麻豆

With a $2.1 million gift from Vero虂nica Salazar-Escobedo (BA Spanish 始65) and her husband Rube虂n Escobedo, 麻豆 has launched the Salazar-Escobedo School of Mass Communication and Theater. 

Located on the second floor of Main Building, the new school features the Veronica Salazar Media Center, a state-of-the-art, multimedia production center which opened in 2016 with funds from the first phase of the $2.1 million gift.

鈥淲e want our graduates to become the best journalists, the best broadcasters, the best mass media in the country,鈥� Salazar-Escobedo said. 鈥淲e hope the national markets will recruit them.  We want them to become evangelists for Our Lady of the Lake University, to inspire other students to look at us. We would like for the new school to become a boutique, where students would be on a waiting list to get in.鈥�

麻豆 alumni have reported for ABC News, CNN, Fox News, PBS, the Associated Press, A&E, the Oprah Winfrey Network and network affiliates in Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas. They have won 37 regional Emmy Awards, one national Emmy and one Peabody Award. Four alumni -- Aranxta Loizaga (始12), Sarai Bejarano (始12), Angelica Casas (始15) and Gianna Rendon (始15) -- won Lone Star Emmys for work they produced while pursuing a Mass Communication degree.

Recent graduates anchor, produce, report and photograph news for media across the country, including Univision in Miami, BBC News in Washington, D.C., and KSAT-12 and News 4 WOAI in San Antonio. 

鈥淭here is no limit where our graduates can go,鈥� said Salazar-Escobedo, a charter member of the San Antonio Women鈥檚 Hall of Fame.

A native of Rio Grande City and a former 麻豆 trustee, Salazar-Escobedo spent 35 years with the San Antonio Express-News. She started in 1969 as an executive bilingual secretary to publisher Charles O. Kilpatrick. In 1973, she began a weekly column, 鈥淒edication Rewarded,鈥� which focused on accomplished Mexican Americans. Salazar-Escobedo later became a recruiter for the newspaper and vice president for community relations.

Admired for their service and civic leadership, Vero虂nica and Rube虂n have led fundraising campaigns for charitable organizations and donated generously to nonprofits. 

In 2015, then 麻豆 president Sister Jane Ann Slater, PhD, CDP, told the Escobedo鈥檚 about talented Mass Communication majors who were working with antiquated equipment. After meeting with several students, Vero虂nica and Rube虂n decided to fund major improvements to the Mass Communication program.

鈥淚 thought, 鈥業f they are already Emmy winners with outdated equipment,鈥� Vero虂nica said, 鈥渃an you imagine -- I get goosebumps -- what they can accomplish with state-of-the-art equipment?鈥欌��

One student she met, Casas, won two Lone Star Emmy Awards for work she produced for  LakeFront TV. A second student, Jessica Ortiz (始17), won a Lone Star Emmy in 2018 as an assistant producer for Univision 41. A third student, Chan鈥機ellore Makanjoula (鈥�18), produced a documentary film, 鈥淢r. Zoot Suit,鈥� that was screened at film festivals across the U.S. and won multiple awards. 鈥淢r. Zoot Suit鈥� originated as a class project at 麻豆. 

鈥淚 saw myself in the students when I visited them,鈥� Vero虂nica said. 鈥淚 was like them at their age. The students inspired me and Rube虂n.鈥�