Mario Ponce Acevedo

Vice President for Academic Affairs

It is the authority in charge of developing and implementing the academic policy of the University and serves as the head of the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. 

Duties

• Proposes academic policies for undergraduate, master's, postgraduate, medical specialties, and doctoral programs. 
• Proposes, in conjunction with the Office of the President, policies for the development of the academic staff, their careers, and professional development. 
• Proposes university student admission policies and academic inclusion policies. 
• Ensures the integral formation, quality of life, and welfare of undergraduate and graduate students through the development of support and prevention activities in the areas of health, sports, and student development. 
• Approves, in conjunction with the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs and the Office of the Provost, the University's internationalization agreements in training projects, double degree and degrees, internships, and undergraduate and master's student exchange. 
• Proposes and coordinates the policies of the University's activities that consider training in other languages, the Bachillerato Inicia Program, and the UC College Preparatory Program. 

To learn more about the duties and functions of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, read the Regulations of the Organizations that work with the Office of the President. 

Career

Mario Ponce holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Sciences from the University of Chile. He later earned a Master's degree from the National Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro and a PhD from the University of Paris-Sud, France. His research focuses on dynamical systems.

He joined the Faculty of Mathematics at UC Chile in 2007, where he served as Dean for two consecutive terms. His leadership left a lasting impact through initiatives that continue to influence mathematics education at both the school and university levels. 

Throughout his career, he has led four FONDECYT-funded projects and served as a research associate on two Anillo PIA projects, in addition to contributing to other collaborative research efforts. He has actively promoted mathematical talent by leading initiatives such as the National Mathematics Olympiad, the School Mathematics Championship, the Young Mathematical Talent Award from the College of Engineers, and the UC Mathematical Reasoning Workshop, among others.

In 2015, he and his student Patricio Santibáñez received the Halmos-Ford Award for excellence in expository writing, granted by the Mathematical Association of America.    

During the 2023–2024 term, he served as president of the Chilean Mathematical Society (SOMACHI). In 2024, he participated in Congreso Futuro with the talk “How Can We Know Who Any Person on the Planet Is with 33 Questions?”, where he used real-world examples to demonstrate how mathematics plays a role in everyday life and forms the foundation of artificial intelligence. 

He has served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at UC Chile since 2025.