Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), known locally as the Lake, is a private

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

university in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It was founded in 1895 by the

Sisters of Divine Providence The Congregation of Divine Providence (or Sisters of Divine Providence) is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes of women which have developed from the work of the Blessed Jean-Martin Moye (1730-1793), a French Catholic priest. Th ...

, a

religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecra ...

originating in

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of G ...

, France, during the 18th century. The Texas chapter of the institute still sponsors the university. Our Lady of the Lake University was the first San Antonio institution of higher education to receive regional accreditation and its Worden School of Social Service is the oldest Social Work school in Texas. Our Lady of the Lake University offers

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s, and two

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

degree programs across its main campus and its satellite campuses in The Woodlands and in the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

. The university's athletic team, the Saints, compete in the

Red River Athletic Conference The Red River Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference's 13 member institutions are located in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. History T ...

(RRAC) as part of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stud ...

(NAIA).

History

In 1895, construction began on the main campus of what would become Our Lady of the Lake College. By 1896, high school educational programs were under way. The first college program began in 1911 as a two-year curriculum for women. In 1919, the curriculum was expanded to four years and the institution was admitted to membership in the Texas Association of Colleges. Graduate study began in 1942 and was coeducational from its inception; all programs became fully coeducational in 1969. In 1975, the name of the institution was changed from Our Lady of the Lake College to Our Lady of the Lake University of San Antonio. Our Lady of the Lake University was the first San Antonio institution of higher education to receive regional accreditation. It has been accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools since 1923. In 1927, it became the third Texas school to be approved by the

American Association of Universities The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ...

. As part of its mission to provide education to those with limited access, the university introduced the Weekend College concept at the San Antonio campus in 1978. OLLU began offering "weekend degree" programs at Lone Star College - North Harris in 1986. The Houston program would move to the Lone Star College University Center in 2012, and construction would be completed on its own stand-alone campus, located off

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas ...

near

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with th ...

, in 2018. In 2008, the university began a partnership with school districts in the Rio Grande Valley that would eventually evolve into its satellite campus in

La Feria, Texas La Feria is a city in Cameron County, Texas, United States. Its population was 7,302 at the time of the 2010 census. It is part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville, the Matamoros–Brownsville, and the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission me ...

. University president Tessa Martinez Pollack resigned on March 1, 2013. She began her presidency in 2002. Her resignation followed what the ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

'' characterized as "months of tumult in which students and faculty protested Pollack's decision to eliminate a dozen degree majors, including religious studies and Mexican American studies, which some considered at the core of the Catholic school's mission and identity." Sister Jane Ann Slater, CDP served as interim president until Diane Melby was appointed to the post in July 2015. On May 27, 2021, Melby announced her intention to retire after the 2021–22 school year in an open letter to the OLLU community. A search committee for her successor was formed, and Abel A. Chavez was chosen as the university's 10th president. Chavez began his tenure in July 2022.

2008 fire

On May 6, 2008, a fire was reported on the campus at 7:44 p.m. CDT. The fire affected all four floors of the main building. The fire quickly changed from a three- to four-alarm fire after an hour's time with five pumper trucks battling the blaze. No injuries or deaths occurred. The fire consumed the roof and one spire had collapsed. Much of the damage to the building was due to the amount of water poured into the building to contain the blaze. While the firefighters struggled with the fourth floor, some of the university's IT staff went in and protected the servers that were located on the first floor of the same building. Operations were coordinated from the Library building located across 24th Street from Main. A bomb threat the day before the fire had caused some concern that the incident was arson-related. Firefighters suspect that the fire started on the fourth floor of the Main building due to an electrical short. The community quickly rallied to raise funds for reconstruction, and the project was completed in fall 2010. It hosted its first class since the fire in January 2011.

Academics

Our Lady of the Lake University currently offers

s in 33 areas of study,

s in 14 areas of study, and two

degree programs. Classes are offered through traditional weekday, weekend and online formats. Our Lady of the Lake University also offers classes on its satellite campuses in The Woodlands, near Houston, and in the

in La Feria, Texas.

Athletics

The Our Lady of the Lake (OLLU) athletic teams are called the Saints (formerly known as the Armadillos until 2009). The university is a member of the

(NAIA), primarily competing in the

(RRAC) since the 2009–10 academic year. The Saints previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2007–08 to 2008–09. OLLU competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball; and co-ed sports include competitive cheer and competitive dance.

History

OLLU began its athletics program in 2007 with volleyball and men's soccer; followed by women's soccer, men's tennis, and men's golf in 2008; later softball, men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's cross-country in 2009, and finally baseball and men's and women's track and field in 2014. The university added women's golf, women's tennis, competitive cheer and dance for the 2020–21 school year, and began a drumline in 2022-23. On December 12, 2020, the Saints men's basketball team defeated

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

member Texas State 61–58. On April 17, 2020, the Saints men's track and field team won their first conference championship in school history. In 2021–22, the women's basketball team won their eighth RRAC regular-season title and fourth conference tournament title, going undefeated in conference play. They also made their ninth appearance in the NAIA National Tournament, losing to Wayland Baptist in the opening round. OLLU's softball team finished with the best overall record in the conference, and advanced to the championship game of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round's Gulf Shores bracket. The Saints' women's 4x100 relay team also made an appearance in the national championships. On February 12, 2022, university play-by-play announcer Michael Thompson fell down the bleachers at a women's basketball game after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was rushed to the hospital and died shortly thereafter.

Campus

The university's historic Main Building was completed in 1895. Today, it is home to the university cafeteria, several classrooms and offices, and the Veronica Salazar Media Center. Sacred Heart Convenual Chapel, completed in 1923, was designed by architect

Leo M. J. Dielmann Leo Maria Joseph Dielmann (August 14, 1881 - December 21, 1969) was a prominent and prolific architect in Texas. He designed over 100 churches, with several of them, along with other buildings, now listed on the U.S. National Register of His ...

. The University Wellness and Activities Center (UWAC) and adjacent athletic fields are home to the university's athletic teams, as well as exercise facilities for student use. The university has four residence halls. Three of these (Ayres, Centennial, and Flores) are traditional dorm-style housing, with the Slater Apartments providing apartment-style housing. Students are served by the VIA Metropolitan Transit system for free with student IDs.

Student life

In 2007, the university hosted an initial event to kickstart San Japan, a local

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of acti ...

. The campus has the following

fraternities and sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gra ...

: two

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

sororities Delta Xi Nu and

Theta Nu Xi Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc. () is a historically multicultural sorority founded on April 11, 1997, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), by seven women who sought to bridge cultural gaps. Theta Nu Xi was incorpor ...

, Latina sorority Kappa Delta Chi, service sorority Epsilon Sigma Alpha, and Christian fraternity Sigma Theta Epsilon. The university also hosts over 50 clubs and organizations.

Former operations

OLLU previously hosted weekend classes at

Brookhaven College Dallas College Brookhaven Campus (Brookhaven or BHC) is a public community college in Farmers Branch, Texas. It is one of seven campuses of Dallas College, and it opened in 1978, making it the newest campus in Dallas College (excluding satellite ...

Farmers Branch, Texas Farmers Branch, officially the City of Farmers Branch, is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is an inner-ring suburb of Dallas and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 28,616 at the 2010 census. Known a ...

, near

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. The Dallas Weekend College (DWEC) began operations in fall 1994 and moved to Brookhaven in 1997.

Notable people

Alumni

Bernard Ardisana Brigadier General Bernard Ardisana (October 27, 1924 – January 14, 1978) was the assistant deputy director for operations at the National Security Agency at Fort George G. Meade. During his tenure with the US Military he also commanded the ...

, military intelligence officer *

Robert Anthony Brucato Robert Anthony Brucato (August 14, 1931 – November 7, 2018) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York from 1997 to 2006. Biography Born in the Bronx in New York City, ...

, bishop and prelate *

Rosie Castro Maria del Rosario "Rosie" Castro (born 1947) is an American civil rights activist and educator from San Antonio, Texas, who has been involved in several prominent groups, such as the Young Democrats of America, the Mexican American Youth Organizat ...

, civil rights activist *

Anna Eastman Anna Eastman is an American politician. She represented the 148th district in the Texas House of Representatives for under a year from February 2020 to January 2021. On July 14, 2020, Eastman was defeated in her re-election attempt by Penny Moral ...

, former politician in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

Francis James Furey Francis James Furey (February 22, 1905 – April 23, 1979) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania from 1960 to 1863, as bishop of the Diocese of ...

, prelate and bishop (honorary degree) * Jon Garcia, director *

Julian S. Garcia Julian S. Garcia has been involved in Chicano literature since the late 1970s when the San Antonio arts and politics journal ''Caracol'' had its offices on West Commerce Street in San Antonio, Texas. In 1985, Garcia became one of ''Caracol'' associ ...

, writer, op-ed writer for the San Antonio Express-News. He is the author of La Fantastica Curandera. * Jovita González, folklorist, educator, and writerSee Wittliff Collections of Jovita González Mireles Papers * Naomi Gonzalez, attorney and former politician in the

* Charles Victor Grahmann, prelate and bishop *

Maria Hernandez Ferrier Maria Hernandez Ferrier is a former government official and the first president of Texas A&M University–San Antonio from 2010-2014. After working as an unlicensed nurse's assistant for minimum wage, Ferrier attended her first community college ...

, former government official and first president of Texas A&M University–San Antonio * Arcadia Hernández López, bilingual educator * Christine Hernandez, educator and former politician in the

* William F. Kernan,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

General *

Charles Kettles Charles Seymour Kettles (January 9, 1930 – January 21, 2019) was a United States Army lieutenant colonel and a Medal of Honor recipient. Early life Kettles was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on January 9, 1930. He studied engineering at Michi ...

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

recipient *

Jonathan Joss Jonathan Joss (born December 22, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying the voice of John Redcorn from season 2 to 13 of the animated series ''King of the Hill'', replacing the original actor Victor Aaron after his death in ...

, actor * Theresa Angela Lane, teacher and archivist *

Helen Miller Helen Miller may refer to: * Helen Miller (cricketer) (1915–1972), New Zealand cricketer * Helen Miller (politician) (born 1945), American politician * Helen Miller (songwriter) (1925–2006), American songwriter * Helen Hill Miller (1899–1995 ...

, former member of the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, forme ...

Ciro Rodriguez Ciro Davis Rodriguez (born December 9, 1946) is an American politician and social worker who served as a U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 until 2011. The district stretched from El Paso in the west to San Antonio in the east, a distanc ...

, politician and judge * Mario Marcel Salas, civil rights activist * Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, former member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

* Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss, fourth president and first female president of the university * D'Angelo Wallace, YouTube commentator

People

Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954) is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel, ''The House on Mango Street'' (1983), and her subsequent short story collection, '' Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories'' (1991). Her work e ...

, former

writer-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the university * Suzy González, artist and adjunct professor *

James Johnson Kelly James Johnson Kelly (March 29, 1928 – December 29, 2018) was a United States Army Air Force/United States Air Force officer who served with the 99th Fighter Squadron and 332nd Fighter Group. He served in the Korean War at the Battle of Chosin ...

Tuskegee Airman The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Ar ...

and former university trustee

References

External links

Official website

Official athletics website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1895 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Universities and colleges in San Antonio 1895 establishments in Texas Catholic universities and colleges in Texas Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Congregation of Divine Providence