After 16 years of acting as president¿during which UDEM consolidated its educational model and became the only university in the country to offer a personal training plan¿Azcúnaga expressed his desire to devote himself to other projects in the same institution, related to teaching, research and outreach.

"I devoted my best efforts to lead this noble institution and it has been a enormous gratification to see it grow and consolidate itself as one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the country. Today I am fortunate to have a new outlook and this fills me with enthusiasm," said Azcúnaga.

"It is a personal decision that I have been pondering over the past three years and today it combines with a health situation, which obviously invites me to reconsider my personal and professional projects," he added.

The Board of Trustees appointed Dieck Assad as president. He will take office immediately. The official inauguration ceremony will take place on campus on August 17, 2009.

UDEM¿s new president assured that his vision matches that of Azcúnaga Guerra, and he considers it an honor to continue the institution¿s noble work and educational project, whose Mission 2018 was recently presented. "And we are in the process of developing the Vision 2020, a project in which we are enlisting the entire UDEM community and that we¿ll present in the near future," said Dieck Assad.

Dieck Assad holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and a MSc in Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has spent his career in higher education institutions in Mexico and the United States.

Date of publication: August 7, 2009

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