Month: April 2017

As part of the Fiesta tradition, OLLU will have floats in the Texas Cavaliers River Parade and the Fiesta Flambeau Parade this week.

The Texas Cavaliers River Parade takes place tonight at 7 p.m., and will feature communication disorders students as they represent the Harry Jersig Speech and Hearing Center, along with OLLU President Dr. Diane E. Melby.

The Fiesta Flambeau Night Parade will take place Saturday evening. This year’s parade theme is “City Lights and Celebrations,” and OLLU’s float will have a Las Vegas theme.

OLLU’s floats for the 2014 and 2016 Flambeau parades have won first and second place, respectively, in the community division. Both floats, as well as the float for 2017, have been designed and built by Liz Longoria, OLLU special events manager, and Jesse Arenas, Thiry Auditorium Manager.

Both parades will be broadcast live on KSAT 12 News.

Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, OLLU’s spring 2017 Visiting Writer, will hold a reading on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Providence Hall, West Social Room.

Born and raised in Toluca, Mexico, Antonio Ruiz-Camacho moved to the United States at the age of 31 and began to write in English at 35. His debut collection “Barefoot Dog” (Scribner) won the Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction and was a Fiction Finalist for the Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards. It was also named a Kirkus Reviews “Best Book of 2015,” a “Recommended Book of 2015” by the San Francisco Chronicle, topped the list of “five books you should know about” from PRI’s The Word and made the list of five favorites from the “Texas Observer.” The book has also been published in Spanish with translations completed by Ruiz-Camacho.

His work has appeared in “The New York Times,” “Salon,” “Texas Monthly,” and elsewhere. He earned his MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s New Writer’s Project, and has been writer-in-residence at Elisaet Ney Museum and a fellow at the JSK Journalism Program at Stanford, the Dobie Paisano Program, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, Sewanee Writer’s Conference and Yaddo.

OLLU will be participating in the 2017 San Antonio Sports Corporate Cup, Saturday, June 3, at University of the Incarnate Word. The event brings together employees from area organizations for a day of fitness, friendly competition and employee camaraderie.

In addition to the points that each organization earns during the Corporate Cup competitions, organizations can also earn points by donating to the charities that will be beneficiaries this year. The charities for this year are the San Antonio Food Bank, Haven for Hope, South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, University Health System Blood Donor Services and the Boys and Girls Club of San Antonio.

OLLU has already held a successful blood drive to support the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center. Donations for Haven for Hope, the Boys and Girls Club and the San Antonio Food Bank can be in the form of items or money. Donations can be made on campus during the May Staff Organization meeting and at the faculty and staff appreciation dinner. There will also be a box located in the Main Building Renaissance Parlor and in the Library near the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE).

Items requested for Haven for Hope include:

• Packages of socks
• Packages of underwear
• Cotton sports/regular bras
• Packages of white cotton T-shirts
• Monetary donations: every $2 = 1 point

Items requested for the Boys and Girls Club include:

• Pencils (1 dozen) = 1 point
• Crayons (1 dozen) = 1 point
• Glue Sticks (set of 3) = 1 point
• Bottle of Glue (4 oz.) = 1 point
• Construction Paper (50 sheet pack) = 1 point
• Monetary donations: every $2 donated = 1 point

Donations to the San Antonio Food Bank can be made online at http://vad.techbridge.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=48526. Monetary donations will also be collected by Patricia Estopier.

To sign up to participate as part of OLLU’s team, to donate or for more information, contact Patricia Estopier at 210-528-7005 ext. 7005 or pestopier@ollusa.edu.

The Worden School of Social Service welcomed national and international leaders in Social Work Distance Education to the Third Annual Social Work Distance Education Conference (SWDE), which was held April 12-14. The conference hosted 196 social work leaders who enjoyed more than 90 peer-reviewed sessions.

OLLU was highlighted as a leader in online education with Dr. Kimberly Barnett Gibson welcoming educators as the keynote speaker. Members of the Worden School faculty also presented several sessions during the conference. Dr. Betsy Wisner, Dr. Taniko-King Jordan, Dr. Mo Cuevas, Kathy Phoenix and Dr. Karina Gil led sessions.

A number of University offices and facilities will be moving in the next few months as we prepare for the June demolition of the St. Martin Hall Annex. Below is a complete list of the moves that will be made:

• The ITS Personal Computing Support Team will move from the Annex to Walter Center Room G8, a space currently occupied by the Police Department. The Police Department will remain at their current location. Its footprint will simply shrink to accommodate their new neighbors.
• The ITS Infrastructure Services Team will move from the Annex to Walter Center Room 204, a space currently housing Constantineau Chapel.  Plans for Constantineau Chapel and the University Chaplain’s Office will be announced soon.
• The Multillingual Lab headed by Dr. Casey Taliancich-Klinger will move from the Annex to Worden 29B, a section of space currently occupied by the Student Leadership and Development Office. The SLD Office will remain at its current location. Its footprint will simply shrink to accommodate its new neighbor.
• The CDIS Graduate Lab will move from the Annex to Worden Room 7 which is currently designated as a computer lab.
• The computer lab in Worden Room 7 will be moved to the (currently unmarked) space next door which serves as a lounge. The “new space” will serve as both a lounge and computer lab.
• The Annex “Phone-a-Thon Room” will be moved to the computer lab on the first floor of Pacelli Hall.

“In an effort to keep from disrupting services, most relocations will take place after the spring semester has ended,” said Interim Vice President for Administration Rosalinda Garcia. “We are incredibly grateful to all colleagues and students who are being affected by the move and have approached it with a very generous, University-focused spirit.”