Encounter Winter 2025

As more students choose to attend UST, our ability to provide robust scholarship and programmatic support to propel this continued growth becomes increasingly critical. In alignment with Greater Things, the University of St. Thomas has been blessed with a transformative gift of $5.25 million from the Notsew Orm Sands Foundation.“The Foundation is so pleased to…

Rooted in Encounter and Dialogue and a Future of Innovative Growth UST’s strategic vision, Greater Things, launched the University into an exciting new era of global encounter and dialogue on campus and abroad. Leveraging international partnerships to those ends required increasing the number of international partnerships, diversifying the geography of those relationships, and pioneering new…

Impact on the Eucharistic Revival Imagine you are in a football stadium with more than 50,000 people, and you can hear a pin drop in the all-consuming silence. The quiet floods your heart and mind, and for a moment, you forget anyone else is there, because out of all those people, you are focused on…

A Night to Honor Fr. Donald S. Nesti, CSSP Opening with prayer, a historic and joyful event on Oct. 17, 2024, at the River Oaks Country Club marked the 30th anniversary of the Nesti Center for Faith & Culture and honored its founder, Fr. Donald S. Nesti, CSSp. Under the theme “Illuminating the Way,” the…

Making Your Legacy Go Further When Hubert F. Hawthorn, Jr. was recruited by Judge Carolyn Dineen King to serve on the University of St. Thomas Board of Directors in 1994, he could not have known how one invitation would impact not only his life, but also the lives of students to come long into the…

Most who visit the University of St. Thomas have an indescribable feeling when they arrive on campus. Whether it’s the Christ-centered community, the presence of the Holy Spirit, or the prayers of the Basilian Fathers, UST has a way of making people feel connected to its deep history. Countless students and alumni walked these blocks…

Celebrating Extraordinary Giving On Thursday, Oct. 24, the University of St. Thomas recognized members of the Major Giving Society and the Lillian & Stella Scanlan Society at the annual Heart and Soul Dinner, an elegant evening on the University’s Academic Mall. Beginning with cocktails at six and dinner at seven, the program recognized Major Giving…

The Celt Classic Golf Tournament returned Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, raising more than $105,000 to support the University of St. Thomas men’s and women’s golf teams. UST golf alumni Lou Pelz ’80 and Michael Fasci ’17 co-chaired the event at the Wildcat Golf Club in southwest Houston. Generous donors enjoyed a great day on the…

Prayer is arguably the simplest and most complicated aspect of spiritual life. Prayer can mean different things to different people, but at its core, prayer is communicating with the sacred, with God. At the University of St. Thomas, we’ve embraced Pope Francis’s proclamation of a special focus on prayer in 2024, so it is our…

Living up to all the anticipation and underscored by irresistible Irish tunes, the William J. Flynn Center for Irish Studies celebrated its Heart & Heritage Gala on Nov. 22, at the elegant Houstonian Hotel. Guests at the gorgeous annual fundraising event were eager to honor Fr. James Murphy, CSB, for his heartfelt dedication to quality education…

Students with learning differences experience sweet success at Houston’s Rocambolesc Gelateria Alums Mariana Calderon ’24 and Brandon Lin-Shaw ’26 have cool jobs. They work in the Willy Wonka-like Rocambolesc Gelateria in Houston’s high-end Uptown Park area. Spanish restaurateurs, the Roca brothers, opened this sensational ice cream shop 10 years ago—the same brothers responsible for the…