The Comillas Foundation (''Fundación Comillas del Español y la Cultura Hispánica'') is a private nonprofit organization based in the town of

Comillas Comillas is a small township and municipality in the northern reaches of Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. The Marquessate of Comillas, a fiefdom of Spanish nobility, holds ceremonial office in the seat of power at a small castle ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Comillas Foundation, established in 2005, is dedicated to promote

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

and

Hispanic culture The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly applie ...

. The academic activities of Comillas Foundation (University Degree in Hispanic Studies and Master in Teaching Spanish as Foreign Language) are developed through the International Center for Higher Spanish Studies ( CIESE-Comillas), associated to the

University of Cantabria The University of Cantabria (UC) () is a public university located in Santander, Torrelavega and Comillas in Cantabria, Spain. It was founded in 1972 and comprises 15 schools and colleges. It was selected as Campus of International Ex ...

. Besides that, the foundation provides forums and seminars related with Spanish language and culture. Comillas Foundation headquarters is situated at the former

Comillas Pontifical University Comillas Pontifical University () is a private Catholic Church, Catholic university run by the Spanish Province of the Society of Jesus in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. The university is involved in a number of academic exchange programmes, work practi ...

building (near Seminario Pontificio). Until now, the activities of the foundation were held at the Sobrellano Palace, a few hundred yards from the future location, until the restoration of the buildings are concluded. From May 2010, Comillas’ Foundation activities take place in an historical building entirely renovated. Courses have been designed to satisfy the specific needs of the target groups, i.e. professionals and executives, companies, institutions, teachers, as well as adults and students of Spanish. The current Comillas Foundation

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) is Mr. Ignacio Gavira Tomás, formerly Head of Administration in the

University of La Rioja The University of La Rioja (UR) is a public institution of higher education based in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. Inaugurated during 1992–1993 from various existing schools and colleges, it currently teaches Grades 19 adapted to the European High ...

, and before that, the Director General of Higher Education and Research in the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha. In August 2009, Mr. Ignacio Gavira Tomás has replaced Dr. Ignacio Rodríguez del Bosque, Professor in the

Board of trustees

The most significant members of the Foundation's Board of Trustees are: * President: Mr. Miguel Ángel Revilla Roiz, President of the Regional

Government of Cantabria The Government of Cantabria is one of the statutory institutions that conform the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. It is the superior collegiate body that directs the politics and the Administration of this Spanish autonomous community, and at ...

. * Vice-president: Ms. Dolores Gorostiaga Saiz, vice-president of the Regional

. * Minister of Education of the

Government of Spain The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the ...

. (Mr. Ángel Gabilondo Pujol.) * Minister of Culture of the

. (Ms.

Ángeles González-Sinde Ángeles González-Sinde Reig (born 7 April 1965) is a Spanish scriptwriter, film director and politician. She served as Minister of Culture of the Government of Spain from April 2009 until December 2011. Her appointment was received with anger ...

.) * Councillor for Economics and the Treasury of the

. (Mr.

Ángel Agudo San Emeterio Angel is a given name meaning "angel", "messenger". In the English-speaking world Angel is used for both boys and girls. From the medieval Latin masculine name ''Angelus'', which was derived from the name of the heavenly creature (itself derived ...

) * Councillor for Education for the Government of Cantabria. (Ms. Rosa Eva Díez Tezanos) * Councillor for Culture, Tourism and Sports for the

. (Mr. Francisco Javier López Marcano.) * Secretary of State for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Spanish Government. (Ms.

Soraya Rodríguez Ramos Soraya () is a feminine Arabic and Persian name. It is derived from the Arabic name for the Pleiades star cluster, ''Thurayyā'' or ''Suraya'' (). The name, also spelled Zoraya, is used in Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking world with an ...

) * Official Representative of the Spanish Government in

. (Mr. Agustín Jesús Ibáñez Ramos.) * Director of

Instituto Cervantes Instituto Cervantes (, the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important fi ...

. (Ms. Carmen Caffarel Serra) * Mayoress of

. (Ms.

María Teresa Noceda Llano Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

)

External links

Comillas Foundation Official webpage, in English
{{Authority control 2005 establishments in Spain Cultural promotion organizations Non-profit organisations based in Spain Culture of Spain Spanish-language education Foundations based in Spain