Nuria Nuiry Sánchez

Teacher of many generations of Cubans and former rector of what is now the University of the Arts (ISA). Considered a master teacher with a capital M, a wise and cultured woman, she always transmitted the Martian legacy in all the classrooms where she taught. Nuria devoted her life to the study of the work of José Martí and to the formation of generations of Cuban journalists.

Doctor Nuria Nuiry Súarez, who served as rector of the Higher Institute of Art ISA between the years 1985 and 1987. The professor taught for more than fifty years, was dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Havana and founder of the municipalization of higher education.

A woman of fragile figure and extreme thinness, and although with sad eyes, capable of conducting with them as if with volcanic energy, toward any passage of history and culture that she set out to explore. Hence her celebration and lament in saying: "how scarce are those teachers who defy time and space, and must awaken you from your reverie, because the class has already ended, and you return to the present, to deal with your time and your space."

A graduate in Philosophy and Letters, she was also a critic and essayist. She was a professor at the University of Havana, director of its School of Journalism, and of Artistic Education in the Ministry of Culture. She served as rector of the University of the Arts, presided over the Martian Chair of the International Institute of Journalism José Martí, in addition to being a member of the Association of Writers of the Uneac.

Among the multiple recognitions she received is the Order for National Culture. On the occasion of its bestowal, Nuria commented: "My greatest decoration is when a student gives me a token of gratitude. Medals are flattering, but seeing the results of a human being satisfies me much more, and since I cannot hang that medal on my chest, I carry it in my heart"