The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

university with its main campus in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

and

Alamo Heights, Texas Alamo Heights is an incorporated city that is surrounded by the city of San Antonio in Bexar County in the U.S. state of Texas. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Alamo Heights was 7,357. It is part of the Greater San Antonio metrop ...

. Founded in 1881 by the

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes based in the U.S. state of Texas. They use the abbreviation C.C.V.I. ( la, Congregatio Caritatis Verbi Incarnati). History Hous ...

, the university's main campus is located on . It is the largest Catholic university in Texas. The university encompasses 11 schools and colleges, 2 campuses in Mexico, a European Study Center, Global Online (a program offering degrees to students in Latin America) as well as a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

high school,

St. Anthony Catholic High School St. Anthony Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school located in the Monte Vista Historic District in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. The school was founded by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who came to San Antonio in 1869 to assist with treating a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

outbreak. Sisters Madeleine Chollet, Pierre Cinquin, and Agnes Buisson had come at the request of Bishop Claude M. Dubuis. The sisters traveled from Galveston to San Antonio by stagecoach, and once they arrived they discovered their new home had been destroyed in a fire. The sisters received shelter from the Ursuline Sisters until they moved into their newly built combined convent and hospital. On December 1 the sisters opened the Santa Rosa Infirmary, the city's first hospital. The sisters cared for the sick and continued to grow their congregation. They were then called to begin working in child care, and by 1874 they established the first children's homes in San Antonio, St. Joseph's Orphanage for Girls and St. John's Orphanage for Boys. This work in childcare led to the sisters opening up schools in Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Mexico. The institution began as the Incarnate Word School in 1881 and was originally chartered as a college for women. In 1900, the Academy of the Incarnate Word, which had been established first in an area of San Antonio called Government Hill, was moved to the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Alamo Heights. College classes were added to the curriculum in 1909, and the name of the institution was changed to the college and Academy of the Incarnate Word. In 1971, UIW became fully coeducational and began offering on campus housing for men. Originally, men had only been allowed to attend the nursing school. In 1989, the Brainpower Connection program was established. This program serves as an educational pathway from the Pre-K level to the Ph.D. level. There are several schools in the program including St. Anthony Catholic High School, Incarnate Word High School, St. Mary Magdalen School, Blessed Sacrament School, St. Peter Prince of Apostles School, St. Anthony Catholic School. St. Anthony Catholic High School is under the management of the University of the Incarnate Word. In 1995, the university elected to move into new population areas, both in the adult education community and international arena. The Adult Degree Completion Program (ADCaP) afforded adult learners the opportunity to get a post-secondary education in the evening at an accelerated pace. In 1995, the university also began managing St. Anthony's Catholic High School. The school officially became known as the University of the Incarnate Word in 1996. In 1998, the University of the Incarnate Word was approved by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to offer doctoral degrees. In 2000, the China Incarnate Word Education Center was opened in Guangzhou, China. UIW then began offering accredited university degrees in China. This was a collaboration between UIW and a private Chinese university, South China Normal University in Guangzhou. UIW's football team, the

Incarnate Word Cardinals The Incarnate Word Cardinals, also known as UIW Cardinals, are composed of 23 teams representing the University of the Incarnate Word The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is a private, Catholic university with its main campus in San An ...

, was formed and began competing in 2008. The campus stadium is dedicated to Tom and Gayle Benson who made generous donations that helped start the formation of the team. In December 2013, a university policeman shot and killed Cameron Redus, a student at UIW, nearby Alamo Heights during a traffic stop. A year later, Corporal Carter resigned from the department. In March 2015, a Bexar County grand jury decided not to indict Carter for the shooting. Redus’ parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against UIW in 2014, but university lawyers have continued to fight the family of the deceased insisting that the institution should be granted immunity. Attorneys for the Redus family contend that as a private university, UIW does not receive public funds, and therefore would not qualify as a governmental entity. In May 2020, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the lawsuit against UIW could move forward. In August 2016, UIW President Louis Agnese Jr. was removed from his position after making racist and offensive remarks about African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Mormons at a university luncheon. He was succeeded by Thomas Evans. In July 2017, the UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine welcomed its inaugural class of 150 learners to its newly opened campus at Brooks on San Antonio's Southside.

Academics

All students are required to volunteer 45 hours in the community before graduating.

Accreditation

In 1998, the university was re-accredited at the baccalaureate and

master degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

level and approval was given to offer

doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

by the Southern Association of college and Schools Commission on Colleges. Through its College of Professional Studies, the university is nationally accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs to offer degrees in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

(BBA) and the

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA). Other accreditations include the American Music Therapy Association, the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

, the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education, the Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas, the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, the Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology, and the

American Dietetic Association The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian n ...

. The university also holds membership in the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the

National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) located in Washington D.C.. It is an organization of private American colleges and universities. Founded in 1976, it has over 1,000 independent hig ...

, the Council for the Advancement of Support to Education, the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, the Higher Educational Council of San Antonio and the United Colleges of San Antonio. The institution is a charter member of the

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities A Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) is defined in federal law as an accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25% or more total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time equivalent (FTE) stud ...

and qualifies as an

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

-serving institution (HSI) under federal guidelines.

Rankings

'' U.S. News & World Report''s 2020 college rankings placed Incarnate Word #272nd among "National Universities".

Schools

The university is home to the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Dreeben School of Education, Feik School of Pharmacy, H-E-B School of Business & Administration, Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions, Rosenberg School of Optometry, School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering, School of Media and Design, School of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Professional Studies (formerly AdCAP), and School of Physical Therapy. The university also participates with E-Army-U, the U.S. Army's online portal for e-learning.

Campuses

The university's main campus is located in the Midtown Brackenridge district of San Antonio and the enclave city of Alamo Heights. Satellite campuses are located in northwest San Antonio at the South Texas Medical Center;

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, Mexico (Centro Universitario Incarnate Word);

Irapuato, Mexico Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipalities of Mexico, municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the Mexican state, state of Guanajuato. It lies between t ...

(Universidad Incarnate Word Campus Bajio), and Strasbourg (France). UIW also maintains four School of Professional Studies' locations, th
Northeast Center
at Rolling Oaks Mall in northeast San Antonio, th

at St. Anthony Catholic High School, th

in northwest San Antonio, and th

in Corpus Christi, Texas. Newly constructed buildings include the pharmacy school and the "Hillside" dormitory, opened in fall of 2007. The Tom Benson Field House and Stadium, the Hillside II (later renamed Joeris) dormitory and the new Ancira Tower parking garage opened and were dedicated in fall of 2008. The Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health professions underwent a complete renovation in 2011. The Rosenberg School of Optometry was opened in 2009 and is located in the Medical Center Area of San Antonio. Chapel at the University of the Incarnate Word (8059695787)

Chapel at the University of the Incarnate Word (8059695787)

In 2013, as part of a larger strategy to build new arts facilities at the university, a new $16 million ceramics and sculpture studio was dedicated. In 2019, the university acquired the neighboring building, formerly known as the AT&T building. The eight-story building and 10-acre lot expanded the footprint of the Broadway campus by 20 percent.

Athletics

In August 2012, UIW accepted an invitation to move up to Division I as a member of the Southland Conference. UIW entered the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

Division I

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

on July 1, 2013. The football team played as a

Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

independent in 2013 and began conference play in 2014 due to schedule commitments. UIW will be fully eligible for Division I championships starting in the 2017–18 season. Prior to moving up to Division I, UIW was a member of the Division II

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in T ...

. In 2004 the UIW mascot changed from the Crusaders to the Cardinals after administrators decided Crusaders is offensive to Muslims and inappropriate for the institution. In 2010, the UIW Men's Swim team placed second at the NCAA Division II National Championships in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes an ...

. UIW's

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

team placed in the 2006 U.S. Collegiate Championships. UIW Men's and Women's Soccer teams have won numerous

Heartland Conference The Heartland Conference was a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level, which was founded in 1999. The majority of members were in Texas, with additional members in ...

championships. UIW Men's Cross Country won the Heartland Conference meet in 2008 and 2009. In November 2021, UIW announced that it had accepted an invitation to become part of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) beginning July 1, 2022. June 24, 2022 they announced they would remain in the Southland Conference. UIW is set to co-host the Final Four, the last round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament with the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas. With over 34,000 students across its four campuses spanning 758 acres, UTSA is the Education in San Antonio, largest universi ...

at the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

in 2025.

Notable alumni

''The Word,'' the University of the Incarnate Word alumni magazine, keeps alumni informed of campus activities.

Politics, law, and service

Dolores Gresham Dolores Gresham (born July 16, 1942) is a Republican politician from Tennessee. She was elected to the Tennessee Senate in the 2008 elections after having served three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Her Senate District 26 encompa ...

, politician and Chairman of the Senate Education Committee of the Tennessee General Assembly * Lucy Killea, politician, former member of the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislatu ...

* J. M. Lozano, politician and current member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

Blanca Magrassi Scagno Blanca Margarita Magrassi Scagno (November 29, 1923 – October 9, 2015) was a Mexican women's rights activist, civil and pro-democracy activist, politician and leading figure within the National Action Party (PAN). Magrassi Scagno, the wife and ...

, Mexican pro-democracy activist and National Action Party politician * Marina Garcia Marmolejo, United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Texas and has six ...

Justin Rodriguez Justin Rodriguez (September 4, 1974) is an American politician. He served as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2013 until January 2019, when he resigned after being appointed to a seat on the Bexar County Commissione ...

, politician, former member of the Texas House of Representatives and San Antonio City Council member

Business

* Peter J. Holt, Chairman of Spurs Sports & Entertainment

Athletics

Ephraim Banda Ephraim Banda (born November 1, 1981) is an American football coach who is the safeties coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). Playing career Banda played safety at Incarnate Word from 2008 to 2010, where he joi ...

, college football coach *

Esteban Bayona Orlando Esteban Bayona (born November 25, 1983) is a Colombian footballer. Career College and Amateur Bayona played his college soccer at the University of the Incarnate Word between 2006 and 2008, where he is ranked 38th all-time in the soccer ...

, former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

* Flávio Ferri, former professional footballer * Max Gunderson, professional soccer player * Soleivi Hernandez, NPC figure competitor *

Kiki Lara Ricardo "Kiki" Lara (born July 24, 1981, in Las Cruces, New Mexico) is an American former soccer player who last played for the USL First Division side Portland Timbers and currently works as head coach of the Incarnate Word Cardinals. Career ...

, collegiate soccer coach * Denzel Livingston, professional basketball player *

Henrietta Ónodi Henrietta Ónodi (born May 22, 1974) is a Hungarian artistic gymnast. She competed at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and won a gold and a silver medal in 1992. After retiring from gymnastics in 1997 she moved to the United States, married American O ...

, Hungarian Olympic gymnast and

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IGHO ...

member *

Nich Pertuit Nicholas Pertuit (born April 7, 1983) is a retired American football placekicker. He played college soccer at the University of the Incarnate Word and attended Billings Senior High School in Billings, Montana. He has been a member of the Abilene ...

, professional football player *

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

professional basketball player *

Jamie Scope Jamie Scope (born 10 December 1986 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is an English footballer. Career College and amateur From 2006 to 2010, Scope was a member of the University of the Incarnate Word Men's soccer team located in San Antonio, Texas. He ...

, professional footballer *

Myke Tavarres Myke Tavarres (born November 18, 1992) is an American linebacker who is currently free agent. Before that, he also played for the Barcelona Dragons, for the Leipzig Kings, both of the European League of Football and the Philadelphia Eagles i ...

, professional football player *

Cole Wick Cole Wick (born November 30, 1993) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at the University of the Incarnate Word. Early years Wick is from Hallettsville, Texas. He played high school football at Sac ...

, professional football player * Joseph Zema, professional football player

Arts, entertainment, and media

* Jesse Borrego, actor * Benjamin Bryant, writer, broadcaster, and television producer * Ricardo Chavira, actor * Kevin Connolly, voice actor *

Debra Maffett Debra Sue Maffett (born November 9, 1956) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Cut and Shoot, Texas and was named Miss America 1983. Early life and education Maffett graduated from S.P. Waltrip High School in Houston, Texas, in 1975. P ...

, Miss America 1983 *

Celia Newman Celia Maria Newman (born October 21, 1968, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico) is an actress, sometimes credited as Cehlia Barnum. She has been in numerous feature films and appeared in the TV series ''Dallas'' in the 1980s. Life and career Newma ...

, actress * Lisa Marie Newmyer, actress *

Josefina Niggli Josefina Niggli (1910–1983; birth name was Josephine) was a Mexican-born Anglo-American playwright and novelist. Writing about Mexican-American issues in the middle years of the century, before the rise of the Chicano movement, she was the fi ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

* Nadia Sahari, actress, author, producer, talk show host, singer and entrepreneur * Sam Sanders, host of ''It's Been A Minute With Sam Sanders'' on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

Linda Stouffer Cinnamon Linda Stouffer (born August 5, 1970) is an American television news correspondent. She currently co-anchors the early morning news broadcasts on WSB-TV 2, Atlanta, Georgia. Background Born in San Marcos, Texas, Stouffer attended the p ...

, former

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...

anchor

References

External links

*
Incarnate Word Athletics website
* *Map: {{DEFAULTSORT:University Of The Incarnate Word Incarnate Word, University of Incarnate Word, University of Incarnate Word, the South Texas Medical Center Incarnate Word, University of National Register of Historic Places in Bexar County, Texas National Register of Historic Places in San Antonio Optometry schools in the United States Catholic universities and colleges in Texas Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Former women's universities and colleges in the United States 1881 establishments in Texas University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas