Kyllian Savary of the OLLU men’s tennis team was named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) NAIA All-American Honors team for the 2022-2023 season.
The criterion for earning All-American recognition is finishing in the top 20 of the final ITA national rankings for singles. Savary is currently ranked No. 15 in the NAIA after a spectacular year playing on the first line of singles for the Saints. He went 12-3 on the season with 10 being straight set wins.
Savary’s victories were against the University of the Incarnate Word, Texas Lutheran University, Jacksonville College, Saints Mary’s University, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, Texas Wesleyan University, Dallas Baptist University, Collin Community College, Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) and Loyola University of New Orleans. The Saints finished the season with a 14-13 record and lost to XULA in the NAIA Unaffilliated Group Tournament.
The OLLU women’s soccer team has four players representing the university with the San Antonio Athenians Soccer Club this summer. Rachel Dziuba, Madison Herrera, Tess Pitcher and Jaylin Seto will be playing for the Athenians in three matches over the next month.
The club will face the San Antonio Runners on June 24 and finish up play with a match against Luxoria on July 1. The squad fell to ATX Blues 1-0 on June 2 in the season opener. OLLU’s Interim Head Coach Max Cruz is on the Athenians staff as an assistant coach. The group is an elite women’s soccer team that develops players and showcases local talent. They compete in the United Women’s Soccer (UWS) League and host home games and international friendlies at Soccer Central. The UWS is a second-division pro-am women’s soccer league.
Cruz commented, “Coaching with the Athenians team has been a great experience in terms of professional development and educational purposes. Seeing our OLLU players compete at this level is not only beneficial to the program but to our players. It is providing our players a professional environment along with competition level that is challenging them. Dziuba, Herrera, Pitcher and Seto are putting OLLU on the map, and I am proud of how they have been p
The OLLU competitive dance team is preparing to attend the Pro Action Dance Camp from July 23-24 in Las Vegas. The Saints will be represented by seven dancers, including four first-time attendees.
The Pro Action Dance Camp is a two-day intensive camp that features training with prominent choreographers and producers in the dance world. The camp hosts National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) dance teams regularly in addition to college programs from all levels. The participants will learn routines on the first day and perform them for a professional recording before the camp concludes. The camps provide new performances yearly that are 90 seconds apiece.
On June 4, a story in the San Antonio Express-News about alumna Cristina Balli and her work as executive director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center:
Through a generous donation from Richard L. (Dick) Wade, OLLU has established a $250,000 endowed fund scholarship to benefit student veterans pursuing STEM degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Sustainability and Mathematics. The Richard L. (Dick) Wade Veterans Endowed Scholarship in STEM will be awarded to the first recipient in fall 2023.
STEM undergraduates with prior military service are eligible for this scholarship, which will be awarded annually and supports the recipient through the course of a four-year degree.
Dick Wade, a Vietnam veteran, civil engineer and developer, wants to support a veteran who is experiencing the struggles he faced while working to obtain a degree.
“I’m trying to find a ‘Dick Wade’ who needs that extra money,” Wade said. A first-generation college student, Wade attended the University of Texas at Austin on a Naval ROTC scholarship. The military paid for his tuition and books. His father, a World War II glider pilot, gave him $100 a month toward living expenses. Wade worked multiple jobs – washing dishes, cutting meat and drafting plans for the Texas Highway Department – to cover the rest.
Working 20 hours a week and pursuing a degree in civil engineering was difficult. But Wade succeeded, graduating in 1970. After college and eight years active duty in the U.S. Naval Engineer Corps, Wade started a construction company in San Antonio that completed more than 1,000 construction projects. That company morphed into Wade Interests, Inc., which has developed more than 100 retail commercial projects.
“I want to help someone who needs what I needed when I went to college,” Wade said of the endowed fund scholarship.
The Commerce Street entrance will be closed for at least two months due to work being conducted along the road by San Antonio Water Systems (SAWS).
The contractor working on the project is expected to block the entrance beginning tomorrow and has indicated that it will remain blocked for up to 60 days. Individuals wishing to access the west campus parking lots will need to enter through 24th Street at Providence Road.
OLLU President Abel A. Chávez, MBA, PhD, will be the featured speaker at an Educational Luncheon hosted by the San Antonio Human Resource Management Association (SAHRMA) at the Old San Francisco Steak House on June 20.
Dr. Chávez will speak on, “Leadership or Strategy? Reimagining the Use of Today’s Tools and Resources for Tomorrow’s Organizations.”
The event starts at 11:30 a.m. OLLU students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend. For cost and reservation information, visit: https://sahrma.org/event-5101697
A variety of OLLU caps, t-shirts and pennants are available at the OLLU Bookstore. The bookstore has plenty of other items in stock, as well, including sweatshirts, books and OLLU swag.
The Adelante Training and Development Conference will be held Tuesday and Wednesday and feature non-academic training and development for all OLLU employees.
The conference will include in-person and virtual sessions. Supervisors are encouraged to work out a schedule that will allow all employees to attend sessions they are interested in or are relevant to their position.
In light of this opportunity to grow as a community, President’s Council has stated the following regarding attendance:
All employees are encouraged to participate in this wonderful opportunity. Supervisors are encouraged to develop schedules that will allow all interested employees to attend some of the training sessions while also ensuring there is adequate coverage for their offices which are expected to remain open all day.
Below is the general agenda; a detailed agenda with Concurrent Sessions is available online at:
Kirsten Komara, director of OLLU’s Academic Center for Excellence; Nicole Monsibais, the university’s Equity and Compliance Officer/Title IX Coordinator; and Madison Taber, director of Assessment and Accreditation, attended the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) held in New Orleans last week. NCORE provides a forum for discussion and critical dialogue about race, ethnicity, and its intersections in higher education and helps institutions find effective strategies for promoting access, social development, education, positive communication, and cross-cultural understanding in diverse settings. Participation in the conference was made possible by a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board grant for the Student Success Acceleration Implementation Program.
