, transparency, security, sustainability and social responsibility?
Zamorano must achieve, recognize and reward excellence both in the classroom and the laboratory, as well as in practical application, in the development of skills, abilities and capabilities and in the promotion of values. We must show that Zamorano is an institution that promotes and achieves different forms of innovation that are important for its own advancement and that of society, while constantly pursuing its original mission, the education and integral development of young Panamericans.
With regard to disciplined and effective management and based on the premise that Zamorano is and should be a leader among agricultural universities in the American continent, we must constantly demonstrate that we are excellent and reliable administrators of the resources provided by families, governments, donors and friends of the university, as well as from the endowment fund.
We must be ready to prove at all times that we are operating with discipline, rigor and integrity, transparency and ethics, giving the best of ourselves to the institution we serve and that at Zamorano we practice what we preach. As a leading university, we have an enormous responsibility to implement and promote management models based on the best practices and processes that minimize or eliminate losses and waste, protect the environment and natural resources, maximize the profits and positive results of our work and that achieve the institutional mission as a legacy for present and future generations.
We want everyone, members of the Zamorano community and those outside it, to be proud of the way we operate. We must be prepared with total certainty and tranquility to be evaluated by our results and to be accountable for an effective performance, honoring the role of university leadership that we must play in the 21st century.
Our optimism must be grounded in reality. We must realize that dreams are not achieved overnight and that there is no gain without pain. The job of maintaining excellence in the entire institution will not be easy, especially in a changing globalized world with fierce competition for resources and significant economic, social and environmental challenges.
Therefore, I ask every member of Zamorano University and the community to work together, efficiently and diligently in the pursuit of excellence. Our shared commitment to excellence will provide inspiration to illuminate our path towards a better future, armed with our core values, and maintaining our identity as a student-centered university.
I gained an understanding of the Zamorano essence during my work establishing the Food Agroindustry career in the late nineties. This experience formed and solidified my commitment to Zamorano, its philosophy, its values and its mission. I understood the need for openness to suggestions, for ears ready to listen and a mind attentive to learned lessons, a will ready for action and faith that God will provide a better future.
Therefore, I need your strong support and dedicated and effective work. Together we must ensure that Zamorano responds opportunely to the challenges and responsibilities of educating the young people that are entrusted to us and thereby fostering the development of the Latin American continent.
I will encourage our students to get the most out of their Zamorano education. I will support the faculty in its central task of teaching, appropriately combined with the pursuit of excellence and effectiveness in research, design and innovation. I will support and guide all the personnel in creating and maintaining an ideal environment for education, learning, training and human development and work to invite alumni in the international association and each country’s chapters to commit themselves to further strengthening the university and the alumni community. Furthermore, I will act in full coordination with and under the guidance of the Board of Trustees.
In honor of Zamorano’s mottos of work conquers all and Learning by Doing, I must emphasize that it is not enough to aspire to success. We must work hard to achieve it.
Finally, allow me to express my gratitude:
To the Board of Trustees for the honor and privilege of selecting me to serve as the eleventh Zamorano President, making me the second Latin American President and the first Central American one.
To the Zamorano executives, faculty and staff and their families, who graciously offered me their time and hospitality during the selection process and the transition period starting last November
To Zamorano alumni, who by different means and in different venues have kindly offered me their support and experience as Zamoranos for the good of the institution.
To Zamorano donors, friends and benefactors for their strong support to the University.
To Dr. Kenneth L. Hoadley, for sharing his experiences, advice and insights from his eight years as President.
To Zamorano students, for their ideas about the present and the future of the University.
My Deepest gratitude goes to my wife Lilian María for her love, advice and support. She is the most remarkable person I know, and her presence in my life has made her, in addition to being my wife and mother of my children, my partner, friend and counselor during our travels to different countries over the years. She is the essential force in my life and will remain so now that I am the Zamorano President.
For my part, I am committed to raising my eyes to the heavens, and with my feet firmly planted in the present, looking far into the future at a Zamorano that, with the help of God and the efforts of its personnel, has continued to improve its position among the best agricultural universities in the world.
I am ready to invest all my energy, understanding and experience in leading this great university along the path of excellence as it continues to successfully face the new challenges and opportunities in higher education and agriculture.
Let us work together to achieve a Zamorano of excellence.
Thank you.
Roberto Cuevas García, Ph.D.
President
