On Saturday, December 30, 2023, at the Performance Hall of the Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Culture, UNY Rector Prof. Dr. Sumaryanto, M.Kes., AIFO., officially inaugurated nine new Professors of UNY, among whom were Prof. Dr. Sugeng Bayu Wahyono, M.Si., and Prof. Dr. Ali Muhtadi, M.Pd.

Carrying the theme “Critical Paradigm Sociology as a Fertilizer for the Barren Epistemological Habitat of Educational Sciences in Indonesia” in his inauguration speech, Prof. Dr. Sugeng Bayu Wahyono, M.Si. (Professor of Sociology of Education) highlighted three main factors contributing to the epistemological barrenness:

1. it has become reduced to issues limited only to school-based education,
2. an involution occurring as a result of academic activities following administrative logic, and
3. a lack of interest in the critical paradigm due to its entanglement with the historical development of social and political systems.

Meanwhile, in his inauguration speech titled “Deep Learning Curriculum and Instruction to Develop Students’ Critical–Innovative Thinking Skills and Learning Independence in the Digital Era,” Prof. Dr. Ali Muhtadi, M.Pd. (Professor of Curriculum and Instructional Development) stated that to cultivate critical–innovative thinking skills and student learning independence, lecturers must act as facilitators, inspirators, and initiators of innovative discussions in the learning process. Students, on the other hand, serve as active learners who construct and innovate learning materials to solve the problems they encounter.

In their speeches, both Prof. Dr. Sugeng Bayu Wahyono, M.Si. and Prof. Dr. Ali Muhtadi, M.Pd. expressed profound gratitude to the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology; the Rector of UNY; the Vice Rectors; the “Team 7”; the Dean of FIPP UNY; the UNY and FIPP Senates; the Vice Deans of FIPP UNY; all lecturers of the Department of Curriculum and Educational Technology; educational staff involved in the professorship proposal process; their parents, beloved families, friends, colleagues, and everyone who supported the achievement of this milestone.

On this occasion, UNY Rector Prof. Sumaryanto also extended his congratulations and best wishes for this extraordinary academic accomplishment. “These nine professors are part of the third series of professorial inauguration speeches in 2023, during which a total of 38 professors delivered their inaugural addresses,” the Rector stated. (bds)