UNAPEC awards an Honorary Doctorate to the Spanish writer Irene Vallejo

APEC awarded an Honorary Doctorate to Irene Vallejo in recognition of her exceptional contribution to education, culture, and the defense of humanist thought. Santo Domingo.- In a solemn ceremony, full of meaning for the academic and cultural life of the country, Universidad APEC (UNAPEC) conferred the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to the Spanish writer, philologist, and essayist Irene Vallejo Moreu, whose work has profoundly marked contemporary humanist thought, the defense of reading, and the revaluation of the classical legacy in today’s society. The highest academic distinction to the writer who returned to the world’s awareness of the value of knowledge in times of artificial intelligence comes at a time when the world discusses the future of reading, knowledge, and humanity in the face of technology. A tribute to the word, memory, and humanist tradition The rector of Unapec, Lic. Erik Pérez Vega, who highlighted the significance of this recognition on the occasion of the institution’s 60th anniversary and underscored the global impact of Vallejo’s work, especially his book El infinito en un junco, which has become a world reference on the history of books, written memory, and the relevance of the classics in the contemporary era.

 “Why grant an Honorary Doctorate to a writer? Because universities are forges of knowledge and custodians of memory. The defense of reading, critical curiosity, and dialogue between eras are as essential for human progress as applied sciences,” he emphasized.

The rector maintained that this tribute transcends the symbolic and is part of the context of a country that is committed to strengthening the quality of its university system and its regional academic positioning.

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“By honoring Irene Vallejo, we honor the transformative power of the word. Books are hospitals of memory where ignorance is cured and freedom is cultivated.” When referring to Unapec, the writer highlighted that this institution << protects and expands the humanist legacy >>, becoming a space where reading and critical thinking are tools to close educational gaps and promote social mobility. She invited Dominican students to persevere in reading as a transformative act, << Read, stay thirsty for educating and being educated. Be fervent, infinite >>. The investiture took place in the Avilés Blonda Hall of the Palace of Fine Arts, a space that brought together academic authorities, representatives of the education sector, figures from Dominican culture and intellectualism, in an act that symbolizes Unapec’s commitment to excellence, the internationalization of knowledge, and the promotion of critical thinking.