The ceremony marked the change in leadership at the Engineering Faculty (Photo: Fellipe Enzo/UFJF)
The Engineering Faculty at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) has a new leadership. Professors Júlio César Teixeira and Flávio Gomes took office last Friday, October 23, as director and vice-director, respectively, succeeding professors Henrique Braga and Marcos Borges.
The event took place in the Engineering Faculty's Amphitheatre and was attended by UFJF Rector Girlene Alves, academic community members, senior administration, directors from other units, and family members.
The new administration's proposal is summarized in two principles: humanize and innovate. In his inauguration speech, Teixeira emphasized the importance of valuing people, expanding academic community participation in decisions, and modernizing the Faculty's practices. "Humanizing means putting people at the center of decisions. It means understanding that the quality of a university does not depend solely on academic indicators but also on the conditions offered to all those who study and work there," he stated.
The director also highlighted the commitment to fostering dialogue and building consensus among professors, education technical staff (TAEs), and students. His intention, he said, is to strengthen welcome, professional value, and coexistence within the unit.
New Engineering Faculty director Júlio Teixeira emphasized the humanization and innovation principles guiding the management, focusing on people's valorization, dialogue with the academic community, and strengthening teaching, research, and extension (Photo: Fellipe Enzo/UFJF)
**Undergraduate Education, Research, and Innovation**
Among the challenges pointed out by Teixeira are the strengthening of undergraduate courses, combating dropout, and the low demand for some training areas. To this end, the new management aims to expand dialogue with course coordinations, departments, and other academic instances, seeking shared solutions to the problems affecting teaching and student retention.
The professor also emphasized the importance of strengthening post-graduate studies, research, innovation, and university extension. The proposal includes stimulating collaboration between courses and departments, bringing undergraduate education closer to post-graduate studies, and expanding the Faculty's contribution to society through research, development, and innovation projects.
The modernization of processes and the stimulation of interdisciplinarity also form part of the perspectives for the term. When addressing technological and social transformations, Teixeira cited artificial intelligence, climate change, and energy transition as issues challenging engineering education.
"As an institution forming engineers, we have the responsibility to keep up with these transformations and, whenever possible, contribute to leading them," he stressed.
The UFJF rector, Girlene Alves, highlighted the importance of democracy in the choice of new directors by the academic community. (Photo: Fellipe Enzo/UFJF)
**Celebrating Democracy**
The rector emphasized the importance of the democratic choice of the academic community and thanked the former directors for their work at the forefront of the Engineering Faculty. She also wished success to the new management in the face of the challenges faced by public universities.
She emphasized the budget constraints of federal higher education institutions and the need to establish priorities collectively and transparently. According to her, UFJF has been striving to maintain strategic projects through debates and shared decisions on the application of available resources. "It's very easy for us to give up, and that's what many want: for us to give up, to open the university to private capital, and for the state to disavow public financing," she stated.
Girlene also highlighted that the public university should be protected and strengthened by the commitment of the entire academic community. She also emphasized that managers' responsibility includes ensuring conditions for student training and retention. "We need to look more and more to truly see our only reason, which are our students. We need to face the challenge of enabling their retention," she declared.
For the rector, tackling dropout rates requires the involvement of the entire institution, not just the sectors responsible for student support. She also reminded that academic unit directors need to balance local demands with broader institutional decisions, participating in debates and collective choices of the University.
Professor Braga provided an overview of the actions taken during his terms from 2018 to 2026 as the head of the UFJF Engineering Faculty, highlighting academic, administrative, and structural advancements (Photo: Fellipe Enzo/UFJF).
Previous management balance
In his farewell speech, Braga reviewed the work developed over the 2018–2026 terms, during which he led the Engineering Faculty under various management compositions, alongside Professor Borges.
Among the highlighted actions are support for academic activities and laboratories, encouragement of student participation, and administrative organization improvements. Braga also stressed the development of guidelines for the operation and monitoring of junior companies linked to the faculty.
Currently, the unit has three junior companies, providing students with opportunities to apply the knowledge acquired in their undergraduate studies and interact with the external community.Another point mentioned was the elaboration of a proposal for internal regulations, discussed between 2023 and 2026 and adopted by the new management for evaluation and continuation of the work.
The professor also highlighted the participation of faculty members in solidarity initiatives with the population of Juiz de Fora and the region after intense rainfall episodes that hit the municipality in February of this year, with contributions from areas such as sanitation, geology, and structural integrity.
Upon leaving his post, Braga thanked the academic community and the sectors of the Superior Administration for their support during the period. He also drew attention to the needs for maintenance, renewal, and expansion of the Faculty's structure due to the budgetary constraints of federal higher education institutions.
A history of 112 years
The Engineering Faculty of UFJF has a 112-year history and comprises ten undergraduate courses, four postgraduate programs, and over 50 laboratories. The Unit also has approximately 150 faculty members, 50 administrative and educational technical staff, and around three thousand students, in addition to outsourced workers and loaned servers.
The structure supports teaching, research, extension, and innovation activities, as well as student initiatives, such as competition teams and academic groups.
About the management
Júlio César TeixeiraHe is a Civil Engineer and a specialist in Occupational Safety Engineering from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), where he has been a professor in the Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Engineering Department since 1991. He is a master and doctor in Sanitation, Environment, and Water Resources from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He conducts research on the impacts of environmental conditions on population health and occupational hygiene. He served as the Director of the Engineering Faculty at UFJF (2006–2010), President and CEO of the Municipal Sanitation Company (Cesama) in Juiz de Fora (2021–2024), and President of the Municipal Basic Sanitation Council (2022–2024).
Flávio GomesHe is an Electrical Engineer, a master in Power Systems from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) and a doctor from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and has been an associate professor at UFJF since 2010. He works on research projects related to electrical systems, distributed generation, renewable energies, and optimization. He also develops projects with national and international institutions and is a Senior Member of the IEEE since 2013.
Additional Information:(32) 2102–3419 – Engineering Faculty