Tag: Dr. Vanessa Clark

New Provost arrives in June, joins newly structured leadership team 

Alan Silva, PhD, will assume the position of Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs in June, bringing more than two decades of executive experience in higher education. He most recently served as Provost and Executive Vice President at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Silva joins a newly structured leadership team that includes Executive Vice President/Chief of Staff George Williams, PhD, Vice President for Advancement Victoria Pineda, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs Alycia Maurer, PhD, and Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs Vanessa Clark, PhD.

Like Dr. Silva, Pineda starts in June and arrives with a wealth of experience, most recently as Vice President of Institutional Advancement at the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in El Paso. A Certified Fundraising Executive, she has been responsible for more than $75.1 million in individual donations at various universities and nonprofits.

A self-described “cradle Catholic,” Dr. Silva grew up with a strong faith, studied the lives of popes and thought he might become a priest. “The Catholic roots of Our Lady of the Lake University are very important to me,” he said. “This is my third Catholic institution.” 

His previous school, Marian University, was founded by the Sisters of St. Francis. He also served as Provost and Executive Vice President at St. Catherine University, a school in St. Paul, Minnesota, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. 

“I have a great fondness for the charism of the Sisters and what they’ve done to create great institutions of higher education,” he said.

A former English professor, Dr. Silva is an avid reader of literature and poetry. He is a film enthusiast, enjoys live theater and is passionate about sports, especially basketball.

He is excited to start at OLLU.

“I want to lean in very strongly into the Catholic and Hispanic parts of this institution,” he said. “I want to build new programs. I want to strengthen existing academic programs so that students and faculty can flourish at OLLU.”

OLLU receives $2.2 million grant for technology upgrades, improvements

OLLU has received $2,246,173 through a Connecting Minority Communities grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

OLLU will use grant funds to:

• Upgrade AV and videoconferencing capabilities in classrooms to enable remote and distance learning students to connect in a way that has never before been possible;

• Utilize lightboards and document cameras to facilitate remote education and improve the student learning experience;

• Leverage virtual machine technology to provide remote students with access to software and other resources typically provided to students via on-campus computer labs and;

• Evaluate and create engaging, online course content across disciplines to make courses available remotely while supporting student success;

• Provide mobile hotspots to facilitate student participation in education instruction and learning; and

• Provide technology support and training to faculty on how to make full use of upgraded software/technology.

“We are very excited to be recipients of this grant. It will allow OLLU to provide a state-of-the-art remote experience for students, faculty, and staff; and will allow us to leverage resources to further connect with our community,” said Dr. Vanessa Clark, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems and Security and the grant project director.

The co-grant project director is Dr. Ahmad Al-Omari, Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems and Security.

Through this project OLLU aims to improve and expand educational instruction and remote learning opportunities; build the digital capacity of the university, and increase broadband access, adoption, and digital skills of the university and community.