Dr. Salomón Lerner Febres
Salomón Lerner Febres served as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru from 1994 until July 6, 2004. These were ten fruitful years, marked by a variety of institutional initiatives, but also by the period during which he bore the enormous responsibility of chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He attended La Salle School and achieved academic success from an early age. He was admitted to the Catholic University as the top-ranked student, and after completing his first two years in the Humanities program, he went on to study Law and Philosophy. Always an outstanding student, Salomón Lerner Febres began his teaching career at a very young age, in 1962, when he was in his second year of law school and FatherFelipe Mac Gregor asked him to be his teaching assistant—the start of his life as an educator. In 1968, he received a scholarship to pursue doctoral studies at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Upon his return, his reinstatement as a professor of Philosophy was quickly followed by an extensive administrative career: before becoming rector, Salomón Lerner had held various administrative positions, including dean of General Studies in the Humanities, chair of the Department of Humanities, academic director of Research, and vice rector.
In 1994, the University faced new challenges—challenges that continue today—including competition from new private universities, rapid technological changes, and the need to restructure its curricula. Since then, the effort to establish itself as the leading institution in the field of education has not wavered; on the contrary, it has reaped achievements year after year, cementing its presence in the academic, intellectual, cultural, scientific, and social life of our country. This academic initiative was reflected in the creation of theSchools of Communication Sciences and Arts, Architecture and Urban Planning, andCentrum (the PUCP Business Center), in addition to numerous initiatives at the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education levels.
But its influence is not limited solely to the confines of our campus. The PUCP has enhanced its academic prestige, becoming an important public voice within our society. It has also earned a place among the leading universities in Latin America by signing agreements and establishing ties with other institutions of recognized quality; in addition, through Dr. Lerner, it was entrusted with the presidency of the Union of Latin American Universities (UDUAL) and serves as the focal point for the ALBAN scholarships awarded by the European Union.
Furthermore, his career as a professor, intellectual, and, ultimately, rector of the PUCP led to his selection in 2001 by the then-transitional government of Dr. Valentín Paniagua to take on the enormous task of chairing the newly formed Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this role, Dr. Lerner Febres, together with other commissioners, took the first and indispensable steps on the painful but urgent path toward understanding and acknowledging what happened in our country during the years of political violence.
