Sister Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss: Pioneer in Education and Research (1921–2009)

Sister Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss, Catholic Sister of Divine Providence, educator and researcher, university president, and civic leader, was born Caroline Marie Sueltenfuss on April 14, 1921, in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were Edward Lucas Sueltenfuss, a farmer, and Elizabeth (Amrein) Sueltenfuss. Her father died when she was a small child, and by the time of the 1930 census she, with her mother and brother Gerald, lived in the household of her maternal grandfather, Franz S. Amrein, in San Antonio. In 1937 she attended Our Lady of the Lake College (now Our Lady of the Lake University) and in 1938 was vice president of the Curie Science Club there. By 1940 she was a postulant at Our Lady of the Lake and professed her vows as Sister Elizabeth Anne in the Congregation of Divine Providence in 1941. She earned a bachelor’s degree in botany and zoology from Our Lady of the Lake College in 1944.

Sister Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss taught in high schools in Oklahoma and Louisiana before joining Our Lady of the Lake College in 1949 as a member of the faculty of the biology department. She eventually became head of the biology department and taught courses in virology and microbiology. In 1963 she earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Notre Dame. That same year, she toured the virology labs in eleven countries in Europe. Sueltenfuss did postgraduate training at the University of Texas, University of New Hampshire, University of Pittsburg Medical School, and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

In 1965, in addition to her responsibilities at Our Lady of the Lake University, Sueltenfuss was named a research associate at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. In this role, she conducted research with primates to isolate, identify, group, and study viruses. She was the first nun so named as a research associate, and her work often involved studying tissue samples at the laboratories at Our Lady of the Lake. She was a member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

In 1978 Sueltenfuss was named president of Our Lady of the Lake University. She was that institution’s first woman president and one of the first women to lead a university in Texas. Her long tenure as president from 1978 to 1997 resulted in many pioneering accomplishments for the university. In 1978 she initiated a program called Weekend College—a pioneering effort in South Texas to offer educational opportunities for older, working adults through a non-traditional schedule. The program included weekend and evening classes and established a working model for other institutions in the effort to provide higher education to working-class students and underserved communities.

Under Sueltenfuss’s leadership, Our Lady of the Lake University upgraded and expanded its facilities and programs. In 1990 the institution offered the nation’s first doctor of psychology degree in counseling psychology. The state’s first electronic commerce degree program was launched at Our Lady of the Lake in 1995. During her presidency, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities was founded on campus, and Sueltenfuss served as treasurer and executive committee member of the organization. She also established a capital campaign to raise funds for construction of a new university library, which eventually opened in 2000 as the Sueltenfuss Library, named in her honor.

In 1997 Sister Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss retired from Our Lady of the Lake University and was conferred with the title of president emerita. Throughout her career in education and religious service, she remained very active in civic affairs in the San Antonio area and beyond. She served on the boards of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Army and Air Force Community Councils, American Cancer Society, Free Trade Alliance of San Antonio, Board of Visitors of the Air Force Institute of Technology, and San Antonio Library Foundation. She also chaired the executive committee of the Texas Independent College Fund, served as director of the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, and was director and treasurer of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas.

Her many honors included the Ford Foundation’s Salute to Education Award, Women in Communications Headliner Award for Professional Achievement, JC Penney Spirit of the American Woman Award, San Antonio Express-News Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Sister Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss died at the age of eighty-eight on December 19, 2009, in San Antonio. She was buried in the Sisters of Divine Providence Cemetery there. In 2018 she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. That same year she was inducted into the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Hall of Champions, which lauded her as a “pioneer and visionary in the field of education.”