At 11:30 a.m. on 28 October 2021 the Honoris Causa recipients will arrive at the UIC Barcelona campus and will be received by the rector. They will then go to the Saló de Graus to join other holders of doctorate degrees.
At 11:45 a.m. the various dignitaries, members of the university community and guests will take their assigned places in the Aula Magna.
The rector, accompanied by the patrons, will present the Honorary Degree recipients to the academic dignitaries.
Holders of doctoral degrees will wear the academic dress corresponding to their qualifications. The patrons will help the Honoris Causa recipients don their corresponding academic dress.
At noon, the master of ceremonies will indicate that it is time to form the procession, which will be led by the master of ceremonies, followed by the holders of doctoral degrees, arranged in order of their seniority in each centre and faculty. The members of the Board of Governors and the rector will join the end of the procession.
The procession will make its way to the Aula Magna, where participants will occupy the places reserved for them.
During the initial procession, the University Choir will sing Canticorum Iubilo by George Frideric Haendel.
The Honoris Causa recipients will wear a gown and cape and will be accompanied by their patrons as they wait in the Saló de Graus.
The professors will remain standing in their respective places with their capes on. When the members of the presidental table reach their respective places, the University Choir will sing Ave Verum Corpus, Mozart..
The master of ceremonies will make a sign for everyone to be seated.
The rector of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya will say:
«The session is now open. Belén Castro, General Secretary of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya now has the floor. She will read the resolution issued by the Board of Trustees of the University in which Dr verónica Boix-Mansilla and Dr Paul Levi were appointed to receive Honorary Degrees from the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya»
After the resolution is read, the rector will say:
«Will the Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, accompanied by the master of ceremonies, be kind enough to go and bring the Honoris Causa recipients and their patrons into the presence of all the doctoral degree holders.»
- University Choir: Alta Trinità Beata, Anonymous.
When the Honoris Causa recipients, led by the master of ceremonies and accompanied by their patrons and the directors of the Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, enter the main lecture hall everyone will stand up. They will take their assigned seats.
When the rector sits down, all those in attendance will be seated except for the Dr Verónica Boix-Mansilla ‘s patron.
The rector will then say:
«Dr Esther Jiménez now has the floor to introduce Dr Verónica Boix-Mansilla.»
Dr Esther Jiménez’s speech
Mr President of the University Board of Trustees,
Illustrious Rector of UIC Barcelona,
Illustrious Rector of Abat Oliva University
Academic authorities and members of the University Teaching Staff
Distinguished colleagues from other universities,
Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Verónica,
I am honoured to be presenting a Laudatio for Dr Verónica Boix Mansilla at her Doctor Honoris Causa investiture ceremony at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, UIC Barcelona. For me, and for the Faculty of Education Sciences, this is a particularly significant moment because those who honour us today by accepting this honorary degree have demonstrated their commitment to education throughout their professional career as well as their sensitivity towards children and adolescents, particularly the most vulnerable children. I would like to thank you for accepting this Honoris Causa doctorate on behalf of UIC Barcelona, a wonderful family that in its own DNA shares values with Dr Boix such as excellence, the search for truth and social commitment in order to prepare students so that, in a global and complex world, they can make decisions while always focusing on the individual.
Verónica was born in Argentina. Her intellectual curiosity led her to choose a degree in Education at the University of Buenos Aires, due to the range of disciplines covered by that degree programme. The university environment that she experienced during the dictatorship fuelled her love for democracy. And from there her life plan began, her mission, which has unfolded over the years.
Her intellectual curiosity and interest in knowledge led her to discover a book that would leave its mark on her future: “The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution”. Among her colleagues at the time, no one had heard of that book and no one knew who the author was.
In the book, an unknown Howard Gardner covered the history of cognition, based on the classics and various sciences (philosophy, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience…) and perspectives. He also highlighted the value of interdisciplinary, of integrated cognitive science.
The term “cognitive revolution” also led to a revolution in Veronica’s life. Through the boldness of youth, she asked for an interview with Gardner, and from this point on she began her doctorate in Education at Harvard, the university where she still works today, alongside Gardner. As Delibes said in “El Camino,” things could have happened in any other way, yet they happened in this particular way. It seems easy, simple, but behind this is an attitude, a life’s work, a talent.
Today Veronica is a principal investigator and member of the Project Zero steering committee at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she leads the IdGlobal Project, on Interdisciplinary and Global Studies.
With an in-depth knowledge of cognitive science, human development, and education, she examines how to prepare young people for an interconnected world that is increasingly complex, diverse, and interdependent. In this environment there are many challenges and also opportunities. Today, young people must learn to participate in a more complex world and also to appreciate difference. Developing a global and intercultural outlook is a process -a lifelong process -that education can shape (Barrett et al., 2014; Boix Mansilla and Jackson, 2011; Deardorff, 2009; UNESCO 2013, 2014b:2016).
It is in this context that Global Competence takes on importance. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines Global Competence as the “capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development” (OECD, 2018).
Although it may seem that the OECD is the creator of Global Competence given the above definition and the subsequent incorporation of its evaluation into the global study for the International Programme for the Evaluation of Students (better known as PISA), Veronica co-developed the OECD-PISA Framework on Global Competence, and it is now part of the standardised tests taken by 15-year-olds around the world.
Global Competence did not start to exist due to PISA. It is the result of an increasingly open, connected and multicultural world. Verónica Boix-Mansilla, along with Anthony Jackson, dealt with this concept in depth in 2011. For them, global competence involves not only awareness of global issues, but “learning about the world and how it works” and incorporating “ideas, tools, methods, and languages that are central to any discipline […] to engage with the burning issues of our time.”
For OECD Director of Education Andreas Schelicher (OECD, 2018), Global Competence is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He considers it to be a key area to ensure that the SDGs become a real social contract with citizens towards their vision of education and to encourage young people to act for the general interest, collective welfare, and sustainable development that the SDGs embody.
Education in Global Competence can prepare young people to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to lead lifestyles that promote a culture of peace and non-violence, sustainable development and respect for human rights (OECD, 2017). A commitment and values that we have been promoting at the Faculty of Education Sciences for many years.
In the words of Dr Boix-Mansilla, Global Competence involves interdisciplinary learning, a process through which students incorporate knowledge and ways of thinking from two or more disciplines to create products, raise questions, solve problems and explain the world around them in a way that would not have been possible through a single discipline (Boix Mansilla V, 2017).
Along with the impact Dr Boix-Mansilla’s research has had on a topic relevant to youth education in a global world, Verónica has produced practical frameworks and tools to support educators who are interested in teaching, learning, curricula, research, evaluation, professional development and the evaluation of quality in programmes. Her work on education in Global Competence with the Asian Society formed the basis of the U.S. Department of Education's international education strategy. Her writing on interdisciplinary work and evaluation have been welcomed by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation of the USA, the interdisciplinary initiatives of the International Baccalaureate and in Spain by the Montserrat Institution, where Sister Montserrat is a pioneer in the implementation of innovation programmes.
Verónica Boix-Mansilla focuses on what SDG 4 is now proposing as a priority: ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. In other words, she is committed to and involved in the challenge of reinterpreting the ZERO project frameworks so that they can be used in developing countries. A mission that she welcomes as co-founder and director of the L@titude Project at PZ, an association of Latin American schools and leaders that aims to provide collaborative spaces to promote educational reform. To this end, L@titude works with local educators to create opportunities for professional development through conferences, seminars and online courses; to produce and disseminate educational materials in Spanish; and to participate in research activities.
Her most recent work is a humanitarian educational project in a children's refugee camp on the border between the US and Mexico, in Texas. Only two weeks ago a pilot project for the Learning, Transition and Transformation project began for 1.200 young people who crossed the border as unaccompanied minors, mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
The curriculum aims to promote a holistic perspective through pedagogy for these young people at risk of exclusion which, based on their own context, extols the richness of their culture and prepares them for a type of inclusion that respects their emerging bilingualism and multiculturalism. In short, it invites young people to contextualise their personal experience within the wider framework of migration, understood as a global phenomenon, as a story shared with humanity.
Dr Boix-Mansilla is also an academic advisor for a variety of institutions involved in pedagogy, curricular design, evaluation and professional development issues, including the Organization of American States, the Asian Society, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Socioenvironmental Synthesis Center, the International Baccalaureate, WorldSavy and Global Kids. She is the author of multiple articles and books.
In recent months, in Spain, we have seen a debate on the need to evaluate and acquire new knowledge. Innovation and the need for interdisciplinarity have been greatly strengthened, but an evaluation is also called for to measure the scope and objectives of new projects introduced into classrooms. Today it is necessary to prepare students to be able to research and develop a vision based on different perspectives on a topic of local or global importance, to collaborate in culturally diverse teams, to appreciate different perspectives and to increase employability.
All this is what Dr Boix-Mansilla’s work aims to achieve. She has a strong commitment to quality education for all, and is deeply involved in equal opportunities. The strength and depth of her thinking provides us with a solid basis for promoting quality interdisciplinary work, which UIC Barcelona is also committed to, through the Interdisciplinary Centre for Thought (CIP), so that, in the words of Dr Boix-Mansilla herself, young people can be educated to become involved in the burning issues of our time (Boix Mansilla et al., 2000; Boix Mansilla, 2005, 2006), from a humanistic perspective.
It is impossible to summarise a person’s career in just a few minutes, particularly if she is an exceptional person like Verónica Boix-Mansilla, who also stands out due to both her drive and her down to earth nature. Awarding her an honorary doctorate is a great honour for our young Faculty of Education Sciences. At UIC Barcelona we are proud to invest Dr Verónica Boix Mansilla as Doctor Honoris Causa of this university, which is now also her university from today onwards and forever more.
After Dr Esther Jiménez’s speech, she will say:
«Based on everything that has been said previously, I request that an Honoris Causa Degree be awarded to Dr Verónica Boix-Mansilla»
The rector will then say:
«Dr Lluis Giner now has the floor to introduce Dr Paul Levi.»
Dr Lluís Giner's speech
Mr President of the Board of Trustees,
Illustrious Rector of UIC Barcelona,
Illustrious Rector of Abat Oliba University
Authorities,
Members of the university community,
Distinguished colleagues from other universities,
Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dra. Verónica Boix Mansilla,
Dear Professor Paul Levi,
It is a great honour and pleasure for me to introduce Dr Paul Levi, on behalf of UIC Barcelona, who is to be invested as Doctor Honoris Causa by our university.
It is always a great responsibility to present the life of a consequential person, since important aspects of their professional and personal life may remain without the recognition they deserve. With Dr Levi it is particularly difficult in this short speech to summarise his long professional life and his dedication to others, such as patients, students, teachers, and all of us who have been lucky enough to spend time with him, so there will be many aspects of his vast contribution to society that I will be unable to cover.
That is why instead of simply providing details from his résumé, we will refer to his way of understanding and experiencing life both at a professional level and at a personal or family level.
Dr Paul Levi, from the very beginning envisioned that dentistry would be his professional life, and graduated as a dentist in 1967, but he also noted that within the field of dentistry he was passionate about periodontology, treating gum diseases, but it was more than that, it was helping to maintain oral health, and in the 1960s he could already see that oral health was closely related to general health, something that has now been fully demonstrated.
He graduated in periodontology in 1971 from the prestigious University of Tufts, Boston, under the supervision of world-renowned Professor Irvin Glickman, and obtained diplomate status in periodontology in 1975.
Throughout his life, he has combined dental care in hospital and private settings in the state of Vermont, focusing primarily on preventive health and health maintenance, as well as teaching at various universities, especially in the United States (Tufts and Harvard), but also in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Since 2011 we have been honoured to have him here regularly at UIC-Barcelona, he even spent a whole year among us.
In fact, he began teaching very soon after he graduated, when he was in the U.S. Marines, where he taught recruits how to brush their teeth and floss and why they should do so.
During his education there were two people who acted as mentors for him and helped provide him with the professional and personal guidance he needed to follow in his life. These were Dr Irving Glickman from the Faculty of Dental Medicine at Tufts University, and Dr Samuel Adams, a marine officer and periodontologist who trained at Baylor University, now Texas A&M in Dallas, Texas. They helped him shape the two sides of himself that have accompanied him throughout life, his academic and caring sides, that are both based on helping society.
There are two statements that have marked his understanding of dentistry and his care for patients.
“The highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being”
This statement is embossed on the outer wall of the Harvard University of Public Health.
And a statement from Dr Irving Glickman in 1967, “Dentistry’s mission under its franchise must be clearly defined as primarily the preservation of the health of the natural structures through the prevention of disease and deformities, and secondly, the repair of destroyed tissues the replacement of lost parts and the correction of developmental anomalies
As a dentist he soon realised that fixing teeth was only useful if the cause of the diseases, bacterial dental plaque, was eliminated.
He continued his healthcare activities, but combined it with his great passion, teaching, which he began professionally as a graduate student, teaching classes to pre-doctoral students in clinics and a special workshop on periodontal instrumentation, at that time with Dr Esther Wilkins, who intermittently and in combination with other projects, continues to teach on these Tufts programmes, even today.
These details highlight the vision of Dr Levi, who was ahead of his time, since more than fifty years ago, he saw the great importance of maintaining oral health and the great responsibility of the field of dentistry, to help maintain general health. As I mentioned before, today no one doubts the importance of this, however it is still important to remember and put into place the means to train future dentists in this inter-professional environment, in order to be as effective as possible in this important challenge that is to ensure all healthcare professionals work together. This is important in order to stimulate the professional, modify habits and behaviour, and maintain the overall health of the population, something that Dr Levi, from the beginning of his professional life, has stated, transmitted, and experienced himself, and he continues to do so very intensively today.
His passion for teaching and transmitting this cross-disciplinary view of health quickly broadened his teaching environment, and from 1971 to 1998 he taught dental hygiene students at the University of Vermont.
In 1993, he began teaching at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, where he continues to teach in combination with his teaching at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine at Tufts University.
During the 2010-2011 academic year, thanks to the generosity of both Dr Levi and the universities where he works, the University of Harvard and Tufts University, we had the honour of hosting Professor Levi in the Faculty of Dentistry at UIC Barcelona, for an entire academic year.
We were able to see Dr Levi, in the early morning and until the late afternoon, at the CUO, our university dental clinic, in our faculty, alongside both undergraduate and graduate students, and it seemed like time did not exist for him, since he spent all his time teaching them about the technical aspects of the profession. But above all he taught students to listen to patients, and find the best solution tailored to them, while underlining the great importance of patient education and motivation in order for them to make a commitment to maintaining oral health and become allies of the dentist in this task. Paul has always demonstrated his commitment to education and training and is aware that both of these change and improve societies. His only condition to accompany us during that academic year was to be able to devote the same amount of time to undergraduate students as to master's degree students, when in fact lecturers and professors usually prefer to spend more time with master's students. The explanation that he gave us - the fact he would then be able to positively influence a greater number of students because there are many more undergraduate students - demonstrates his strong belief in the positive impact education can make.
He has also worked as a professor in Europe, apart from the Faculty of Dentistry at UIC-Barcelona, he has worked in the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Zurich, and in Asia, he has been involved in teaching at three universities in Thailand, two in South Korea, and one in Tokyo, Japan.
He has also implemented different programmes to encourage the participation of students in various conferences, even developing specific events for them, to ensure they could participate actively and feel motivated to seek knowledge and disseminate it generously, in an effort to introduce graduate students to this professional environment as early as possible. Dr Levi has been at the forefront of promoting symposia and research activities that attracted both professionals and graduate students, promoting the participation of students from different universities in an interdisciplinary way, based on how he has always understood dentistry, bringing together all specialisations in the most broad sense, as mentioned above, in the overarching environment of all health sciences.
Professor Levi was formerly the director of the American Board of Periodontology, an organisation in charge of examining and ensuring the scientific level of periodontology in the US, and president of the American Academy of Periodontology Foundation, dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of information about oral health and gums. He also awards an annual scholarship in his name and in that of his beloved wife Patty.
He has received numerous awards for participation in different scientific events, always accompanied by his students, who he has encouraged to undertake significant research activities and knowledge transmission. We would like to highlight his first prize at the clinical table of the annual New England Dental Society Annual Meeting in November of 2003 on smoking cessation incorporated with hygiene therapy and initial phase periodontal therapy. This is yet another example of how Dr Levi introduces students to the context of overall health and the important role the dentist plays in this area.
Within this context, he continues to work to incorporate these competences into different academic programmes for both dental practitioners, dental hygienists and auxiliary staff.
Within his broad scientific and academic contribution, two fundamental aspects stand out, his contribution to the knowledge of the determining factors for the improvement of oral health, specifically in the area of periodontology and implants, and to teaching innovation and how to better convey the concepts of comprehensive patient care and, above all, motivate patients to maintain good health.
In 2016, he published a book entitled Non-Surgical Control of Periodontal Diseases, a comprehensive handbook. This book is dedicated to the memory of one of the people who marked his professional life the most and was his one of his mentors, Dr Irving Glickman. The book reflects this way of understanding dentistry, based on prevention, and patient's motivation towards health maintenance, which Dr Levi already saw clearly in 1967. The book brings together all his knowledge and experience covering more than 50 years in a clear way, in great scientific depth and at the same time with descriptive simplicity. Paul has been dedicated to empowering dentists in their ability to positively influence patients to achieve a healthy lifestyle, and to informing patients how they can achieve greater well-being for more than 50 years.
Dr Levi retired from active practice in 2019, and currently continues to combine teaching at different universities around the world, including the UIC-Barcelona Faculty of Dentistry, teaching continuing education courses and delivering papers at conferences. Although, like everyone over the past year due to the pandemic, he had to reduce his face-to-face participation in the different programmes, he is now preparing face-to-face workshops and conferences for the coming months.
Many of you who are here today have directly experienced the generosity and dedication of Dr Levi and his wife Patty, they have probably personally welcomed you into their home and have also opened doors to your future for many of you. He continues along the same lines today, coordinating research visits, academic and research mobility, and always offers his home as a home for everyone who visits it. Paul has been and continues to be a MENTOR in capital letters, a person who is dedicated to his students and patients, always offering the best of himself in every way, every single day. His most important legacy is surely the many professionals he has influenced, and today throughout the world they also transmit the positive message of promoting good oral and general health.
It is an honour for the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya and its Faculty of Dentistry to welcome Dr Levi today as Doctor Honoris Causa of this university, your University Paul.
After Dr Lluis Giner’s speech, she will say:
«Based on everything that has been said previously, I request that an Honoris Causa Degree be awarded to Dr Paul Levi.»
The rector will then say:
«The Honoris Causa candidates will now be granted their degrees.»
The General Secretary will then read out the name of the first candidate.
Those attending will rise and the patron, accompanied by the candidate, will stand before the members of the president’s table.
The rector will say:
«On behalf of the Board of Trustees in the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Private Foundation, based on a proposal made by the Board of Governors and in recognition of your great merit, you are hereby granted a Doctor Honoris Causa Degree.
»By virtue of the authority vested in me, I award you this degree.
»I present you with this ceremonial cap, an ancient, venerated distinction in the academic tradition. Wear it on your head as a crowning symbol of your studies and merits.
»Receive this Book of Science, with which you undertake to teach, disseminate and make progress, and which should provide you with significance and the message that, regardless of the extent of your wisdom, you must always respect and venerate the doctrine of your teachers and predecessors.
»Receive this ring, which was awarded in ancient times at venerable ceremonies such as this one as an emblem of privilege for signing and sealing decisions, consultations and critiques in your field of knowledge and profession.
»Also receive these white gloves as a symbol of purity to protect both of your hands and also as a sign of the distinction of your category»
After the appointment ceremony, the new doctor will embrace the rector, who will say:
«Because you have joined this illustrious group in our university, please receive the fraternal embrace of all those who are honoured and gratified to be your brothers, sisters and colleagues»
The new Doctor is then embraced by his patron.
The new Doctor will say:
«I undertake to fulfil my position as a Doctor with honesty, loyalty and great diligence, and to contribute to the splendour, dignity and honour of the university in all that it is in my power, wherever I am.»
The General Secretary will read out the name of the second candidate, Dr Paul Levi, following the same procedure for his appointment as the other recipient of the Honoris Causa Degree.
The recipients will be seated in their corresponding places.
The rector will then say:
«Dr Verónica Boix-Mansilla now has the floor»
Dr Verónica Boix-Mansilla will give her speech.
Dr Verónica Boix-Mansilla’s speech
The vocation and the act of educating
Dear Rector of UIC Barcelona Alfonso Méndiz, dear Dean of Education Esther Jiménez, Members of the Governing Board, members of the Faculty, colleagues, friends, students, administrators, and staff. It is with joy and humility that I receive this honorable invitation to join the great family of the International University of Catalonia. I come to you today in the company of my dear husband James, and dear friends. Joining virtually from afar are my adored children, Nicolás and Valentina, my mother, José, my father, Ju, Christian, Max, Sebastián, Eduardo, my family. As well as my teachers, colleagues, and students from Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and from other corners of the world. Each one of these individuals has inspired, sustained, and deepened my views of this beautiful field of ours - education.
Today I particularly celebrate, the commitment that this faculty has expressed toward our collective future by choosing to honor the field of Education. In response I take the liberty to reflect about the vocation to educate, weaving together biography and thought. For me the journey to become an educator begins in my early twenties. Having grown up in Buenos Aires, I found myself teaching English as a second language in Brazil. Masterfully, the program used sought to teach English to Brazilian children in order to give voice to their rich cultural and natural world, and place their local stories on a global scene. This was not a course where children would come to learn about the change of the Guard at the Buckingham Palace. Rather, they would learn to investigate, in fact to fall in love with the generosity of the Amazon Forest, the mixture of indigenous, African, and European traditions foundational to their multi-ethnic society, and the possibility of a better future for all. Learning English was a matter of acquiring the discursive tools that would grant them a seat at the global table and participate in the construction of an inclusive future. This was a subversive education that situated the intimate act of teaching and learning in a global landscape with purpose. An education that was able to respond to an unequal world by refusing to leave the rich local stories of culture, nature, of people's simple lives untold. And while I would not have been able to articulate the power of that experience with clarity at age 20, I think often about why we teach what we teach, and the experiences that might perhaps one day invite our students to fall in love with a given field whose significance gives direction to their lives. So perhaps an essential pillar in the vocation to educate is to understand the larger purpose that gives meaning to our daily educational actions.
A year later I was back in Argentina at the University of Buenos Aires, carrying out my studies Education Sciences with a special emphasis in cognition. It was a time of unparalleled intellectual fervor in Buenos Aires. The dictatorship had finally collapsed, too many in the generation above mine were no longer there, and it was up to us, or so we felt, to build a thriving democracy from the ruins. A course on qualitative research led me to visit a secondary school classroom to practice “systematic observation”. I remember it vividly as one remembers shaping moments in one’s life. I am sitting in the back of a classroom packed with youths. The teacher standing up front, giving directions. The sun warming our winter sweaters and my notepad through a line of large windows to the left. When suddenly, yet another human right demonstration (these were common at the time) walks down the street to the rhythm of drumming and chanting. The children’s response was immediate. They raced to the window to look out Some cheered in support, others looked attentively in silence. The teacher observed. We crossed a complicit gaze, and after a minute or two she stood magnanimously, clapped her hands, and said “Well children, let’s come back to reality.” The cognitive dissonance of that framing of reality echoes in my mind until today. Where does reality stand? What is the role of reality in the life of a classroom? Without knowing it at the time, it was that day that I committed to making sure that whatever we do in education, reality would never be walking by us without us noticing. This form of authentic embeddedness is, in my view, another foundational principle of the vocation and action to educate.
Teachers matter. They matter to us in the same way we matter to our students and the individuals who grow up with us-- from whom we learn so much as well. Two grand teachers “grandes maestros” were essential in my path. I met Edith Litwin at the University of Buenos Aires. We lingered after her class. After asking my name she inquired about what I liked to read, the films I had seen recently, the newspapers I typically read, my conversations with friends. “You see, this is the work of the educator: keeping up with art, with the news, with current films with politics, she explained. This is a necessary part of an educator’s homework… especially in times of change.” The implications of that fleeting comment are enormous in my mind. I pondered on what ground can we otherwise stand in front of a class, claiming to prepare students for the future? Far… very far from the precise techniques of rote and obedient memorization, the act of educating is by necessity interdisciplinary, and our authority relies in important ways on our capacity to reflect about how what we teach is informed by and informs the thinking of our times.
The years that followed would bring the gift of working with this formidable mentor at UBAXXI -- Edith’s visionary distance education program--a kind of radio and TV precursor to today’s MOOCS, if you wish. We worked tirelessly to ensure that thousands of new incoming students, of all walks of life would encounter Durkheim, Hobbes, Weber, Locke, Rousseau, Descartes, Kant –a cognitive immunization of sorts, against epidemic residues of authoritarian thought. Under Edith’s exquisite tutelage, we learned to think as engaged social scientists. If we could only understand how people learn –the deep structures and processes of the mind, we thought, we would be able to devise instructional approaches that were effective in yielding meaningful learning, critical thinking, and other intellectual virtues foundational to a democracy. The vocation and act of educating, I came to see, necessitates a larger purpose, one connected to the times and is, also by necessity, an ambitious and collective act.
I met my second grand teacher, Howard Gardner, thanks to the support of organizations like the Organization of American States and the World Lab committed to leveling the playing field for curious youth growing up in the global South. Unbeknown to him, of course, my friend Howard would shape my future and Project Zero, a magnificent research institute for human-centered ideas and innovation would become my intellectual home. Even amidst the asynchronies associated with adapting to a new culture, the power differentials revealed by my Latin American accent, the complexities of holding a collectivist mind in a markedly individualist society, working with Howard always felt like home to me.
“This is a large university, he explained the day we first met, and you may want to explore courses beyond the School of Education. On Tuesdays, the Harvard Gazette announces everything that is happening across the university and National Public Radio will be a good source of news. Howard’s gift that day was a free ticket to an unbounded world of ideas and the humans behind them. Hilary Putnam, Israel Sheffler, Susan Carey, Noam Chomsky, Amartya Sen were all on my list across Harvard and MIT. Jim Wertsch the official translator of Vygotzky’s work was only one hour West. For a young woman from Buenos Aires there were no words to describe this new world, nor the life-long friendships that were born during those transformative years. The vocation to educate and the act of doing so are inextricably linked to the desire to learn. Always, with a mixture of admiration for what human beings are capable of, and critique--recognizing our proclivity for error and the fact that the work of understanding is never finished.
It is perhaps not surprising, given the social context of the United States, our disciplinary roots in cognitive and developmental psychology, and the intellectual legacy of Nelson Goodman, Jerome Bruner, and Howard Gardner that, at Project Zero, my attention veered toward the individual. I fell in love with the promise of human potential. The wonderous human mind, cognitive, social, linguistic, emotional, aesthetic, kinesthetic. The phenomenological manifestation of the human mind is ubiquitous: as we listen to music, engage a work of art, witness the abstract acrobatics of a mathematical proof, admire the power of dancing bodies and the metaphors that move and elevate our spirit. We, educators are guardians and gardeners of such human potential. We are charged with nurturing the development of aesthetic, scientific, historical metacognitive thought. We are responsible in great measure for nurturing the capacity for empathy and compassion, the joy of discovery and self-understanding, the values of human dignity, cultural diversity, and justice – an essential moral compass for civic life. To fulfill our task, we rely on the tools of sciences that range psychology, sociology, pedagogy, philosophy, neuroscience, anthropology, urban design among others. To render our task human, we also rely on our capacity for dialog and understanding. Thus, we may add three essential pillars to the vocation and act of educating: The disposition to recognize the luminous human potential in each individual. The capacity to create informed conditions for flourishing and dialog. And our essential Hippocratic commitment to “do no harm” as we engage children and youth.
Today we are here in this beautiful Aula Magna, among a most prestigious group of scholars, thinkers, and educators. As we open the archetypical “window” out into the world we realize that we live in remarkable times. For over three decades the world has witnessed a rapid and uneven process of globalization able to connect societies as never before, giving rise to new forms of global interaction, intercultural understanding, cooperation, movement, and innovation. Global mobility, digital connectivity, and trade have accelerated cultural encounters and mutual influences. Today’s 281 million international migrants are at once transforming and being transformed by societies the world over. They enrich cultural repertoires, languages, and resources in their new land, while contributing to the development of societies they left behind. They are crafting dynamic forms of transnational identity, weaving our humanity together in their daily interactions with others.
At the same time, we are witnessing the rise of global inequities, political polarization, and environmental disruptions. From cyberbullying to fake news, we see the misuse of the very digital networks meant to connect us. Ethno-cultural conflicts have become the most common source of political violence in the world since the end of the Cold War. Feeble institutions, conflict, violence, continue to lead women, men, and children to leave their homes, stepping into the largest humanitarian crisis we have seen since World War II. Xenophobic nationalisms and nativist platforms are on the rise, rooted in the rejection of diversity as a value, and disregard for the human dignity of those construed as “other.” These forms of “othering” militate against the healthy development of individual human potential and societal wellbeing. They place children -- especially immigrant-origin and ethnic minority children-- in particularly vulnerable situations, calling upon States as well as educational institutions to fulfill their obligation to protect and nurture all children respectively.
Whether we succeed in leveraging our global interconnectedness to construct more inclusive, sustainable and just societies, or we fail to do so, opening room for hatred, violence and dehumanization depends, in some measure, on our determination to revisit our educational commitments. Education cannot bear the sole responsibility for challenging ethnocentrism and xenophobia, but it can teach our young to recognize cultural biases, challenge stereotypes, and seek connections across difference. Indeed, schools, universities are the gathering places for diverse children, youth, and families and are therefore uniquely positioned to advance this work. It is my hope that in the coming decades we can fulfill the promise of education through vocation and action. In other words, that we begin with a deep appreciation for human potential, continue hold two fingers on the pulse of contemporary societies, envision better ways to live together, engage various scientific traditions as lenses onto the world and commit to ongoingly humanizing forms of dialog.
I conclude by thanking you, one more time, for creating this opportunity to reflect and share a perspective on our beloved field. I trust it is the beginning of many dialogs to come.
When she is finished, the rector will say:
«Dr Paul Levi now has the floor»
Dr Paul Levi will give his speech.
Dr Paul Levi’s speech
Passion
Passion is defined as an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction. It is a devotion, a love for people, for a cause, or for an activity. My maternal grandfather, Dr. Louis M. Freedman was an otolaryngologist (ENT) specialist in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the Chief Surgeon in the Boston City Hospital and the Beth Israel Hospital. He removed my tonsils in 1945, because in those days that was what was done with tonsils with the thought to prevent future illness. As I grew-up, my family talked about his dedication to his profession, his concern for his patients, his thoroughness, his skill, and his famous patients, like Sophie Tucker, Opera star. Dr. Freedman had “Grit”. What is “Grit”? Grit is working hard. Grit is passion. Grit is a dedication to making other people’s lives better because of what you can do for them. That value was passed from my grandfather to my mother, to her siblings, and to their and her children, and through them to me.
It was 1961, I was completing my third year at St. Lawrence University, a co-educational college in Canton, New York close to Montreal, Canada. My parents were asking me, “What are you going to do when you graduate from St. Lawrence?”. My dad worked in advertising and publicity for motion pictures, and he made it very clear to me that I should not work with him, because most of his accounts were from friends of his from college. He had attended Harvard University and graduated in 1926, and one of his friends was Leonard H. Goldenson, founder of the American Broadcasting Company and President of ABC Paramount Pictures. There were other companies, Disney and Warner Studios whose CEOs were friends of my dad. Perhaps he thought that a 22-year-old kid who loved Rock ‘n Roll, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, etc. would never make it with his 52-year-old friends. Or perhaps they would retire, and the connections would be lost.
While attending St. Lawrence University, my fraternity brother, pledge son, and good friend, Michael Gridley, told me that he was going to dental school. I was totally unsure of what I would do upon graduation; however, with the subliminal influence of my grandfather, my mother’s family revering him, and that I was enjoying science and math courses, I decided to take the Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) to determine if I had the “aptitude” for dentistry. I never studied for the exam, because this was an aptitude test, and if I passed, it must mean that I had the “aptitude”. Part of the exam was to carve a prescribed figure from a block of green chalk. I knew that the carving part went well for me, as following the carving, my chalk had a reasonable resemblance of the pictured figure. I must admit that I started into dentistry with a hope and not because of a lifelong dream. However, I always had a passion for doing a job correctly and a desire to please others, in this case, my parents.
In the summer I worked for a landscaping company, and one of our customers was Dr. L. Walter Brown. Every Friday I would mow Dr. Brown’s lawn and care for his flower beds, in the precise manner that he prescribed. Dr. Brown was passionate about his gardens, and they had to be perfect when I finished. I never met Dr. Brown, as he worked on Fridays, but my boss, Jack Kidd, asked me to care for Dr. Brown’s place and instructed me how perfectly he expected the lawn to be cut and the beds to be made. One Friday it rained hard all day, and I could not work. I did his lawn on Saturday when he was home, and Dr. Brown and I chatted. As my parents had done, Dr. Brown asked me what I would do after graduation, and I explained that I would like to go to dental school. However, I had made application to Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and I had not received a reply for an interview. We talked a bit and then Dr. Brown said, “Now you do not need an interview.” I previously thought that Dr. Brown was a physician and had no Idea that he was connected to Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM). I explained that to him, and he replied that he was a prosthodontist who taught at Tufts and was the chair of the committee on admissions. I was shortly accepted to and attended TUSDM.
After graduating in 1962 and doing a dental internship in Vermont, I joined the US Navy for two years. Because I graduated from TUSDM, and Dr. Irving Glickman was chairman of the Department of Periodontology at Tufts, I was assigned to be the periodontist for the Naval Recruits. Dr. Glickman’s leadership made Tufts known for periodontal excellence. Part of my practice in the Navy was to teach the Naval Recruits how to brush and floss their teeth. Actually, I learned the techniques taught at that time from a Naval Periodontist, Dr. Samuel Adams. He impressed upon me that preventing dental diseases was not only possible, but essential, and that patient education would be the key to a successful dental practice and a successful life. I had a passion for prevention and for teaching. I returned to Tufts under the mentorship of Dr. Glickman to become a periodontist like Dr. Sam Adams. I wanted to be a teacher of prevention.
After two years of periodontal training, my practice took my wife, Patty, our son, P. Andrew, and me to Burlington, Vermont to be the second periodontist in the state. I also taught at the University of Vermont Dental Hygiene Department a day a week for twenty-seven years. Meanwhile, I took many continuing education courses from one of my periodontal colleagues, Myron Nevins. Myron, a periodontal resident at Boston University at the same time that I was a resident at Tufts, introduced me to his son, Marc, a college student at the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington. Marc wanted to be a dentist, and he asked if he could observe in my office. He soon assisted me, and he and I established an internship program that he took as a credited course at UVM, and in the future, high school and college students could come to our practice, learn about periodontology. Once the interns understood dental diseases, and became proficient in assisting, they would visit other general and specialty dental practices in the vicinity. Since Marc, there have been over forty students who have done the internship from several colleges and high schools. Presently, our practice is part of the LINC Career Development program at St. Lawrence University.
Marc went to dental school at Tufts and after his graduation, he attended Harvard School of Dental Medicine for a residency in periodontology. While at Harvard, Marc encouraged me to teach at Harvard, which began my next twenty-seven years of dental school teaching. Marc is currently practicing in Boston and is presently an instructor and lecturer with me at Harvard.
While teaching in Boston at Harvard and Tufts from 1994-2019, I continued to practice in Burlington, VT. One of the periodontal residents at Tufts, Dr. José Nart returned to his home city, Barcelona, and soon became the Chairman of the Department of Periodontology at Universitat International de Catalunya (UIC). With José’s encouragement, and with a desire teach and live in Europe, I took the academic year from 2010-2011 to teach at UIC, which for Patty and me was one of the most enriching experiences of our 53-year marriage. José also is currently the president of SEPA, the Spanish Periodontal Society, and he practices periodontics, teaches, conducts research, and has published countless papers. Since 2011 and just before the pandemic, I returned to teach at la UIC twice a year. I was with the students in school yesterday and taught a course on preventing dental diseases.
Passion is a devotion, I am passionate about the people whom I have met through dentistry, my patients, my students, my colleagues. I am passionate about prevention. The simplicity of preventing or achieving dental health is recognizing that most dental diseases are caused by the toxins eluded by bacterial cells that are attached to the teeth, and that those toxins can be and must be displaced with toothbrush bristles and dental floss. Motivation to remove the dental plaque, knowing and employing the correct techniques to remove the plaque, having access to the teeth to perform the techniques, and coaching by dental professionals is the key to prevent the major causes of dental ills, periodontal, peri-implant diseases, and dental caries (tooth decay). I am devoted to teaching evidence based dental plaque removal techniques to patients, students, and colleagues. Additionally, I am passionate about the surgical mechanical corrective aspects of periodontal practice and the opportunity to teach those skills to our students. Most of those techniques are designed to provide access for patients to effectively perform the plaque removal skills that we teach. This includes the placement and restoration of dental implants in a manner that the patient can remove the dental plaque. The passion that my forebearers passed down to me has helped me develop a passion for the profession of dentistry.
Lastly and most importantly, I have passion for my wife, Patty and for my sons, Andrew, and Michael, who have supported me, encouraged me, and carried the gauntlet of prevention with me. Our life’s journey has a destination, and along that road, the devotion that we have for our family, for the others whom we meet, and for the work that we do, helps us to leave this world just a bit richer than it was previously, which is truly our destination.
The rector will then read the speeches to welcome the new Doctors.
Dr Alfonso Méndiz’s speech
Honourable doctors, distinguished authorities, members of our academic teaching body, university community, ladies and gentlemen
Today’s ceremony is one of the most significant and symbolic events a University can hold. Today, we welcome two internationally renowned researchers into our doctoral teaching body, deservedly invested as "honoris causa" due to both the honour they merit and the honour they bestow upon us.
We are a young University, about to celebrate our 25th anniversary, and today we are delighted to celebrate our fifth Honoris Causa ceremony.
The two doctors we welcome today have excelled in two seemingly unrelated fields of knowledge. One of these is the field of health, of applied science, of healing the body; the other is in the field of education, of theoretical and practical science and of individual development. The former is concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of dental diseases, the latter, with the understanding, analysis and development of human potential and the learning process.
We might be tempted to think that one science is the polar opposite of the other, and that the two are barely related. However, today's celebration proves that a unity between these sciences does exist, that dialogue between fields of knowledge is possible, and therefore, so is interdisciplinarity.
As we know, the word "university" contains in its etymology two interrelated concepts: Unus (the unity of science) and universus (the totality of knowledge). University, therefore, means the unity of all knowledge. In fact, the word universitas, in this sense, appeared for the first time in 1253, in an edict written by King Alfonso X the Wise, who conferred on the Studium Generale in Salamanca, the name Universitas Studii salmantina. In his book Siete Partidas (Seven-Part Code), the King captured in writing the most renowned definition of a university: “A meeting of teachers and scholars that is held somewhere with the will and understanding of acquiring knowledge”, which entails coexistence and teacher-student interaction, in a shared space, the university campus, and the desire to share knowledge.
For more than six centuries, this tradition of uniting the sciences –illuminated by Christian thought– was present in all universities. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a progressive trend towards the fragmentation of knowledge, which was reflected in self-contained curricula, in the organisation of isolated faculties, and in a growing rejection of humanistic tradition. In 1940, Robert Hutchins, president and later chancellor of the University of Chicago, stated: "Today, it is by chance that North American students understand the tradition of which they form part and in which they must live, because its fragments of science, scattered and separate, are dispersed from one end of the university campus to the other.”
To counter this trend, in the 1920s, an opposing movement began to flourish in several universities: the desire to return to a conversation between the sciences, and to humanism as the nexus of all knowledge. Thus, the concept of a Core Curriculum appeared, with the idea of offering all students at the same university a shared, solid, well-founded education that would enable them to incorporate knowledge from their field into a common culture. The first programme was introduced by Columbia University in 1919, which was followed by the universities of Chicago and Harvard in the 1930s and 1940s.
In line with the Core Curriculum, which has also been adopted by some European universities, UIC Barcelona has set up the Interdisciplinary Centre for Thought, which reflects this humanist tradition and aims to offer cross-disciplinary education in a range of interdisciplinary fields of knowledge to the whole university community. This cross-disciplinary and INTER-FACULTY education was conceived to promote reflection on the University’s mission and on the implications of its Christian identity, from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Today, in this Aula Magna, we pay tribute to two teachers who perfectly exemplify this dialogue between the sciences. Their scientific contributions are extraordinary and have a strong interdisciplinary outlook, as highlighted by their two patrons. As are their values based on humanism and service, which further ennoble this double Honoris Causa ceremony.
Dear Dr Boix-Mansilla, thank you for your words and for your important research into global competence, that advocates for interdisciplinary teaching. What could be more important than preparing future generations to face the challenges of a changing and unpredictable world? As Ramón y Cajál said “teaching is the most noble function of the spirit, since it allows us to mould brains in favour of society”. It is indeed very noble, but it also requires participation from a wide range of different sciences, as you have demonstrated very effectively.
Thank you also, Dr Boix-Mansilla, for making this world a better place, for disseminating the transformative strength of education. Your educational projects for immigrant children on the United States border, and your reflections on how various migrant cultures enrich the societies that host them, construct a fairer and more human view of reality, something that is increasingly necessary in times of dangerous xenophobia and discourse based on false stereotypes.
Dr Boix-Mansilla, thank you for honouring us with your acceptance, and welcome to our doctoral teaching body at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya.
Dr Levi, thank you very much for your inspiring acceptance speech. The word passion has featured in great measure throughout your presentation. Your passion for science is, without a shadow of a doubt, interdisciplinary: it is passion for health, for research, for your own family, and for others. This passion, which manifests through your scientific and educational endeavours, has changed the world's perception of oral health: today we see that dental care has a great influence on our general state of health, and that dentistry is inextricably linked to other health sciences, such as medicine or nursing. Your contributions, which underline the need for medical science that is interdisciplinary, have created a school of thought and have made it possible to further our progress in disease prevention. Your patron has described you as a MENTOR, in capital letters, a title only available to those who not only show talent and perseverance, but also generosity and love. We thank you for your work; a thanks that we extend to your wife Patty, who, in a way, deserves part of this Honoris Causa Doctorate.
Dr Levi, welcome to our teaching body. It is an honour for the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya to call you a member of our community.
Dr Boix-Mansilla and Dr Levi. Among the teaching staff that call UIC Barcelona their home, you will never fail to find support, friendship and admiration, but also certain obligations, if I may be so bold as to remind you of the most important of these: sharing your wisdom and kindness with us. We want to enjoy and engage with your contributions, which is why we hope that your visits to UIC Barcelona will be very frequent –albeit virtually, as the new post-pandemic era dictates–. And by frequent, I mean, the more, the better.
My closing words are concise: Thank you. Thank you to those who have organised this event –especially to the Master of Ceremonies– for achieving the tone, good pace and solemnity that a ceremony of this nature requires. Thank you also to the magnificent Bonaigua choir, for performing such marvellous songs and showing us how music contributes to the beauty and splendour of the academic world. And finally, thank you to you, our audience, for joining us here today to celebrate this auspicious and magnificent event, the most magnificent honour for any University. To everyone, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
The Rector will conclude the ceremony by saying:
«This session is now adjourned»
All those attending will stand and sing Gaudeamus Igitur.
Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus. (bis)
Post iucundam iuventutem, post molestam senectutem,
nos habebit humus. (bis)
Vivat Academia, vivant professores. (bis)
Vivat membrum quodlibet, vivant membra quaelibet,
semper sint in flore. (bis)
When the singing is over, the procession will leave the Aula Magna in the reverse order to that used when they entered.
- University Choir: Rossinyol, catalan translation.
