Santiago Gangotena, who received his Ph.D. in physics from Carolina in 1977, received a Distinguished Alumnus Award at the University Day celebration on Oct. 12.
Gangotena founded the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), the first private university in Ecuador, in 1987. The university now enrolls 5,000 students, 3,300 of whom are undergraduates. Although USFQ receives no funding from the government of Ecuador, its 230 full-time and 450 part-time faculty comprise one-half of all the people in that nation who hold a doctorate.
USFQ is dedicated to improving education in Ecuador through the principles of liberal arts education.
In 1995, Gangotena founded a private K–12 school affiliated with USFQ, Colegio Menor San Francisco de Quito. The 1,300-student Spanish/English bilingual school draws on both international and American school models as it honors Ecuadorian culture.
Recently, Carolina and USFQ have begun joint research endeavors in the Galapagos Islands, a partnership that has the potential to help preserve one of the world’s most treasured living laboratories and to improve the lives of the people who live there. The partnership has the potential to elevate both Carolina's and USFQ's reputation in international research.
Gangotena is part of a delegation of Galapagos researchers visiting the Carolina campus the week of Oct. 12.
