University Community Day: celebrating what unites us with hope

The academic ceremony, which was preceded by a mass presided over by the nuncio of His Holiness the Pope, Bernardito Auza, served to applaud what unites us: our academic achievements in new doctors, years of service, whether 25 or 40 or a lifetime after retirement, and the recognition of excellence in the extraordinary awards. Of all the award winners, two had the opportunity to speak on behalf of their colleagues: M.ª José Manjón Rodríguez, winner of the José María Ramón de San Pedro Award for the best doctoral thesis defended in the Faculties of Law and Economics and Business Administration (Comillas ICADE), and Carmen Jiménez, a member of the university community with 40 years of service.

Coordinated ecosystem

For Manjón, her award "is not only a personal recognition, but a testimony to the commitment of this university to social challenges, and to the transformation and improvement of institutions in the transition towards sustainability". Comillas, she said, encourages responsible research: "Not only academic rigour and excellence, but it promotes a broader vision of values and integral human development. In this environment, education fosters curiosity, reflection, the ability to question the world and active engagement. These principles are materialised daily in the institution, evidenced in the solidarity and collaborative work between teachers, students and staff".

"Comillas is an ecosystem of diverse actors interacting in a coordinated way, driving continuous growth and development. As students, we have the privilege of being at the centre of this ecosystem, in which all actions are designed to optimise our university experience," said the award-winning doctor, who continues to be linked to the university as a lecturer in Business Management.

Perfect gear

For her part, Carmen Jiménez tried to review her 40 years at Comillas, "a whole life", making room in her speech for all her colleagues who were recognised at the ceremony. As she said, "we don't have to enumerate how many PDI and how many PAS are because the benchmark of prestige and excellence that is Comillas is the result of a perfect interplay between the work of one and the other".

The university is not just a company, defended Jimenez: "We are a living community, where people are the soul of our work. At Comillas we are a family that supports each other, that learns, that teaches. The work we do here is like a relay race. Each generation takes the baton from the previous one and contributes its grain of sand so that, as in a family business, it hands over to the next generation a university that is better than the one received, that continues to be a point of reference for being a pioneer and anticipating the needs and demands of today's society", she assured.

The sweetness of life

The Rector, Antonio Allende, SJ, appealed to this community in his closing speech. In it, he glossed the figure of St Thomas Aquinas, who "was not a saint and a theologian, but a saint as a theologian and a philosopher". Aquinas defined the university as "the sweetness of the common life of masters and disciples in the search for truth", the rector recalled, while inviting us to "contribute something different, to influence in the direction of good and critical reflection". "On this feast of St Thomas Aquinas, I encourage all of you, lecturers, students, non-teaching staff, not to give up in this endeavour to give ethics to our educational offer," he added.

Allende also called for creating and giving reasons for hope, in response to the fourth apostolic preference of the Society of Jesus: to accompany young people in creating a hopeful future. Christian hope has always had revolutionary effects on the cultural history of the societies that hosted it, said the rector, paraphrasing the philosopher Byung Chiul Han. Hope, he said, is built by all of us: "I invite you to live our research, teaching, student work, or work in the various services that make the university function efficiently, with this aspiration of the search for meaning in everything we do.