The founder Don Attilio Menia decided to step aside after 37 years. The new president: “Education on paper at least until spring”
BELLUNO. The University for adults and the elderly renews its leadership and Don Attilio Menia Cadore leaves the presidency, after having led the institution without interruption since 1984, the year of its foundation.
“During the meeting of the board of directors and the assembly of the university, Don Attilio made us participate in his desire to give way to someone else, not because he was tired or unable, but to ensure continuity in the work of the institution”, he explains the engineer Emilio Isotton, proposed by the outgoing president for the office and unanimously elected by secret ballot, “obviously none of us would have wanted Don Attilio to take this step, because he is not just any president, but the founder of this university and for us it will always remain number one. Fortunately, he assured us that he will always remain a member of the assembly and our teacher ».
During the meeting that recorded Don Attilio’s “step to the side”, three new members were also accepted into the assembly: “It is Viviana Sogne, in the section of the Destra Piave, who had already been one of our teachers, so a person already known by our students; Fausta De Feo, who enters the section of the Val di Zoldo, is instead known for having been mayor of Forno di Zoldo and, during her mandate, she had actively participated in the creation of our local section; finally here is the artist Paola Cesco Frare, known above all for her sculptures, who becomes the new coordinator of the Comelico-Sappada section ».
Didactics on paper
As for the next teaching activity, however, there is no mention of dad and, at least for now, not even of face-to-face lessons for the students who, already in these days, will be able to enroll at the University of Belluno-aged adults, but ” didactics on paper “(info and contacts: www.uni-bl.it; [email protected]; 0437 25145).
“Many of our students have asked us in recent days if it will be possible to return to the lessons in the presence, we have discussed and reasoned for a long time on this possibility, also talking about it with the director of the public health prevention service of the USL 1 Dolomiti, Sandro Cinquetti; the conclusion we have reached is to wait a little longer to understand the evolution that the pandemic will have in the coming months, also in light of the reopening of schools. Let’s say that in principle we will tend to let at least the colder months pass and then start again, if everything goes well, in the spring with lessons in the presence. We would all be happy to be able to do so ».
This, however, does not absolutely mean that the activity of the adult-elderly University will have to stop, on the contrary: “During the last year, various sections have organized themselves to send handouts to students, a system that many have appreciated and that we hope to be able to adopt also in the coming months “, continues Isotton,” ours will therefore be a “paper teaching”, which at the moment seems more appropriate than remote teaching via the web which, yes, it works, but only in part . In the section of which I am coordinator, in fact, I noticed that only a part of the students also follow the lessons at a distance, but that this does not apply to everyone. So the risk is to split the group in two and it is something that we would like to avoid absolutely ».
Seminars and workshops
The seminars and workshops that are often proposed by the institute cannot yet be activated: “The conditions are not yet there”, confirms the new president Isotton, “but some very interesting booklets are already being prepared, which will soon be put to arrangement of the various sections: the first is made by Dr. Tiziana Roncada, formerly our teacher, who deals with the very current topic of the pandemic and who will certainly provide useful information to our students; the second will be written by Viviana Sogne and will deal with the theme linked to the presence of women in literature, while another will be curated by Giulio Bianchi and will concern modern culture. To these, in a relatively short time, other news will be added for our loyal members ».
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