The celebration begins with a first look at the 2026 OLLU Fiesta Medal—a bold, colorful tribute to Our Lady of the Lake University and Fiesta tradition. This year’s medal proudly represents OLLU spirit and will be featured as part of the official Fiesta 5K Confetti Run.
Get ready to celebrate, run, and shine with OLLU pride. Pricing is still being finalized, and more details on how to purchase are coming soon.
Show your OLLU pride.
Show your Fiesta spirit.
✨ More to come! ✨
Order through the Grubhub app between March 16–31 for your chance to win a Nintendo Switch with Gray Joy-Con.
Simply select the $0.00 purchase option in the app to enter.
Game on, Saints — your next order could score you the ultimate gaming console! 🎮
March 16, 2026
Dear OLLU Community,
Over the past several weeks, our campus community, including Cabinet, the Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff, have been engaged in an important conversation about Focused Differentiation and the future of our university. This work extends well beyond strategy. It is rooted in discernment.
As a Catholic university rooted in Providence and entrusted to the charism of the Sisters of Divine Providence, we are called to read the signs of our time and respond with courage, clarity, and faith. Focused Differentiation is our strategic expression of that calling, ensuring that our mission continues to transform the lives of students and communities for generations to come.
As I reflect on our conversations, several of you reminded me of something important in our university data.
In Spring 2026, approximately 80% of our undergraduate semester credit hours (SCH) are concentrated in just 31% of our academic programs. At the graduate level, 80% of SCH are concentrated in just 19% of programs.
Several of you also noted that our students may already be telling us something, perhaps signaling where demand is strongest and where OLLU’s strengths resonate most clearly.
These insights reinforce that excellence inspires. Excellence leads. And excellence transforms lives. In today’s shifting higher education landscape, every university faces a choice: drift toward sameness or become distinctive in the areas where mission and institutional strengths intersect most powerfully. Focused Differentiation is how we will make that choice.
Institutions that thrive are clear about who they serve and what makes them unmistakably valuable. Becoming distinctive requires discipline, focus, and the courage to concentrate our efforts where we can make the greatest difference. Doing so will require disciplined choices about where we invest our energy—and where we do not.
I recently read that excellence is not an aspiration; excellence is a discipline. Our clarity, focus, and courage to concentrate our efforts where we can make the greatest difference is how we honor our institutional legacy.
The Lenten season reminds us that growth often requires refinement so that we may focus more fully on what matters most. The Sisters of Divine Providence modeled this discipline in their ministries, responding to the needs of their time with courage rooted in trust in God’s providence.
Two weeks ago, I wrote that we will not hide from change; rather, we will pursue it and shape it. Institutions of higher learning that thrive do not treat change as temporary; they build the capacity to innovate continuously in response to the needs of their time.
The insights from the survey I shared with you two weeks back will be shared this week, and they represent another important step as we refine our narrow target market and clarify the distinctive differentiators that will define OLLU’s future.
The work before us, which we will do together, is clear. Focused Differentiation will require disciplined choices and a shared commitment to excellence.
Together, as stewards of our institutional legacy, we will shape the next chapter of our university.
With prayer and gratitude,
Abel A. Chávez, MBA, Ph.D.
By Teresa Niño (VP for Marketing, Communications, and Engagement)
Earlier this month, in the March 3rd issue of Lake Weekly, President Chávez shared a vision of what Our Lady of the Lake can be. An attainable vision. He also provided a link to a survey that asked seven questions. That same survey was also presented to Cabinet and the Board of Trustees.
Below are the results of the combined surveys. As you read through them, ask yourself, “what do these results mean?” “What do the results say as to where we are today and where we want to be?” and “what will be my role?”
In the next few weeks, whether in a State of the Lake Forum, a Leadership Team meeting, a Faculty and/or Staff leadership meeting, or an email from me, we will learn the answers to these questions together and continue to carve out our path. In the next few weeks, you’ll hear phrases such as “change management,” “models for small, private, catholic universities,” and a lot of “Focus and Differentiation” as well as “Focused Differentiation.” Don’t be alarmed. We will stay in touch and would love to hear from you. This process requires active engagement.
At your end, please attend those meetings or get notes from someone that attended; read Lake Weekly stories that address the status and/or progress that’s being made. Stay tuned in.
Here are the top three responses we heard from the combined surveys:
We hope to see you at tomorrow’s State of the Lake Forum where Interim Head of Enrollment Shirley Caldera will share data on our enrollment trends and our rate of persistence. Why is this important? Because as we proceed to carve out our vision, it is important to know what the market demands. In this case, our market is our students. They vote with their feet and their tuition dollars. What classes, programs and/or degrees are they pursuing? What is it about them or about us that could differentiates us?
Looking forward to it and BYOM … Bring your open mind!
Dr. D. Anthony Miles, OLLU alumnus and managing editor, statistician, and marketing expert, has a new book coming out this month. “Confessions of a PhD: Real Stories from Doctoral Students-Volume 2” is finally out!
The book is published with Routledge Publishing, a subsidiary under Taylor & Frances. Routledge is a British multinational publisher. Routledge specializes in providing academic books, journals and online resources. Taylor & Francis Group is an international publishing company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Taylor & Francis Group is one of the top five major book publishers in the world.
“Confessions of a PhD: Real Stories from Doctoral Students-Volumes 2” will be released on March 20, 2026. This anthology features authentic stories that illuminate the mental and emotional hurdles faced during the PhD process, providing readers with a platform to share and reflect on their experiences. Through a blend of humor and heartfelt storytelling, this book fosters a sense of community among doctoral candidates, allowing them to realize they are not alone in their struggles.
Dr. Miles is the managing editor(s) and his new editorial board team with Routledge are: Dr. Philip Adu, Dr. Wanda Corner, Dr. Jacqueline Dansby, Dr. Michael Laney, Dr. Rhondra Willis-Brown, Dr. Robin Shedrick and Dr. Nadine Wheat. Each of the editorial board member brings a stellar and robust wealth of expertise to the publication of this book.
Amazon https://a.co/d/04SMXals
Kudos to Dr. Miles and editorial board team 🎉🥳🍾🥂🎊
Dear OLLU Community,
This week is Catholic Sisters Week, a national celebration recognizing the mission, spirituality, and Gospel witness of women religious orders. For our university, this week is our opportunity to pause with gratitude for the women whose faith, courage, and trust in God’s providence have made Our Lady of the Lake University possible.
More than a century ago, the Sisters of Divine Providence arrived with a clear conviction: that God’s providence is active all around us in the world, and that education equalizes and transforms lives. Guided by that conviction, the Sisters of Divine Providence committed themselves to serving those often overlooked. They have built schools, cared for the sick, stood with the poor, and believed deeply in the dignity and potential of every person. No question.
Our university stands today because of their witness.
Across the country, week after week, Catholic sisters love, teach, accompany, advocate, model human dignity, and strengthen communities. Their ministries have shaped the landscape of our country, and they continue to respond with courage and compassion to the needs of our time.
This year’s theme, “Stories of Hope and Heart,” reminds us that the impact of women religious orders is far-reaching. Their lives and their legacies are testimonies of daily service oriented action. At OLLU, our Sisters’ charism of trust in Divine Providence continues to shape our identity, present and future, as we respond to the needs of our time. We carry forward their work by educating students who will serve the world with competence, compassion, and integrity. We honor their legacy by ensuring education remains a pathway to opportunity, dignity, and hope for our communities.
Catholic Sisters Week invites us to follow in their steps and live the values they model. As such, this week, especially, I invite our campus community to take three simple actions:
First, learn a story.
Take time to learn about the life and ministry of a Sister of Divine Providence or another woman religious order whose witness has shaped the Church and the world.
Second, share gratitude.
Reach out and thank a sister whose ministry has touched your life, your family, or your becoming. A simple note of gratitude carries great meaning.
Third, live the charism.
In our classrooms, offices, and campus, recommit to the values that shape our university: trust in God’s providence, service to those in need, and belief in the transformative power of education.
Beyond founding our university, the Sisters of Divine Providence called into being a community dedicated to faith, service, and justice.
Their story continues and endures through each of us.
With prayer and gratitude,
Starting Tuesday, March 17th, the Registrar’s Office will be closed for Professional Development on the third Tuesday of each month from Noon until 5 p.m. through the end of the spring semester.
For assistance during this time, please email registrar@ollusa.edu.
Before you take off, or if you’re sticking around, here is some important information about the University bookstore. The OLLU Bookstore will operate on adjusted hours during Spring Break.
Normal business hours will resume Monday, March 16.
Our Lady of the Lake University is proud to recognize several faculty members who have earned promotions and tenure for the upcoming academic year. These achievements reflect their dedication to teaching excellence, scholarship, and service to the OLLU community.
The following faculty members have received promotions:
The university congratulates each of them on this important milestone and thanks them for their continued contributions to the OLLU community.
Dear community of committed individuals,
Imagine our university in the near future:
Imagine that our region looks to us because of our programs. Through our students and graduates, we unmistakably align with solving the most complex challenges of our time while remaining firmly rooted in mission. Enrollment reaches a stable and healthy level, allowing us to offer competitive wages, reinvest in our physical plant, and scale our endowment. We achieve this by being explicit about who we serve and intentionally choosing where we will not compete.
Our graduates are sought out by employers because they understand what an OLLU credential represents. Completion rates rise to national distinction. Our students enter high-demand fields and lift their families and communities toward dignified standards of living.
Because of our commitment, it is unambiguous that we are closing the gap of generational poverty that grips our communities by equipping students to rise as leaders by earning wages that allow them to live livelihoods grounded in their values.
Our university is known for our unwavering focus. For our clarity of purpose. For our distinction.
Faculty, Staff, Colleague, Friend. This future is for us to choose and create and commit.
Each of us carries forward the congregational legacy entrusted to us. The Sisters of Divine Providence understood what it meant to pioneer. They crossed oceans, entered unfamiliar terrain, and responded to the needs of their time with courage rooted in God’s providence. They discerned. They acted. They built.
And as I write this reflection in March 2026, it is clear we are part of their legacy. We are stewards of our university and are entrusted with the lives of 1,600 students and their families. The pace of change today compresses what once unfolded across decades into years, or even months. Higher education, locally and nationally, is being reshaped in real time in many ways, including demographically, economically, and technologically. While we cannot alter the rate of change around us, we do choose how we respond.
Our response will not merely be to find a path, which suggests a fixed trail, mapped once and followed mechanically. Our response will be to establish a rhythm—grounded in attentiveness, discipline, adaptation, and trust.
Our conversation last Thursday affirmed that Focused Differentiation is both the path we will take in 2026 and the rhythm we will establish as the ethos of our university. As we process our loss of market share since 2001, before us is the shifting higher education landscape and our need to make a clear strategic choice . That choice is Focused Differentiation.
The work ahead is about morphing, transforming, and becoming the institution we are called to be. The work ahead is about aligning our strengths, sharpening our impact, and ensuring that every decision moves us closer to fulfilling our mission at the highest level.
In San Antonio alone, approximately 135,000 students are enrolled in higher education. The market is competitive and structurally constrained. Private institutions like ours compete for a small and narrow share.
Focused Differentiation demands that we define who we are for. It requires a narrow target market and a small set of distinctive differentiators—attributes so authentic and focused that they cannot be easily claimed or replicated by others. If another institution can make the same claim, then it is not distinctive, and we will refine.
Part of our rhythm will be continual refinement—clear “we will” and “we will not” decisions.
We will remove friction from the student experience. It will not be complicated to enroll. It will be seamless to re-enroll and retain.
Lent calls us to discernment and refinement; to remove what burdens us so that we may move freely toward what matters most. Focused Differentiation is an act of institutional discernment.
Becoming the premier Catholic institution and a national model for mission-driven innovation and social mobility will only be accomplished together. Our university needs each of us. You matter, and you matter greatly.
We will establish a disciplined rhythm that ensures not merely business sustainability, but faithful sustainability—an institution capable of carrying the Gospel and Catholic social teaching into the next generation with strength. Our founders remind us that we are rooted in profound trust in God’s providential love and care for all.
That trust gives me courage, and I hope it does the same for you. Because as we embark on this mission, together, we will not retreat from change, we will shape it.
Together, we will move toward the horizon before us.
I truly and sincerely value your thinking. Please consider completing this very short, anonymous survey below by Monday, March 9, to help us shape our Focused Differentiation direction.
With prayer and gratitude,
Dr. Abel A. Chávez
