At a very early age, Dr. Abel Chávez was determined to become president. He´d often tell his mom, “Mamá, un día de estos voy a ser presidente de los Estados Unidos para darles a ti y a todas las mamás todo el queso que quieran.” (“Mom, one of these days, I am going to be president of the United States so I can give you and all the moms all the cheese you want.”)

As fate has it, Dr. Chávez did become president. Only this time, it was of a university and not a country—or at least not yet. This past July, he became president of Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), a private, Catholic school in San Antonio, with satellite campuses in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

When asked why cheese inspired him to leadership, Dr. Chávez explained that in his childhood neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, poorer families like his would receive free blocks of cheese from the government. So, in his young mind, being president meant he could take care of his family and so many more in need.

While cheese may no longer be on the top of his list, Dr. Chávez still carries that same passion and ambition he did as a child. And as OLLU’s new president, he’s determined to serve the needs of students and our country by leading an educational institution.

“It’s an obligation of mine to serve and be the voice of our students, faculty, and staff. I want to bring opportunities and solutions to the challenges our campus faces,” he said.  “Also, part of my obligation is to help lead conversations forward, about access to resources, for our communities and our nation.”

Hispanic Roots

As OLLU’s first Latino president (there was one Latina president prior to him), Dr. Chávez understands well the school’s large Hispanic and minority population. He can equally relate to its first-generation students, who often come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. (At OLLU, 66 percent of all students are Hispanic, 78 percent at the undergraduate level are Hispanic, 85 percent are minority students, 56 percent of undergraduates are eligible for Pell Grants, and 40 percent are the first in their families to attend college, according to 2021-2022 academic year data).    

“At the core, I was one of these students,” explained the president. “Mom and Dad came to the U.S. from Juarez, Mexico, with a dream to buy a house and provide their kids with the best education possible.”

“Dad didn’t graduate from high school and mom didn’t from middle school. But throughout my childhood, they were cheerleaders along the way,” added Dr. Chávez, the middle child of three. “They didn’t know how to model getting us into a university or college, but they had an incredibly strong work ethic.”

Dr. Chávez remembers clearly not knowing if his parents would be able to afford a backpack or a new pair of jeans for the upcoming school years. But they taught him the value of hard work. His dad worked as a mechanic and locksmith, in addition to flipping cars (reselling them) after doing autobody work on them. In turn, his mother picked up discarded items in the alleyways and fixed them up to sell at local flea markets.

Inspiring Education

Not only were his parents innovative and driven, but Dr. Chávez’s father also came up with a clever way to inspire his son to be successful in education (despite many opportunities to be derailed). He told him that if he got all A’s, he’d help his son get a low-rider car with wire wheels (something his father got good at working on and flipping for cash).

“I wanted a low rider car. So, by the time I was 16, my father and I built a pickup. He had gotten and painted wire wheels on it and added hydraulics. I was loving it,” explained the president. “My hard work inside the classroom paid off with this truck. But, in order to keep it, I needed to maintain my grades.”

One thing led to another. Dr. Chávez soon became extremely curious about hydraulics, wires, switches, and engineering in general. In addition, he heard a lot of other Mexicans saying mexicanos had no business being engineers. “Don’t go to college. Go to work,” they’d tell him.

Ironically, the very same comments he heard made the president even more determined to pursue a degree in engineering. I’ll show them, he thought.

It wasn’t long before Dr. Chávez soon became the first in his family to graduate from college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado, Denver. Later he received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston and a doctorate degree in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Colorado, Denver.

While the president had worked as an engineer prior to obtaining his doctorate, he increasingly became interested in working in higher education. “As I was doing my dissertation, I asked myself why there weren’t professors like me with similar backgrounds,” he said. “I wanted to be in front of students to share my global insights and create pathways for them. But when I got into teaching, I asked why administrative floors didn’t have people like me there. So, I began to be a part of administration.”

Home of HACU

Today, as president of OLLU, Dr. Chávez is eager to help so many of its students who come from a similar background to his. He’s also inspired by the fact that OLLU is home to and the original birthplace of HACU, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

“We are the mother of HACU and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). For me, HACU has been one of the organizations that have afforded me opportunities in leadership training, networking events, and career affairs to step into important roles that have gotten me here. It’s all full circle. I am simply paying it forward by being good to those who come after,” said Dr. Chávez.

“Today, many of those conversations I heard as a five-year-old starting school—about minority students needing more access to resources—are still being had today. I want us to go back to that founding history of HACU and remember what that vision was. I want to embrace it so we can be leaders around these challenges of access, student retention, and completion.”

A Big Vision

For Dr. Chávez, this is only the beginning: “The massive goal that I’ve shared is that I fully expect us as a team, campus, and community to transform our campus for the next 127 years. (This year, we celebrate 127 years). We already have beautiful architecture, green spaces, and vegetation. I want to have state of the art classes, technology, and experiences that bring us together to implement solutions for our most complex societal challenges, from transportation, economic development, education, and entrepreneurship, to food scarcity issues. This will require many disciplines at once to be at the same table developing solutions.”

Dr. Chávez’s goals are ambitious, especially in this post-pandemic era of low student enrollment across the country, and at OLLU as well. In 2021, the school enrolled 2,550 students, a drop from pre-pandemic numbers of 2,974.

But a potential increase in enrollment numbers, a 127-year-old educational history, and the new president’s engineering skills may be a perfect recipe for success.   

OLLU's Legacy

Prior to Dr. Chávez, OLLU had already set itself apart in providing transformative education and commitment to low-income, first-generation students, especially Hispanics, according to Media Relations Manager Ken Rodriguez. “OLLU ranks 47th in the nation for the social mobility of our graduates. Our students rise from barrios and migrant fields to become pioneers in education and speech pathology, leaders in business and government,” he said. “Our alumni design rocket engines at NASA, serve their country as military colonels and generals, shape the media as Emmy-winning journalists, and strengthen their communities as social workers and CEOs, physicians, and nonprofit leaders (Fourteen alumni have won 38 regional Emmy Awards, one National Emmy and one Peabody Award).”

In addition, OLLU boasts an unmatched history of innovation. For example, the university launched the nation's first bilingual education training program for teachers and the nation's first PsyD program to be accredited by the American Psychological Association. In fact, OLLU ranks No. 1 in the U.S. for Hispanic graduates with a PsyD and No. 1 in the U.S. for Hispanics with a PhD in Leadership Studies, according to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Also, OLLU started the first school of Social Work in the Southwest, the first Weekend College in the region, and the first speech and hearing clinic in Texas to combine clinical service and professional training. 

With a strong commitment to its Hispanic, low-income, and first-generation students, OLLU also offers the following programs and organizations: the Mexican American Student Association, the Center for Mexican American Studies and Research, First Gen, a McNair Scholars Program, an NSF S-STEM Program, IME-Becas Scholarship program (Institute of Mexicans Abroad), and the Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESO).

First Gen is a student organization designed specifically for first generation college students. It helps students recognize they are not alone, supports students through the higher education experience, and serves as a support network. Additionally, the McNair Scholars Program, a federally funded TRIO program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, helps limited income and first-generation students while increasing the participation of underrepresented minority groups pursuing doctoral study. The OLLU’s IME-Becas Scholarship program (Institute of Mexicans Abroad) also expands educational opportunities for Mexican students and those of Mexican origin living in the U. S. 

Envisioning Success

In addition to these programs that address the needs of minority groups, Dr. Chávez is convinced that there are other elements that will lead to a successful outcome of his vision. These include small class sizes, a strong community mindset, an effective student affairs team, online and in person classes, and 24-hour mental health services.

“We have small classes. It’s about a 12 to one ratio,” he said. “I believe today’s learners are more interested in that more intimate setting. Also, our teachers are very experiential based and include service learning.”

As an engineer, Dr. Chávez plans to take advantage of these qualities to bring “a community level approach to set his vision.”

“I want to integrate our STEM majors with mass communication and business majors so we can bring solutions back to the community we serve. I am also excited for us to be a leader in bi-national complex issues that impact Mexico and the U.S,” he said. “This requires that I continuously let our donors know these resources are extremely important for our students. Since my arrival, I have been fully out in the community speaking with parents, elected officials, community members, and businesses, listening to them to see what they need from our university.”

While he keeps his eyes on his goals, Dr. Chávez has so far enjoyed the beginning of this new school year. “Now the campus is lively,” he said. “It’s buzzing with students who are happy to be back on campus. This is the way it should be.”