Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros will deliver the spring commencement address on Thursday at Freeman Coliseum, marking 50 years of service to the city and the nation. 

Since he was first elected to public office in 1975, Cisneros has served San Antonio as a city councilman, mayor, entrepreneur, trailblazing business leader and chairman of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. He has served his country as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army and as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Cisneros’ connections to OLLU run long and deep. His late sister, Pauline Cisneros Polette, was a graduate (BA 1971) and married in Sacred Heart Conventual Chapel. When Pauline passed away in 2018, Cisneros delivered the eulogy in the chapel. His mother, Elvira, was active with the Sisters of Divine Providence, the founding order of OLLU. When Elvira died, Cisneros leased his childhood home on Monterey Street to the Sisters. 

“Our house, our family is tied to Our Lady of the Lake and not just in abstract ways,” Cisneros said during an interview in the chapel. “But we’re literally part of the life of the campus.”