Dr. José Tola Pasquel
A mathematician, civil engineer, and member of the National Academies of Sciences and of the Language, Dr. José Tola Pasquel was the first lay president of the PUCP and also the first to have studied the sciences before the humanities.
Dr. Tola served as president of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru for two consecutive terms: from 1977 to 1984 and from 1984 to 1989, after having served as vice president from 1965 to 1970. He pursued his higher education simultaneously at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, where he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1938, and at the National University of San Marcos, where he earned a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences in 1941.
Although he had worked professionally in the field of structural engineering for many years, his primary focus was university teaching—which he pursued at the PUCP beginning in 1938—and research in the fields of mathematics and engineering sciences. He served as dean of theSchool of Engineeringat our university from 1947 to 1949.
Dr. Tola also served as president of the Peruvian Mathematical Society, dean of the Peruvian College of Engineers, and a member of the Inter-American Committee on Mathematics Education. In recent years, he served as president of the National Academy of Sciences of Peru and honorary president of the Interuniversity Center for Andean Development (CINDA), as well as a member of the Peruvian Academy of Language, a member of the Institute of Hispanic Culture, and a corresponding member of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical, and Natural Sciences. He received the Palmas Magistrales award from the Peruvian government at the Amauta level, and the French government awarded him the Palmes Académiques.
Dr. Tola Pasquel conducted various scientific research projects and authored numerous books on his field of expertise. In 1990, he was appointed director of the Graduate School—the predecessor of the current School of Graduate Studies—a position he held until his untimely passing.
