OLLU celebrates Spring commencement 2022

More than 360 graduates participated in commencement exercises amid a blast of confetti, Mariachi music and inspiring speeches on Friday at Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum.

Erika Prosper Nirenberg, Senior Director of Customer Insights for H-E-B, delivered the commencement address. The daughter of a migrant worker family from the Rio Grande Valley, Prosper Nirenberg challenged graduates to live boldly, urging them, at times in Spanish, to create a future to benefit humanity. 

Her husband, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, sat proudly on the coliseum floor, cheering on his wife with the rest of the audience. 

To view and download photos from spring 2022 commencement, please visit the OLLU Flickr site.

Erika Prosper Nirenberg to serve as commencement speaker

Erika Prosper Nirenberg, Senior Director of Customer Insights for H-E-B, will be the speaker Friday when more than 360 OLLU students participate in commencement exercises.

Festivities will begin Friday morning with a special ceremony for graduates who are veterans. Events will continue with a Ring Blessing, Graduation Liturgy, Alumni and Family Meet and Greet and Graduation Exercises. To see a detailed schedule of commencement events and a list of graduates, visit: https://www.ollusa.edu/registrars-office/graduation-information.html.

Prosper Nirenberg, who grew up in a migrant worker family in the Rio Grande Valley, earned a master’s degree in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School, a bachelor’s degree in Plan II Liberal Arts and a second bachelor’s degree in Science in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2020, she earned an executive degree in Behavioral Economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. At H-E-B, Prosper Nirenberg leads a team charged with helping guide the development of H-E-B’s strategic vision and operational efforts by providing customer insights to change business, gain share and establish a preference for the company. In the community, she has served the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as its chairwoman in 2018 and for six years on its executive board.

A former board member of Say Si Youth Arts, the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation and SACRD.org, she now sits on the Girls Scouts of Southwest Texas Board and Las Casas Foundation and is part of the advisory Board for iEmpower, the Latina Power Network and the SA League of Women Voters. Prosper Nirenberg also was the 2019 San Antonio Business Journal’s Woman of the Year, 2019 Governor’s Yellow Rose of Texas honoree, the 2016 H-E-B David Ashworth Community Service Corporate Winner and the 2021 H-E-B Linda D. Jimenez Diversity and Inclusion Corporate Awardee. Her proudest honor, however, was receiving the 2010 Association of Migrant Educators of Texas’ Migrant Alumni Award. 

As a co-founder and 2015-2016 Chair of the Latina Leadership Institute, much of Prosper Nirenberg’s passion revolves around efforts to help improve quality of life among underserved populations through girls and women empowerment, education and literacy. She and her husband, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, have one son named Jonah.