This story has been updated.
Our Lady of the Lake University President Abel Chávez has resigned, the university announced Friday.
Chavez planned to step down at a Friday afternoon staff-wide meeting, three sources with knowledge of the planned announcement and its timing told the San Antonio Report Thursday.
OLLU officials confirmed the resignation shortly before that 12:30 p.m. meeting with a news release stating that the board of trustees had accepted Chávez’s resignation effective Dec. 31, 2026.
“The Board respects Dr. Chávez’s decision and expresses its gratitude for his service and wishes him success in his future endeavors,” Board Chair Steve O’Donnell said in a written statement. “Our priority is to ensure continuity of leadership and maintain our focus on the organization’s strategic objectives and our students.”
The board now plans to name an interim soon, the release states, and will conduct a national search for OLLU’s next president.
Chávez became OLLU’s 10th president on July 15, 2022, succeeding former President Diane Melby, who had led the university since 2015.
His resignation comes on the heels of the university announcing its lowest enrollment yet, with 1,550 students, a nearly 12% loss from fall 2025 and a 44% loss since fall 2020.
At a recent interview during an on-campus event, Chavez declined to comment on whether OLLU’s enrollment decline concerned him, commenting instead on the importance of Hispanic Serving Institutions.
“The work is far from over,” Chávez said following that event, declining to say whether he was worried about continued enrollment declines. “We have to continue to tell our stories. We have to continue to say yes. We have to continue to push and pull.”
At the time Chávez began his tenure at OLLU, the university’s enrollment had started to decline, going from 2,974 total students in fall 2019 to 2,326 total in fall 2022.
In 2022, the university was receiving more than $52 million in revenue from tuition and fees. But between 2021 and 2025, the university lost more than $14.7 million in tuition and fees revenue, according to the university’s tax documents.
In early 2025, the university cut programs and faculty linked to those programs. Chavez said these cuts were a result of a two-year-long evaluation of the viability of all programs, with enrollment being only one of the metrics considered for the cuts.
This year the university hired Shobi Sivadasan as the new vice president for enrollment and revenue who is charged with leading the strategy to attract and retain students.
Teresa Niño, OLLU’s vice president for marketing and communication, said earlier this month the university hoped this latest hiring would serve as reason to “disqualify any suspicion that we’re closing down.”
At the time of his arrival, Chávez’s compensation totaled $250,933, and had increased to $424,809 by the spring of 2025, according to university tax records.
Disclosure: Our Lady of the Lake University is a sponsor of Texas Public Radio.
Andrea Drusch and Leigh Munsil contributed to this report.
The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Our Lady of the Lake University is a sponsor of Texas Public Radio.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.
