Wenceslao Giménez-Bonet leaves FCE Deanship

Doctor Wenceslao Giménez-Bonet handing out diplomas during the graduation act

Wenceslao Giménez-Bonet, who for almost four years was Dean of the Economic Sciences School of the Francisco Marroquín University, will leave this deanship to return to his natal Argentina.  He will be substituted by Fritz Thomas.

«The decision of returning to Argentina was not easy.  However, I always knew that every project has its initial and closing chapters.  Still, with this decision came the sadness of leaving this beautiful country, where my children were born, but also the sadness of leaving the direction of an exemplar academic unit, with a team of persons and professionals of first line.  When you take such a decision its because it will be compensated by many joys.  I go back to my house with the idea of something more than mission accomplished», said Ph.D. Gímenez-Bonet.

Besides been a Dean, Doctor Giménez-Bonet taught Economy I and II at the FCE; and Money and Banking at the MBA.  He also had a radio program of economic commentaries titled The weekly economic foolishness, where he commented the economic foolishness that made news.

He has a Ph.D. on Economic and Entrepreneurial Sciences by the Navarra University and a licentiate on Economics by the Buenos Aires University.

«When I headed the Deanship, I did it for a two year period. Its been almost four years in which we have made a lot of projects and changes that went over the original goals.  Among these projects we opened and formalized the doctoral program in economics, from which Julio Cole (the first Economics Ph.D. given in Guatemala) and Fritz Thomas, the new Dean, graduated, he said.

Today the candidates to a Ph.D. are Mónica Río Nevado de Zelaya and Jacobus van Seumeren, who will be defending their doctoral thesis this and next year.

During his deanship two Master Degree Programs were developed, the Master in Entrepreneurial Economics and the Master in International Political Economy, that reflect the UFM’s leadership in the region for themes that go beyond the typical MBA. In the first master degree program, the alliance with the Boston University was strategic to give the program a presential experience on a virtual platform.  In the case of the second master degree, the program Key Players Program reflected the important network of contacts that this University has with world leaders that have been part of the international scenery, explained the leaving dean.

Maybe the most defiant, in terms of functionality, was the fusion between the Economic Sciences School and the Public Accountants and Audit School, and the pensa  reform of the grade careers that started on 2005.  It was an important challenge because the fusion implied rethinking the Auditors profile, reflecting this in the new pensum  and, at the same time, the new pensahad to regain the strength of each area in every career offered by the School.  The challenge was fulfilled and we are proud of if, he said.

«These measures were accompanied by the Schools restructure in 3 departments and the increase of full time professors, both strategic pieces of the pensa reform.  In the restructuring we defined the departments of Economics, Business Administration and Public Accounting and Auditing, being the purpose that each one would take care of the academic quality of their areas regardless of the career the students studied.  The full time professors are an extra effort that the School makes to take a better advantage of successful professionals that want to be successful teachers», he explained.

«During his period the admittance process was redesigned, in order to select the best students of different schools, according to a stronger and demanding pensa.  

At the School we are proud of the extra curricular activities that were implemented during this period, like the Great Classics Book Seminar for this units professors and moderated by Doctor Moris Polanco, the movie-forums, and our active participation in the David Hume Ethics Center», Giménez-Bonet indicated.

«It is also worth mentioning the work of the SIFE-UFM team, the Ley del Monte (better every day) and the ITA program, that has been working for more than ten years», he added.

«Our graduates degree, due to their success in and out of Guatemala, speaks clearly of the way we work in this school, how its been done before I came to this position; I hope I contributed with this tendency, which is the most important proof of the deans work», he concluded.

The new dean of the Economic Sciences School will be Doctor Fritz Thomas, who had occupied that place from 1988 until 1996.  Thomas has a wide professional trajectory as an economics and financial advisor; he was President of the Bolsa de Valores Nacional  and executive director of the Westrust Bank.  He was co-founder of the National Economic Investigation Center (CIEN).  He has a Ph.D. in Economics by the Francisco Marroquín University and more than twenty years of experience as a professor. 

«The career and university selection are one of the most important decisions in a persons life.  It is where the first adult years are formed and you gather experience, knowledge and tools in the path to independence and your life.  I am honored by the opportunity to contribute to promote the mission of the Francisco Marroquín University and the Economic Sciences School, and excited to work again reuniting excellent professors and demanding students», said Thomas.