Interdisciplinary Master of Latin American Studies, from the Faculty of Humanities of the University of La Serena, invites the community to the conference by Dr. Álvaro Piña: ''Introduction to Social Network Analysis: The case of the Biotechnology industry'', activity which will take place on Friday, May 9, at 18:30 p.m., in the Auditorium room of the Teaching Support Center, CADH, located on the Isabel Bongard Campus.

Álvaro Piña has a Doctor in Sociology from the Paris-Dauphine University, and a Postdoctorate from the Center for Sociology of Innovation, of the Higher School of Mines in Paris, France.

Currently, Dr. Piña is an associate professor at the Center for Research in Economics and Administration at the University of Rennes I, France, and his research interests focus on social network analysis, collective learning in organizations, and innovation processes.

The students of the Introduction to Tourism course of the first year of the Business Administration Engineering degree at the University of La Serena, taught by Professor Wilson Rojas Catelicán, participated in the project "Paleontological Walks in Río Hurtado" presented by the Sendero de Chile Foundation to the Sports Fund of the Regional Government of Coquimbo in 2013.

During the trek of almost 3 km, developed in the Pichasca Natural Monument in the commune of Río Hurtado, the students received instructions and techniques for walking and enjoying nature through the Leave No Trace principles, from the territorial manager of the Sendero de Chile Foundation, Manuel Rojas Martínez. In addition, they were informed of the great paleontological importance of the monument and the relevance of protecting natural and cultural attractions, such as the remains of petrified trees, fossil dinosaur bones and archaeological remains, in addition to knowing a valley with high tourist potential. .

Another important milestone on the tour was a healthy snack with local products, such as: nuts, pomegranates, fig cakes, oranges, mote con huesillos, among other products made by entrepreneurial women from the Río Hurtado commune, an instance that was He took the opportunity to share with the local community and learn about their vision for the tourist development of the commune.

''It is important to be able to take students to the field and to be able to visualize in reality what is learned in the classrooms, to be in contact not only with nature, which is of great beauty and diversity, promoting care for the environment. environment, but also being in contact with local communities and knowing firsthand their strengths and weaknesses as tourism entrepreneurs, since upon returning to the classrooms the students will be able to have a different vision of how to develop tourism in a more sustainable way.' ', highlighted the teacher in charge of the subject, Wilson Rojas.

This initiative was also supported by the director of the Business Administration Engineering degree, Manuel Álvarez Cortés, who pointed out that ''it is important that our professionals in training can actively participate in the recognition of experiences in the field, in order to be able to apply their knowledge and commit their support to the projection of the tourist activity of our Coquimbo Region.

The activity is part of the accreditation process of the degree program assigned to the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the University of La Serena.

Since this Monday, May 5, the Journalism program at the University of La Serena, attached to the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences (FACSE) of the house of higher education, is in the visit stage of the Committee of Peer Evaluators associated with the undergraduate program accreditation process.

The Committee of Peer Evaluators for this undergraduate program belongs to the AcreditAcción Agency and is made up of Cristian Antoine Faúndez (U. of Santiago de Chile), Ximena Póo Figueroa (U. of Chile) and Claudio Elórtegui Gómez (Pontificia U Católica de Valparaíso ).

The members of the Committee, who will carry out their external verification visit until Wednesday, May 7, have already met with university authorities, headed by the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro, directors, FACSE authorities, directors of Department and School, Self-Evaluation Committee, academics, students and graduates. Meetings with the Career Council, employers and visits to facilities of the institution and the aforementioned undergraduate program are also contemplated.

The reading of the Exit Report will take place on Wednesday, May 7, at 14:30 p.m., in the Television Studio, located on the Andrés Bello Campus.

The initiative, presented in 2013 by two professionals from the Human Resources Department, will strengthen activities that are part of the ''Working with Quality of Life'' Program, directed by this unit.

Through the presentation of social projects by members, individually or collectively, Caja Los Andes seeks to improve the well-being of members and their family members, providing financial support to social projects that meet the requirements established in the Regulation of Additional Benefits of said entity. In this context, the Human Resources Directorate of the University of La Serena, through the professionals, María Graciela Zúñiga, Training Coordinator, and Mary Carmen Contreras, social worker of the Welfare Department of Personnel, presented in October 2013, a project aimed at strengthening activities that are part of the ''Working with Quality of Life'' Program, directed by this unit, being awarded the sum of $2.750.000, an amount that will directly benefit of the academic and non-academic officials of the ULS.

The projects participating in the competitive activities had to be characterized as initiatives leading to satisfying states of need of members of Caja Los Andes and their accredited family members, related to: Education, Health, Culture, Sports, Recreation or other matters related to Security. Social.

Some of the activities that are part of the awarded project are: Anniversary Cicletada, Entertaining Winter Vacations, Benefits Fair, among others. This was detailed during the delivery of the certificate that testifies to the award of this Competitive Fund, a meeting that took place in the offices of the Central House of the state campus with the presence of university authorities, headed by the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, the La Serena branch manager of Caja Los Andes, Juan Carlos Pesantes, the director of Human Resources, Héctor Bugueño, the head of the Personnel Welfare Department, Matías Ríos, the professionals in charge of the project, the president of the Association of Officials, Cecilia Hernández, and members of the AFULS.

The computers were acquired to implement the renovation of the study room inaugurated last March. 

Within the framework of the policy to improve the quality of spaces intended for teaching, the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, presented to the English Pedagogy program of the Faculty of Humanities, the amount of three HP All in One computers and three Office ProPlus 2013 Licenses for the implementation of the study room for this degree, whose renovation was inaugurated in March 2014.

The acquisition of this new equipment aims to improve the levels of physical and technological resources that allow optimizing the learning spaces within the ULS, facilitating the incorporation of methodological innovations and ensuring the quality of undergraduate training programs.

In this regard, the Rector of the ULS emphasized that ''we are working to improve the technology of our University, for which important investments have been made, which have allowed us to grow our institution with everyone's efforts (...). In each project we carry out, there is important management by members of the entire community, both the authorities and the students, so it is very pleasing for us to support this type of initiative aimed at providing students with better infrastructure. As the university community grows, we all grow."

For her part, the Director of Teaching, Mg. Laura Vega stated that ''the existing policy at our University in recent years has allowed the students themselves to detect deficiencies and propose infrastructure improvements, with the idea of ​​being able to improve the students' learning spaces (...). In this task, it is important that the heads of each unit detect the needs and communicate them,' she explained.

On the occasion, the director of the School of Pedagogy in the Humanities, Dr. Berta San Martín, thanked the delivery of the computers and program licenses. ''I want to thank the delivery of these computers because it is the aspiration of the students for many years, to enable this room to be able to use it properly,'' she said.

On the occasion, the students thanked the delivery of these computers and pointed out the importance that this new equipment will have to optimally enable the study room.

The implementation will allow teaching in specific areas of communication such as television, computing and writing, among others.

In a significant ceremony attended by university authorities, headed by the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, directors, academics and students of different levels, the delivery and inauguration of the new computer equipment in the Computer Laboratory of the degree took place. of Journalism from the University of La Serena.

The delivery of this equipment was carried out within the framework of the quality improvement policy and especially the improvement of laboratory teaching spaces, promoted by the current administration, through different programs, such as the Specific Institutional Projects program. and the Comprehensive Teaching Support for Learning and Infrastructure project at the service of ''Alma Mater'' undergraduate students. 

The new equipment corresponds to HP All in One workstations and the respective Office ProPlus 2013 Licenses, according to characteristics and specifications approved by the Teaching Directorate. This will allow students to work with higher quality standards, considering that the time they spend in the laboratory is considerable, given the requirements of the specific classes, including writing, computer science and digital photography, among others.

At the ceremony, the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, highlighted the importance for the institution and its directors of optimizing the development of teaching and providing students with technological tools according to their needs and requirements.

''I congratulate the program, its director, academics and students. I invite you to use it in a good way, getting the most out of it and valuing the effort that is put into the development of projects that allow this improvement, which not only benefits the Computer Laboratory, but also to the Photography Laboratory and the Television Studio,'' said the Rector.

In this sense, in addition to the delivery of the computers, two digital video cameras are added, intended for the Television Studio, located on the Andrés Bello Campus, which will be used for recording programs developed by the students in their classes.

For his part, the dean of the FACSE, Mg. Jorge Fernández, highlighted the fact that the School of Journalism of the University of La Serena has specific facilities that give added value to the possibilities that its students have, allowing them to learn in a practical way what they will find in the future when joining the working market. Likewise, the authority highlighted that the degree is in the midst of the accreditation process, where the excellence achieved in the regional and national context has been demonstrated.

Meanwhile, the director of the School of Journalism, Dr. Arlyn Orellana, emphasized that this equipment was highly anticipated, since a career oriented to communication requires being permanently updated and in tune with the advancement of the mass media. In addition, he thanked the authorities for the support provided and highlighted that the different levels have worked together to carry out the self-evaluation and future accreditation processes, among them, the Vice-Rector's Office for Economic and Administrative Affairs, and the Academic Vice-Rector's Office, represented by its authorities, Dr. Marcela Aguirre and Dr. Jorge Catalán, respectively.

The students present were satisfied with the renovation. ''We greatly value the effort that the University makes to deliver these new equipment that will be very useful for all of us and that is why I also call on all colleagues to take advantage of what we have, put it to good use and also take care of them, so that they serve the next generations of our career,'' said the president of the Journalism Student Center, Francisco Pizarro.