The meeting entitled “Sky, Astronomy and Cultural Heritage”, organized by the Inter-American Society of Astronomy in Culture and the University of La Serena, is held for the first time in Chile and considers the realization of a School of Cultural Astronomy and presentations of the presentations of researchers in the area.

Thinking about the conceptions that men from various cultures have been forging about the sky, within the framework of all their ways of knowing and acting in the world, is what has currently been defined as Cultural Astronomy. It is a multidisciplinary work area, where different specialists such as astronomers, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, etc., develop research on the worldview of various cultures through astronomies.

With the aim of expanding this type of research, the Inter-American Society of Astronomy in Culture and the University of La Serena hold the meeting “Sky, Astronomy and Cultural Heritage”, which consists of 2 activities: the VIII School of Cultural Astronomy and the VII Inter-American Conference on Astronomy in Culture, which has been held since 2012.

The ULS astronomer, Dr. Rodolfo Angeloni, explained that “it is the first time that this meeting takes place in Chile and we have the opportunity to have it here at the University of La Serena. During the meeting, 2 activities will be carried out, one is a School from Monday, September 30 to Wednesday, October 02, divided into a basic level course and another at an advanced level, which seeks to provide the tools to students and people. who approach this discipline. And from Wednesday the 02nd to Friday the 04th there will be presentations of papers by researchers who work in the area and who will present their latest results.”

The Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of La Serena, Dr. Amelia Ramírez, expressed that it is important that the University hosts this meeting where “Cultural Astronomy shows astronomy as a cultural heritage. Having this type of multidisciplinary activities, where experts from various areas meet, allows these global visions to finally begin to channel an idea of ​​how astronomy makes man grow, carrying out different types of manifestations."

For his part, the president of the Inter-American Society of Astronomy in Culture, Dr. Alejandro López, explained: “it seems to us that holding this meeting at the University of La Serena is important mainly because of the work that the university has done in astronomy, along with the quality of astronomical work done in the region. This made us think that it was very opportune to bring the event and generate an opportunity to train different experts in what Cultural Astronomy is.”

This activity has the participation of exhibitors and the public from Chile and abroad dedicated to different areas of knowledge, who see in this meeting a space for learning about cultural differences, through the exchange of different visions and thoughts.

Regarding this, Josefa Andrade, Design student at the Diego Portales University and attendee at the event, indicated: “I think it is very positive that a University generates this type of spaces where you can share with people from different places on the continent, diverse cultural visions through astronomy.”

The inter-American meeting takes place between September 30 and October 4 in the Pentagon Room of the Andrés Bello Campus of the University of La Serena.

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, DirCom

The Antakari team is preparing to compete in this important race that will take place from October 13 to 20.

The Antakari team and the Intikallpa V solar car from the University of La Serena, built by a team of students and academics from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, are already in Australia to compete and represent the ULS, the country in Latin America, in the World Challenge 2019, where you must cross three thousand kilometers of racing in the desert of the oceanic country.

This is the third participation of the ULS vehicle in this race, standing out on this occasion for being the only Latin American solar car present in the most important world competition of its kind, which will take place from October 13 to 20.

Unlike the predecessor vehicle (Intikallpa IV), in this new construction materials used in Formula 1 cars, fighter planes and sailboats were considered. It has a more aerodynamic design than the previous one, in its front part, which allows energy consumption to be reduced by 15%.

The academic of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the ULS and professional in charge of the execution of the Intikallpa project, Camilo Moreno, stated that “the biggest change we are making has to do with the shape of the car, so that it is more efficient in aerodynamics. and in weight. “This vehicle cuts the air much better by 40%, reducing energy consumption and maintaining efficiency.”

Regarding participation in the competition, the academic of this unit, Francisca Jure, indicated that “now we have much more experience, two years ago we made links with the teams from Belgium, Japan and Sweden, which have a better level. “We have collected a lot of information and we are going to apply it all now.”

For his part, the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, along with highlighting this new participation of the University's prototype in the competition and wishing the team the greatest success, valued the capacity, effort and dedication of its members, “which has allowed them to be placed in the world's top ten in solar vehicle technology, which fills us with pride as a community.”

While the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of La Serena, Dr. Ing. Mauricio Godoy, pointed out that “it is a pride to have the best solar car in Chile, we appreciate the support of the Rector and the University. We are currently in the top ten worldwide and currently aim to be among the top three in Australia. Competing with the four best universities in the world and with countries like Japan and Holland, really positions the University of La Serena worldwide in these technologies.”

Outstanding participation in World Solar Challenge

In 2013, Intikallpa was the first Latin American vehicle to conclude the competition, reaching second place in the category. Already in 2017, it took tenth place in the main category of the race, after the solar car from Stanford University.

Written by María José Barraza, FIULS 2030 Project

The authority was part of the conversation on inclusion and diversity, an instance where she recounted the progress that the University of La Serena has achieved from an organized work in these matters. On the occasion, he highlighted the contributions of the Disability Support Program and the Health and Safety Joint Committee.

Within the framework of inclusion initiatives, the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, participated in the "Inclusive Occupational Risk Management Seminar", an initiative organized by the Mutual de Seguridad of the Chilean Chamber of Construction. On the occasion, the authority was invited to present on the initiatives developed in the ULS to advance the inclusion of students with disabilities and the preparation of academics in this matter.

Along these lines, Rector Avilés highlighted the work carried out by the Disability Support Program and by the Joint Hygiene and Safety Committee, bodies that have been working together since 2018.

Given this, he highlighted the initiatives that have been carried out since 2007 and that are oriented towards cultural transformation in terms of inclusion and diversity, aiming at collaborative work between all levels of the campus. For this reason, he stressed the important role that the student body has sustained in raising important issues and problems that have allowed, through days of deep work, the improvement of protocols, procedures, equipment and infrastructure for a real and better performance in inclusion matter.

In this way, it relieved the protocol for the use of the social name, for transgender students, where the University of La Serena is a pioneer in this matter at the national level. Similarly, he reported on the formalization since 2018 of the Protocol for the Prevention of Harassment, Abuse and Arbitrary Discrimination.

“As an institution of the State of Chile we have important challenges, we want to address the barriers or attitudinal biases, such as the value clash between generations, to start generating a more equitable and inclusive society for all from our role. Our mission goes beyond training professionals, it also aims to ensure that our graduates have values ​​that make them capable of putting themselves in the place of others, to eliminate the barriers that hinder the development of our country”, explained Rector Avilés.

The discussion was attended by the Regional Director of SENADIS, Jorge Juárez, the representative of the National Board of the Mutual de Seguridad of the Chilean Chamber of Construction, Raimundo Rencoret, and the head of Risk Prevention of Constructora Rencoret, Pablo Silva.

The greetings of welcome to the meeting were in charge of the general manager of the Mutual de Seguridad Chilean Chamber of Construction, Felipe Bunster, the president of the Chilean Chamber of Construction (Regional), Eduardo Soto and the Seremi of Labor and Social Welfare, Matias Villalobos.

Part of the contents of the Seminar consisted of publicizing the state of progress of the labor inclusion regulations, the aspects to develop an inclusive culture and diversity and good practices of labor inclusion, among others. The instance made it possible to generate a reflective and exemplary dialogue through the different strategies and guidelines that have been adopted in the various participating organizations, which allows a synergistic work in favor of applied and real strategies that allow the transformation of culture and society into a much more tolerant, responsible and inclusive.

In the third plenary session of the Self-Evaluation process, the members of the 4 Subcommittees had reasons to celebrate: a successful consultation with key informants allows them to face critical analysis in time and with ease, thanks to the fact that the results of the survey are available in online, through the Phoenix platform.

In May 2019, when they were just established as Subcommittees, the work of massively convening the university community to express their assessments of the institutional direction in those aspects evaluated by the National Accreditation Commission, CNA, seemed distant and difficult.

Four months later, the task is done and the 130 members of the Subcommittees face the critical analysis subphase, comparing institutional data with the standard of other similar institutions and the perception of key informants. Everything, to culminate in a diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses that guides improvement actions.

In this way, the third plenary session was the instance in which the subcommittees heard from the Executive Committee of Self-Evaluation, the overall result of the Consultation with Key Informants and learned about the dashboards in which they can access the data, make queries with specific filters and thus enrich the critical analysis.

“One of the advantages of having Phoenix and intelligence systems for institutional information is that processes like this gain agility and access. In less than a week it was possible to collect the tabulated data on the platform and give access to each of the members of the Subcommittees,” explained the Director of Strategic Development and Quality ULS, Dr. César Espíndola, who, accompanied by the Director of the Center of Informatics and Computing (CICULS), Mg. Andrés Moya, gave an account of how what was planned and mandated by the Subcommittees was carried out successfully in meeting self-imposed goals and in record time.

Likewise, both presented the dashboards displaying the results of the institutional surveys, organized by key informants, namely, academics/teachers, non-academic officials, undergraduate students, postgraduate students, graduates, postgraduates. , collaborating institutions and employers.

Overcoming Weaknesses Previous Agreement, Teaching Area

During the plenary session, the presentation of the status of overcoming weaknesses in the area of ​​Undergraduate Teaching, of the 2016 accreditation agreement, was also made.

Just as the Environment Liaison area did in the previous plenary session, the weaknesses reported by the Agreement were reviewed one by one and judgments and evidence were provided regarding their status of improvement, constituting a highly interesting instance for the audience that contributed with new information, complementing the report.

Those in charge of reporting on the Teaching area were the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón, and the Director of Teaching, Dr. Pamela Labra.

From data to stories and vice versa

Finally, and with a view to the process of writing the Self-Assessment Report of each subcommittee, the Director of Strategic Communication ULS, Mg. Carola Espinoza, conducted a Corporate Storytelling workshop, in response to the need to prepare a self-assessment report that balances the communication of data with the communication of institutional stories, emphasizing that the objective of the process is the culture of continuous improvement of the quality and for that, he explained, it is necessary to communicate a story and not just inform.

“Sometimes we forget that data, by itself, helps us understand reality, but it is not enough to drive improvement action. They help us become aware, but they do not necessarily activate our vital energy towards change. That is why the invitation, from a communication point of view, is to take advantage of this self-evaluation process to reinforce our identity, convert the objective of continuous improvement into a shared purpose that gives us internal unity and aligns us around making the ULS a better university every day. ”, he stated.

The next plenary session will be held on November 13, the date on which the Subcommittees will deliver a first draft of their respective chapters, in order to receive guidance from the Executive Committee.

If planning continues, by mid-December, the work of the Subcommittees will have concluded and will give way to the comprehensive construction of the Institutional Self-Assessment Report.

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The activity organized by the ULS Science Dissemination and Dissemination Team seeks to bring closer the astronomy research carried out at the University.

The Coquimbo Region has one of the cleanest skies in the world, a privileged place to marvel at the stars. This was evidenced by the students of the San Lorenzo de Coquimbo School, who enjoyed and were surprised by the talk “How stars are born, live and die” by Professor Erich Wenderoth, astronomer and academic at the University of La Serena.

The activity organized by the ULS Science Dissemination and Dissemination Team seeks to bring closer the research in astronomy, which is carried out at the University, in order to strengthen its visibility and awaken the curiosity of the students.

“The Astronomy Department of the University of La Serena does a lot of dissemination at the school level, precisely to stimulate and enchant young people with astronomy, but in particular with scientific work in general, so that new researchers emerge,” said Wenderoth.

In that sense, the astronomer stated that observing the environment motivates "to ask questions, in this way we must challenge students to find the laws of nature, this is how we will have the future scientists of Chile, but we must make them think."

Cristian Leiva, a student at Colegio San Lorenzo, valued the initiative and highlighted that this instance allows him to deepen concepts learned in the classroom. “It is a very good opportunity that is not given to all schools. I am very struck by the fact that they talk to us about astronomy, apart from the prior knowledge that we have. We are nurturing ourselves deeper into it and that is great,” he said.

In the same way, her classmate, Fernanda Díaz, emphasized that the activity allowed her to have a first contact with higher education and clear up questions about astronomy. “He is a specialized researcher, who tells us about a topic that interests the vast majority of us and I liked knowing how stars were created, how they die, and what our universe is like. The talk cleared our doubts and motivated us to want to learn more,” she said.

For her part, the school's mathematics and physics teacher, Carolina Vera, gave a positive assessment of the day, highlighting the response of the students, which translated into astonishment and participation in the talk. “Super interesting for the students, since they are at a stage of discovering the universe and astronomy, especially in this region where the topic is powerful. That the state university of the region comes to give a talk like this to their school, for them it is different because of the motivation and expectations which were met,” she expressed.

Written by Sergio Muñoz, ULS Science Dissemination and Dissemination Team

Raising awareness in the community about the social, cultural, political and economic value of tourism is the central objective of the celebration led by the World Tourism Organization, and that the degree in Business Administration Engineering with a Bachelor's Degree in Tourism Administration from the University of La Serena celebrated in an official ceremony and related activities.

International Tourism Day is celebrated worldwide on September 27, and this year's slogan revolved around the theme of “Tourism and Employment: A better future for all.” In this way, the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the University of La Serena, together with the Business Administration Engineering program with a Bachelor's Degree in Tourism Administration, celebrated and highlighted this important discipline through an official ceremony, talks astronomical events linked to tourism and visits to the mobile planetarium.

The Dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Dr. Luperfina Rojas Escobar, highlighted the work carried out by the degree and tourism as a transformative element at an economic, social and cultural level. Furthermore, she urged those present to work collaboratively, “only by joining efforts can we give real answers to tourists, who are increasingly demanding. And this is generated from the education and training of professionals with ethical knowledge and professional skills to function in today's world."

The Director of the ULS Tourism School, Mg. Andrés Álvarez Cortés stressed the importance and added value that the career has through teaching in innovation and entrepreneurship linked to tourism. “As a career we are committed to continuing working with the environment to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, this career is no longer for the future, it is for the present,” he stated.

The day allowed the former director of the VII National Congress of Tourism Students and student of the Business Administration Engineering degree, Daniel Aragón, to read the official message of the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization, Mg. Zurab Pololikashvili, who emphasized the transformative role of tourism and its current link in the creation of jobs and its help in socioeconomic development in different latitudes of the world.

Successful entrepreneurship experience in tourism

Employment, innovation and entrepreneurship were the main axes of this new celebration within the framework of World Tourism Day.

Given this, the manager of Casa Molle, Juan Pablo Fierro, announced the various innovations that his hotel has and the effort made in creating meaningful experiences for clients, who are the fundamental axis in their field.

The talk allowed those present to learn about the fundamental strategies for creating a comprehensive service in the hotel area with a wide range of options and activities for guests.

Recognitions at the tourist level

At the end of the ceremony at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the University of La Serena, the Director of the School of Tourism presented recognition to the manager of Casa Molle for his outstanding participation.

Likewise, the permanent support in carrying out professional practices was highlighted. For this reason, the person in charge of Linking with the Career Environment, Cecilia Pizarro, gave recognition to Gabriela Sabaj, general manager of the New City company, who constantly supports students in training.

In the context of World Tourism Day, the Municipality of La Serena held an activity in the Plaza de Armas, where Mg. Andrés Álvarez received recognition from the School of Tourism of the University of La Serena, for his contribution to regional tourism.

Written by Paula Godoy, ULS journalist