Born in Bitonto on October 21, 1940, he has been actively involved in both politics and entrepreneurship since a young age. He served as Administrator of the Municipality of Bari from 1971 to 1979, and was later elected as a Member of the Italian Parliament for four terms. In May 2001, he was elected to the Senate of the Republic, with a role in the Supervisory Commission on the activities of the Bank of Italy.
His entrepreneurial strategies were based on three key elements: developing the enterprise outside of the traditional southern support system; focusing on creating a diversified and flexible cultural hub where the private and public sectors can collaborate on integrated grounds, promoting competitiveness and synergy; fostering systematic relationships, guided by a new paradigm, between the University and Industry.
In line with these objectives, in 1987 he established “Il Baricentro” in Casamassina, an advanced tertiary settlement that significantly innovated the concept of wholesale trade, quickly growing to include 5,000 employees and 600 polymer companies. In 1991, he initiated the project of the Regional Interport of Puglia in the Lamasinata area of Bari, a nationally and internationally significant intermodal coordination structure that facilitates the interception of goods traffic to and from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkan region, also in connection with the implementation of Corridor VIII. In 1995, he inaugurated the Free Mediterranean University “Jean Monnet,” of which he served as President and Rector, a prestigious cultural institution in Southern Italy offering faculties in Economics and Law, as well as a wide range of degree programs, master’s degrees, and specialization schools.
Registered as a journalist, he was the publisher of esteemed publications and Editor-in-Chief of the periodical “NuovoCorso”; he was a two-time world champion in offshore sailing. His entrepreneurial insights, innovative management of human resources, all deeply rooted in and contributing to the local society, the international significance of his achievements, the goal of combining research, function, and development, his sound managerial preparation, his particular sensitivity to territorial and employment issues, the political contributions he has made, the consistent alignment of his thoughts with his actions, his thorough understanding of market mechanisms, and the solutions presented in interventions and speeches at conferences and seminars, are all elements that have established Senator Giuseppe Degennaro as an undisputed reference model in the field of managerial entrepreneurship, with strong academic significance. He consistently demonstrated great dedication to his homeland and in particular to the youth, continuously encouraging them not to accept subordinate positions and to take on roles as protagonists in the formation and development of Europe.
These outstanding qualities formed the basis for the conferral of an Honorary Degree in Economics and Commerce by the University of Bari in 2004. He passed away in Bari on October 23, 2004.
1995
2008
2012
2020
1996
2004
2009
Over the years, numerous and fruitful relationships with public institutions and local authorities have been strengthened, towards which the University aims to be a privileged interlocutor, offering skills and resources to collaborate with the productive, institutional, and cultural fabric that daily shares the same commitment to the improvement and growth of the South and the Mediterranean.
2017
The birth of Lum Enterprise strengthens Lum’s vocation, always considered as an “entrepreneurial university” oriented towards the transfer of knowledge and technologies to the productive sector.
Together with K HUB, the business accelerator of Lum University, participated by 12 national and international partners operating in the field of digital, creative, and inclusive communities, the University increases its capacity to implement the results of its university research and achieves that synergy between the academic and managerial world that is an integral part of its mission.
With Lum Enterprise and KHUB, Lum, relying on experts, coaches, and mentors with proven experience, enriches the proposal of training courses able to provide the involved parties with the necessary skills to consolidate an innovative entrepreneurial idea, leading to the launch and development of business start-ups.
Oggi
The educational offering is divided into 7 degree courses: the Single-cycle Master’s Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery, the Degree Course in Nursing, the Degree Course in Economics and Business Organization, the Master’s Degree Course in Economics and Management, the Single-cycle Master’s Degree Course in Law, the Degree Course in Management Engineering, and the Degree Course in Computer Engineering for Digital Transition.
Through open and inclusive teaching, Lum aims to transfer knowledge to new generations and to the entire society in which it operates. The academic excellence it possesses, which is engaged daily in both teaching and research, will be part of that identity force that will enable Lum to strengthen its attractiveness both nationally and internationally.
Furthermore, Lum works to become a model of a contemporary University where excellence in education, continuous learning, specialized research, innovative doctrinal development, and direct connection to the world of work can be the guiding principles through which the University’s operational practices will move to become a protagonist in the economic and social development of the territory.
LUM University is a community of people united and integrated around a common project in continuous evolution. Since its foundation, LUM’s mission has been to contribute to the formation of a new ruling class to promote the economic development and growth of the Mezzogiorno. Today, this objective integrates with a growing territorial rootedness and a strong connection with the business system, public administration, and professional orders, in a context of increasing internationalization of the entire regional production system.
In recent years, the educational offer has grown, and today LUM offers courses of study in the fields of Economics and Management Sciences, Legal Sciences, Management Engineering, and Gastronomic Sciences, in a new technological and modern campus where learning spaces are accompanied by laboratories for entrepreneurship and innovation, student services, and facilities to promote networking with companies and institutions.
LUM’s educational model focuses on a strong combination of academic knowledge and applied skills, facilitated by continuous dialogue with professionals and experts in economic, legal, technological, and gastronomic fields. Through ongoing interaction with companies and institutions, LUM students have the opportunity to learn a language and experience professional practices, acquiring fundamental skills to facilitate access to the job market.
The LUM community is becoming larger and more rooted every day, fostering continuous dialogue among its Alumni that brings opportunities for learning and informal relationships for personal and professional growth.
LUM also proves to be a hub of scientific knowledge, through the realization of studies and research at the local, national, and international levels within departmental structures, observatories, and scientific laboratories. In this way, it proactively contributes to the ideation and implementation of territorial development policies and changes in the economy and regulatory context. A privately managed public interest institution, a strategic and operational tool for collective development.
Over 25 years since its founding, LUM University now bears the name of its founder “Giuseppe Degennaro,” an enlightened thinker, politician, and entrepreneur, who has always acted for civil progress and the common good. Of this legacy, our people – students, teachers, technical-administrative staff – become the foundational pillars on which to build, day after day, a new model of entrepreneurial University. Because a University is a dynamic reality that can take on the most diverse forms. It is a dream that becomes a work, assumes its own identity, its own life, beyond the idea of the founder, who survives with it in our memory and in our guiding values.
The Magnificent Rector
Prof. Antonello Garzoni
Looking at the logo from the initial left side, there is depicted a circle interrupted by an eagle, representing the founder’s great passion: sailing.
The eagle is indeed the symbol of the boat, Larouge, with which Giuseppe Degennaro sailed the seas of the world until becoming a world champion in offshore sailing. It embraces within it the ancient coat of arms of the Municipality of Casamassima, home of the University.
The choice of the bordeaux color represents the guiding line for the determination and the will to dare, essential for a sailor. This color is indeed a symbol of audacity and vision, the same that led the founder to imagine creating at that historical moment and in this territory what is now the first private University in the South of Italy.
Essentiality, linearity, and clarity inspired the choice of the logo structure, a link with the principles that inspire our organization: vision, agility, and determination.