Dr. Tessa Martinez Pollack became the first Hispanic president of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, in 2002.

She began her career in education in 1975 as an English teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in the Edgewood Independent School District. She also served 14 years at San Antonio College as a lecturer, staff member and administrator.

Before accepting her current assignment at Our Lady of the Lake, Pollack left San Antonio to become president of the medical center campus of the Miami-Dade Community College in Miami and later president of Glendale Community College in Phoenix.

Pollack is also a member of the governing board of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and has served as a board member of the Texas Council for the Humanities.