Introduction Before you start turning the pages of this publication, it is important to know a little of the context and the characters depicted in the images and cited in the brief captions. Darcy Ribeiro State University of Northern of Rio de Janeiro (UENF) was established as of the re-democratization of Brazil, after a period of military dictatorship that ended in the 1980’s. First, a movement by the civil society developed in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes, state of Rio de Janeiro, was successful in including the foundation of the University in the State’s Constitution of 1989. In a second moment (1991/1193), three important Brazilian personalities entered the stage. Leonel Brizola, a politician known for his strife for democracy and education in Brazil, was elected governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and decided to implement UENF, as predicted in the Constitution. Brizola invited the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro — known as an advocate of the native indians and the author of project directed to empower public education. Both joined the ingenious architect Oscar Niemeyer, who prepared the architectural project of the new University campus. The main building of UENF is located in Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, which was one of the cities with the most robust economy in Brazil, due to sugarcane plantations and the production of sugar and alcohol. At the end of the 1980’s, however, the city of Campos was experiencing a period of severe decay. The population of the city expected that the establishment of a University would improve this picture. Nowadays the region is strongly benefited from petroleum exploration royalties. This publication, released in 2011, recovers snapshots of the first 18 years of existence of a singular and inspirational course of a university. Enjoy!
Degrees offered by UENF Graduation degrees Agronomy Biological Sciences Biology (Teacher Degree) Chemistry (Teacher Degree) Civil Engineering Computer and Information Science Engineering of Petroleum Exploration and Production Pedagogy (Teacher Degree) Physics (Teacher Degree) Production Engineering Public Administration Mathematics (Teacher Degree) Metallurgic and Materials Engineering Social Sciences Veterinary Medicine Zootechnology
Distance Learning Degrees Biological Sciences (Teacher Degree) Chemistry (Teacher Degree)
Post-Graduation Degrees (academic) MSc and PhD: Animal Sciences Biosciences and Biotechnology Civil Engineering Ecology and Natural Resources Engineering of Oil Reserves and Exploration Engineering and Materials Sciences Genetics and Plant Improvement Natural Sciences Plant Production Political Sociology
MSc Cognition and Language Production Engineering Social Policies
Post-Graduation Degrees (professional) MSc in Mathematics
A name and a surname Nossa UENF special/images is a small memory album of the course the “University of the Third Millennium”. It is homage to the diversity of players, voices, contributions and experiences that made UENF as it is at the age of 18. For that, we recovered a set of photographic records of the first years of the institution and tried to illustrate events using more recent photographs, some of which quite new. These are buildings rising from the ground, people (notables or anonymous) leaving their contributions, a history being woven. UENF is larger than all the characters in this story, though the university would not be anything at all without the contributions of all of them. People come and go in the life of educational institutions, and these become part of the lives of these people. The surname UENF is part of the biography of thousands of people”
Silvério de Paiva Freitas President of UENF
State Governor of Rio de Janeiro - Sérgio Cabral Secretary for Science and Technology Affairs - Alexandre Cardoso President of UENF - Silvério de Paiva Freitas Vice-President of UENF - Edson Corrêa da Silva
Published by the Press Assistant’s Office of Darcy Ribeiro State University of Northern of Rio de Janeiro Journalists in charge: F’ulvia D`Alessandri and Gustavo Smiderle Graphic design: Felipe Moussallem www.uenf.br - 0800 025 2004
foto: Carlos Alves
One day Darcy Ribeiro was walking on an avenue in the city of Campos and said, “Mayor, please expropriate this area�. And so it was. The road was open for the establishment of UENF.
foto: Carlos Alves
The plains where manor houses and old slave shelters once existed would then be seen from a different perspective. Concerning ideas, it would become a site of research, effervescence and knowledge, redirecting the life in the region as a whole.
foto: Carlos Alves
As of the birth of UENF, the backdrop is the city of Campos dos Goytacazes, as a site for something that may be related with progress. Much has changed in these past 18 years. Rather, maybe not that much‌
foto: Carlos Alves
The arrangement of buildings in the campus resembles a native indian’s headdress, a reference to the tribe of the Goitacå. Could it be that they actually worn this kind of adornment? The records of the presence of native indians on the plain are scarce, though the symbolism of this reference is cogent.
foto: Carlos Alves
Unfinished buildings threatened the survival of UENF. Yet, the soul of the University was not in the buildings (even though those gained existence in the hands of the architectural genius Niemeyer), but in the people who build it, day after day.
foto: Carlos Alves
Buildings on the fast lane: a dry building site, with no flowers, but destined to become shoot a great deal of fruit. The blueprints designed by Niemeyer were the origins of the architectural spaces where the dreams of the people and of Darcy would become real.
foto: Carlos Alves
A political decision entails a price to pay, but it is essential. When Governor Brizola decided to establish UENF, the University gained life quickly, based on the mechanism assembled to develop Cieps.
foto: Carlos Alves
Flying the Brazilian Flag was once regarded as a gesture in compliance with the military dictatorship, not of love to our country. But regimes go by, the nation goes on, and education frees everyone.
foto: Carlos Alves
UENF is a state university and has a very clearly defined mission in the region. But, how come the University has three universal (and so characteristically Brazilian) people in its DNA, like Darcy Ribeiro, Oscar Niemeyer, and Leonel Brizola?
foto: Carlos Alves
Niemeyer left admirable buildings that would be like home for the people, like the Campus of UENF. Although the logics of the academy is not always truthful to the public interest, UENF has the obligation to reinvent itself every day, concerning its fundamental commitments.
foto: Carlos Alves
They always said that education does not help elect candidates and that Leonel Brizola was a populist politician, but in this line of reasoning the establishment of UENF was not possible to explain.
foto: Carlos Alves
The ambitions of UENF as of its first days were not modest. The inscription on the obelisk entering the campus has ceased to exist, but the desire for a beautiful, free, fair and happy civilization continues to be a contemporary issue.
foto: Carlos Alves
Similarly to the saints the people direct their prayers to, memorable public figures also fail along the courses they take. Yet, they do not cease to be a source of inspiration, especially because they see what one does not see through a naked eye.
foto: Carlos Alves
Anyone who has the privilege to take part in records such as these should be proud of being among pioneers. And it is the respect for these pioneers, irrespective of their subsequent history, is a way to also revere the University.
Former Presidents. They did for UENF everything that history allowed them to. Wande rley de S 08/199 3 to 02 ouza /1995
Eugênio Lerner 02/1995 to 04/1997
Salassier Bernardo 07/1999 to 06/2003
Pedro Carajilescov 04/1997 to 12/1998
Raimundo Braz Filho 06/2003 to 06/2007
es Adilson Gonçalv 99 01/1999 to 07/19
Almy Júnior 06/2007 to 06/2011
foto: Felipe Moussallem
Once upon a time, a visionary old lady bequeathed a manor house to become the main building of a University that was to be. It was so that Casa de Cultura Villa Maria gained life.
foto: Felipe Moussallem
An architectural masterpiece was created to be the shelter for rare moments of collective life.
foto: Felipe Moussallem
According to the philosopher Marilena ChauĂ, the public university is an institution, not an organization. It should be oriented towards society, not itself.
foto: Roberto Franco
Maybe the lines conceived by Niemeyer were inspired by the harmony seen in nature. Yet, one day a cloud mimicked the lines of Niemeyer.
foto: Arquivo
The UENF campus in MacaĂŠ, erected on a plot of land donated by the Brennand family and with funding by Petrobras, plays the role of catalyst of the public university.
foto: Carlos Alves
The Veterinary Hospital, finished in 2006, is one of the landmarks of the 18 years of history of UENF.
foto: Carlos Alves
The public property, just like the natural heritage that acts as a picture frame, belongs to everyone.
foto: Felipe Moussallem
The language of the samba breaks barriers and builds bridges, as happened during the presentation of the samba association Estação Primeira de Mangueira, on the 15th anniversary of UENF, in 2008. Darcy Ribeiro was the theme of the samba score of the 2009 Carnival parade, in Rio de Janeiro.
foto: Felipe Moussallem
In the love for soccer, the word says that the future of any association lies in their young players. In UENF, Scientific Initiation has been awarded a series of prizes by CNPq.
foto: Felipe Moussallem
Vote counting in 2011: the civil strife for administrative autonomy, which was successfully obtained on the 23rd of October 2001, lend new meaning to the direct elections for UENF presidency.
foto: Mario Sergio Pinto
What is the best thing that a so-called University of the Third Millennium can offer to society? People!