Michelle Avila, PhD, Associate Professor of Accounting, has been named Interim Chair of Business. Dr. Avila will serve as Interim Chair for the summer and the following academic year.
She replaces Kristina Terkun, PhD, who will continue her research fellowship at Villanova University this summer and return to full-time teaching.
Dr. Avila is a creative, thoughtful and distinguished faculty member. In 2021, she received the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TXCPA) Outstanding Accounting Educator Award.
The Salazar-Escobedo School of Mass Communication and Theater is hosting its second-annual Mass Commference event today through Wednesday from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. in Main 311 and the 24th Street Theater.
Sessions will featured professionals in the fields of public relations, multimedia journalism, film and technical writing.
Speakers include alumna and KSAT-12 reporter and anchor Alicia Barrera (BA 2015), alumna and theater and voice actress Josey Porras (BA 2014), KENS-5 digital reporter Lexi Hazlett and CEO of HeartFire Media, LLC. Samantha Najera,
Click on the QR Code located on the image below to RSVP. Lunch will be provided for free (while food lasts).
StudyCon Spring 2022 will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Library Community Room and the first floor of the Sueltenfuss Library.
A special yoga session for faculty and staff only starts at 5 p.m.
StudyCon will feature a variety of events, such as art, a painting booth and writing consultations, along with pizza, games, tea, coffee and snacks until 9:30 p.m.
Three seniors will deliver capstone presentations for the Biliterate Certificate Program (BCP) on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in Main 225.
Berenice Galván, a Communication Sciences and Disorders major, and Psychology majors, Paola Guevara and Mariely E. Soria will deliver their presentations in Spanish.
Galván completed her BCP Practicum at the Rodriguez Montessori School in the San Antonio Independent School District. Guevara completed her BCP Practicum at the City of San Antonio Normoyle Center for Older Adults. Soria did her Psychology/BCP Practicum at KidShare, part of the Family Service Association.
Angela Guzmán, PhD, Professor of Spanish, worked with and supervised the research of the following Spanish majors:
Sacnite Blanco, a double major in Psychology and Spanish; Michelle Riojas, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with all-level Teaching Certification, and Monzerrath Rodriguez, a double major in Psychology and Spanish, who is also a McNair Scholar and a student in the Honors Program.
On April 19, a story in MediaMoves.com about alumna Arantxa Loizaga (BA 2012) being named evening anchor of the weekday newscast for the Telemundo Network:
On April 19, a story on WOAI-TV about the arrival of DeLorean jobs to San Antonio and comment from OLLU professor Adriana Garcia and OLLU Trustee Jim Perschbach:
The softball team split a doubleheader against No. 13-ranked Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) on Saturday. The No. 25-ranked Saints finish the regular season with a 41-9 overall record and 23-5 mark in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) – the best-ever conference finish in program history. The Eagles conclude the regular season at 36-10 overall and 20-6 in the conference. The Saints are crowned RRAC champions and champions of the West Division. Texarkana is the East Division champions.
Head Coach Bruce Lenington said, “Both games were examples of two great teams going head-to-head. I was so proud of the way our team handled the disappointment of losing game one. They stayed on course and found a way to win game two. We will continue to get better while we wait for the conference tournament. I hope the softball fans in San Antonio come out and support this great conference.”
History
The Saints were 4-6 against the Eagles prior to the doubleheader.
Game One, 0-1 (8 innings)
OLLU’s 24-game winning streak was snapped in game one of the doubleheader. Cassandra Valdez (JR/Brownsville, Texas) and Anna Westberry put on a spectacular pitching duel that went into extra innings. The Eagles scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a single with two outs. Valdez suffered the loss despite striking out 10 batters in 7.1 innings. Westberry leads the RRAC with a 1.15 ERA. The Saints were able to string together five hits but failed to score in the 1-0 defeat.
Julissa Moreno (JR/Austin, Texas) batted 1-for-3 with a double. Joanna Gonzalez (SR/San Benito, Texas) made 11 putouts behind the plate.
Game Two, 1-0
Game two was another pitching battle, but the Saints finished the regular season with a 1-0 victory. Ciera Martinez (SR/San Antonio, Texas) started in the circle for the Saints and allowed no earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. Valdez pitched the final 2.2 innings and also didn’t allow a run to earn the win. The lone run came in the top of the sixth inning for the Saints. Ariel Montgomery (SR/Castroville, Texas) singled to score Madison Nunn (SR/Cibolo, Texas). The 1-0 victory marks the 17th shutout for the Saints this season, which ties the program record.
Rebecca Duran (SR/Austin, Texas), Kayla Dreese (SR/San Antonio, Texas), Gonzalez and Montgomery all tallied a hit. Dreese recorded a stolen base and a sacrifice hit.
Saints single-season record-breaking statistics (as of April 23)
.341 batting average
.559 slugging percentage
.449 on-base percentage
20 sacrifice flies
54 home runs
130 stolen bases
41 overall wins
9 overall losses
349 runs scored
5 conference losses
23 conference wins
Up next
The Saints will host the RRAC Championship Tournament from May 5-8. On the first day, the games will be held at St. Mary’s University, while the second day, games will be split between OLLU and St. Mary’s. On May 7-8, all games will take place at OLLU.
The volleyball team spent the afternoon at the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) located off State Highway 151.
The center officials were thrilled to have the Saints there to volunteer. It houses more than 480 dogs in its system and of those, approximately 10 percent struggle to find homes.
The activities the team participated in were walking the dogs who were in the shelters and giving them the extra love they needed. All of the women on the team were excited to participate in such a fun and rewarding volunteer activity.
OLLU Women’s Athletics Administrator Haley Holzem, who accompanied the team, said, “Volunteers are needed daily to let dogs out and walk with them so the animals are able to get human interaction. The volleyball team helped these dogs in so many ways!”
Volunteering for community events is part of the NAIA’s Champions of Character program that helps student-athletes find the balance by keeping five core values – integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership – at the heart of the athletics experience. The Saints volleyball team will open its season in fall 2022.
For the first time in history, the softball team has been ranked in the NAIA Softball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. The Saints debuted at No. 25 in the poll released on April 20. The Saints own the NAIA’s longest winning streak at 21.
The Saints have received votes since the first season of competition in 2010. Their most votes were 21 during that first year. In 2012, the Saints received 20 votes, and in 2013, the most votes they received was 44. In the following year, the Saints received 57 votes in 2014, and in 2015, the most votes the Saints received was 88. In 2016, the team received 10 votes. The last time the Saints received votes was in 2018 with 80 votes.
The only other Red River Athletic Conference team in the poll is Texas A&M University-Texarkana, which is ranked 13. The conference poll is as follows:
1. Texas A&M University-Texarkana (20-4/37-8)
2. Our Lady of the Lake University (20-4/37-8)
3. University of Houston-Victoria (16-6/23-10)
4. Texas A&M University-San Antonio (13-7/20-21)
5. Louisiana Christian University (13-7/24-16)
6. LSU Alexandria (10-10/13-22)
7. Xavier University of Louisiana (12-12/18-25)
8. Huston-Tillotson University (9-13/15-19)
9. Jarvis Christian College (8-12/20-19)
10. University of the Southwest (3-21/6-29)
11. Texas College (0-24/1-27)
Poll Methodology
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents).
The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
Teams that receive only one point on the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
The frequency of the polls is bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) prior to the 2016-17 academic season. This change allows raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work between rating periods.
Professor Candace de León-Zepeda, PhD, has been promoted to Dean of Academics.
Dr. de León-Zepeda will work closely with faculty, department chairs and school directors to enhance and develop academic programs and facilitate faculty development. She will collaborate with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation to maintain SACSCOC accreditation, support academic program assessment and lead strategic planning for Academic Affairs.
An Associate Professor of English, Dr. de León-Zepeda joined the OLLU faculty in 2012. She has served as the English, Mass Communication and Drama Department Chair since 2017. She has served as the Director of the Rubén M. and Verónica Salazar-Escobedo School of Mass Communication and Theater since spring 2021. Dr. de León-Zepeda is an outstanding leader and has distinguished herself as a strong and passionate presenter at conferences and symposiums. In 2018, she was the Service-Learning in Teaching winner, one of her many awards
