Secular Rectors of the Real Seminario de San Carlos (1825–1867) The Office of the President of the University of San Carlos traces in roots in the office of the
Rector of the
Real Seminario de San Carlos, which was founded in 1783 by Bishop Mateo Joaquin Rubio de Arevalo of the
Diocese of Cebu. Despite the founding of the
Seminary in 1783, there were no permanent faculty members during the first few years of its operation, as hardly anyone was trained for seminary administration and theological teaching. In 1825, the Seminary's first rector, Fr. José Morales del Rosario, was appointed by Bishop Francisco Genoves, and was followed by a series of secular rectors until 1867.
Vincentian Rectors (1867–1935) On 19 October 1852,
Isabella II of Spain created the
Congregation of the Mission to administer the Conciliar Seminaries in the Philippines. With this, Bishop Romualdo Jimeno of Cebu invited the
Padres Paules (Vincentians) to take over the Seminary in 1863. In 1867, the Seminary, which was previously renamed as the
Seminario Conciliar de San Carlos, was formally turned over to Fr. José Casarramona, CM., who became the rector. On May 15, 1867, under the rectorate of Fr. Casarramona, the Seminary allowed
laymen to study as externs (
colegiales), marking the beginning of the
Seminario-Colegio which later became the University of San Carlos. Under the Vincentian rectorship, the Seminary and College were made into separate institutions in response to
Pope Pius XI's apostolic letter
Officiorum omnium, which decreed that "seminaries should serve no other purpose than that for which they were founded." Fr. H. Garcia was appointed as the
Colegio's first Rector.
SVD Rectors and Presidents (1935 - present) In 1935, the
Society of the Divine Word (SVD) took over the
Colegio de San Carlos. The first SVD rector was Fr. Arthur F. Dingman, who is the namesake of the main building of the University's Downtown Campus, located along P. del Rosario Street. The
Colegio was elevated to university status in 1948, during Fr. Dingman's second term. In 1964, the rectorate was re-established as the Office of the University President, with Fr. Rudolph Rahmann, SVD being the president. In 1970, Fr. Rahmann was succeeded by Fr. Amante Castillo, SVD, the University's first Filipino president. As of 2024, every president since Fr. Castillo's presidency has been Filipino. The longest consecutively serving president has been Fr. Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD (2008–2020), who was conferred with the title of President Emeritus in 2023. == List of Rectors and Presidents ==