Webster University is a

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

with its main campus in

Webster Groves, Missouri Webster Groves is an inner-ring Greater St. Louis, suburb of St. Louis in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 24,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is home to the main campus of Webster Universit ...

, United States. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The university has an alumni network of around 170,000 graduates worldwide.

History

The college was founded in 1915 by the

Sisters of Loretto The Sisters of Loretto or the Loretto Community is a Catholic religious institute that strives "to bring the healing Spirit of God into our world." Founded in the United States in 1812 and based in the rural community of Nerinx, Kentucky, the o ...

as Loretto College, a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

women's college, one of the first west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. One of the early founders was

Mother Praxedes Carty Mother Mary Praxedes Carty (born Susan Carty; 1854 – 16 December 1933) was an Irish American educator and member of the Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of Loretto. Mother Praxedes worked throughout the Southwestern and Western areas of th ...

. Its name was changed to Webster College, after Senator Daniel Webster, in 1924. The first male students were admitted in 1962. The

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

transferred ownership of the college to a

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

Board of Directors in 1967; it was the first Catholic college in the United States to be totally under lay control. In 1983, Webster College's name was changed to Webster University. Webster was involved in the early

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of Race (classification of human beings), race, and t ...

battles in St. Louis. During the early 1940s, many local

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

, especially the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, challenged the

segregationist Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by peopl ...

policies at the city's Catholic colleges and

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

s. The St. Louis chapter of the Midwest Clergy Conference on Negro Welfare arranged in 1943 for Webster College to admit a black female student, Mary Aloyse Foster, which would make it the city's first Catholic college to integrate. However, in 1943 Archbishop John J. Glennon blocked that student's enrollment by speaking privately with the

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

-based

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

of the Sisters of Loretto. The ''

Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...

'', an African-American newspaper with national circulation, discovered Glennon's actions and ran a front-page feature on the Webster incident in February 1944. The negative publicity toward Glennon's segregationist policies led

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

to begin admitting African American students in summer 1944. In the fall of 1945, Webster College responded to pressure by admitting Irene Thomas, a Catholic African-American woman from St. Louis, as a music major. In the 1960s, the school dropped its Catholic affiliation following the issuance of the

Land O'Lakes Statement The Land O'Lakes Statement of 1967 was an influential manifesto published in Land o' Lakes, Wisconsin, about Catholic higher education in the United States. Inspired by the liberalization represented by the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), th ...

. The school's then-president, Jacqueline Grennan, renounced her religious vows and continued as head of what had effectively become a secular institution.

Academics

Colleges include: * College of Humanities & Social Sciences * College of Health and Science *

Leigh Gerdine Leigh Gerdine (22 June 1917 - 1 March 2002) was an American musician, composer, educator, civic leader and patron of the arts who was called "the spiritual father of the arts in St. Louis." A Rhodes Scholar, he served as President of Webster Univ ...

College of Fine Arts *

George Herbert Walker George Herbert "Bert" Walker Sr. (June 11, 1875 – June 24, 1953) was an American banker and businessman. He was the maternal grandfather of the 41st United States President George H. W. Bush and a great-grandfather of President George W. Bush ...

School of Business & Technology * School of Communications * School of Education. Webster University is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

. Specific programs are accredited by specialized accreditors, including the

Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), formerly the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, is a United States–based organization offering educational accreditation, accreditation services to busin ...

(ACBSP), the

National Association of Schools of Music The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) is an association of post-secondary music schools in the United States and the principal U.S. accreditor for higher education in music. It was founded on October 20, 1924, and is based in Resto ...

(NASM), the

National League for Nursing The National League for Nursing (NLN) is a national organization for faculty nurses and leaders in nurse education. It offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiative ...

(NLN), the Council on Accreditation (COA), the

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was a professional accreditor focused on accrediting teacher education programs in U.S. colleges and universities. It was founded in 1954 and was recognized as an accreditor by ...

(NCATE), the

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is the administrative arm of the Missouri State Board of Education that works with school officials, legislators, government agencies, community leaders, and citizens to mainta ...

, and the

National Board for Certified Counselors The National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Affiliates (NBCC) is an international certifying organization for professional counselors in the United States. It is an independent, not-for-profit credentialing organization based in Gree ...

. In 2023, Webster University was ranked 22nd among regional universities (Midwest) by ''U.S. News & World Report''.

Partnerships

Webster University maintains a

Confucius Institute Confucius Institutes (CI; ) are public educational and cultural promotion programs of the state of China. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilita ...

in partnership with

Beijing Language and Culture University Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU; ) is a Types of universities and colleges in China, public university of linguistics in Haidian, Beijing, Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of ...

. In 2019, US senator

Josh Hawley Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and attorney serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri, a seat he has held since 2019. A member ...

asked Webster University to close its Confucius Institute.

Campus

Webster University's home campus is located in

Webster Groves Webster Groves is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 24,010 at the 2020 census. The city is home to the main campus of Webster University. Geography According to the United States ...

, a suburb of

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. Many of the domestic campuses are located near military bases; some are located in various metropolitan areas. The international campuses are located in several European countries including

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Georgia, and The Netherlands; several are also located in Asia, such as in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and China. In addition to its own international campuses, Webster has also formed partnerships with a few universities that are based in their countries of interest. For example, The

Webster Graduate School The Webster Graduate School was a campus of Webster University in London, England, whose main campus is in St Louis, Missouri, USA. Webster Graduate School was based in the Regent's University London campus at Regent's Park in central London. Th ...

was until 2015 tied with

Regent's University London Regent's University London (formerly Regent's College) is a private university located in London, England. It is part of Galileo Global Education, Europe’s largest higher education provider. Regent's University London was established in 1984 ...

; and Webster maintains a relationship with

Kansai University , abbreviated as or , is a Private school, private non-sectarian and coeducational university with its main campus in Suita, Osaka, Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Japan and two sub-campuses in Sakai, Osaka, Sakai and Takatsuki, Osaka. Founded as ...

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

and with The

Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara The (, ''Autonomous University of Guadalajara''), commonly abbreviated to UAG or Autónoma, is a coeducational, independent, private university based in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. Established in 1935, it was the first private university ...

Guadalajara, Mexico Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. Recently, Webster started a study abroad program in Greece. In 2015, Webster released a report on its Thailand campus citing several issues, including badly inadequate facilities and a culture of distrust between students and the administration. The report also cited several strengths on the campus, including strong academics and financial stability, saying "recruitment, marketing and admissions" are an area of strength for the campus. One month after the internal report was issued, a campus ombudsman was appointed to address the communications issues and to bring the Thailand campus more in-line with the home campus' policies. file:Webster University's Webster Hall - 2012.JPG, Webster Hall File:Webster University (1444252375).jpg, Loretto Hall in 2007 File:Webster University-Geneva Campus.jpg, The Campus in Geneva, Switzerland File:Webster University (Oude Rijn) Leiden.jpg, Campus in Leiden File:Webster University Ghana Campus Welcome - November 2013.jpg, Campus in Ghana

Athletics

Webster University's athletic mascot is the Gorlok, named in honor of the school's location at the corner of Gore and Lockwood Avenues in Webster Groves. Athletic teams participate in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

and in the

St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III which is located in the Midwestern and Southern United States. ...

(SLIAC). * Men's sports: baseball; basketball; cross country; golf; soccer; tennis; and, track and field * Women's sports: basketball; cross country; soccer; softball; tennis; track and field; and, volleyball Webster's Baseball Team has made back to back trips to the Division III World Series placing fifth in both 2012 and 2013. They also made the Division III World Series in 2015. They made it to the regional Division III championship in 2014 but were defeated in the first round. Major League pitcher Josh Fleming played for Webster. Webster's chess team has won more national titles than any college team in the country and has been ranked #1 continuously since 2012.

Student life

Webster University, in Fall 2014, enrolled 5,010 undergraduate students and 17,190 graduate students. The average SAT composite score for the undergraduate class was 1,194. The average ACT composite score was 24. Students come from 49 states and more than 122 countries. Webster University St. Louis has a

student newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station Graduate student journal, produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related new ...

called ''The Journal'' and a student radio station called The Galaxy. The Galaxy was re-launched online in 2007. Webster University has other e-newsletters such as Webster Today and departmental publications. Webster University recently allowed the formation of the first Greek organization on its St. Louis campus, with the founding of the 152nd Chapter of

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834, at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek-letter organization founded in North America ...

and the founding of the Gamma Zeta chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon.

Notable people

Faculty

Professors for the university have included Chess grandmaster

Susan Polgar Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgár Zsuzsanna and often known as Zsuzsa Polgár) is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, a ...

, actor/dancer

Lara Teeter Lara Teeter (born February 3, 1955) is an American dancer, actor, singer, theater director and college professor. Biography Born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Teeter earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Oklahoma City University. He made his Broadw ...

, dancer

Alicia Graf Mack Alicia Graf Mack (''née'' Alicia J. Graf, born 1978/1979) is an American dancer, teacher, and artistic director. She was a member of Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and has performed with Beyonce, John Legend, a ...

, poet

David Clewell David Clewell (February 11, 1955 – February 15, 2020) was an American poet and creative writing instructor at Webster University. From 2010–2012, he served as the Poet Laureate of Missouri. Life Clewell was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey ...

, video artist Van McElwee, political scientists Daniel Hellinger and Johannes Pollak, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women Rashida Manjoo, activist and writer

Sulak Sivaraksa Sulak Sivaraksa (, ; ; born 27 March 1933) is a Thai social activist, professor, writer and the founder and director of the Thai NGO " Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation", named after two authorities on Thai culture, Sathirakoses (Phya Anuma ...

, sound engineer Bill Porter, Holocaust scholar Harry J. Cargas, and former Missouri Governor

Bob Holden Robert Lee Holden Jr. (born August 24, 1949) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of Missouri from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Missouri state treasurer from 1993 to 2001 an ...

Alumni

There were over 190,000 alumni as of 2017. They include: *

Lloyd James Austin III Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who served as the 28th United States secretary of defense from 2021 to 2025. Before retiring from the military in 2016, Austin served as the 12th ...

, 28th

United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...

and Army four-star general *

John Boccieri John Stephen Anthony Boccieri (born October 5, 1969) is an American politician who was appointed to fill the 59th district seat in the Ohio House of Representatives on September 29, 2015. He left office after an unsuccessful run for Ohio State S ...

, U.S. Congressman *

Ann Walsh Bradley Ann Walsh Bradley ( Ann Ellen Walsh; born July 5, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist, and the 28th chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She is the longest currently-serving justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court; she was first elec ...

, Wisconsin State Supreme Court justice *

William Broad William J. Broad (born March 7, 1951) is an American science journalist, author and a Senior Writer at ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Broad was born on March 7, 1951. He earned a master's degree from the University of Wisc ...

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' *

Norbert Leo Butz Norbert Leo Butz (born January 30, 1967) is an American actor and singer known for his work in Broadway theatre. He is a two-time recipient of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performances in ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' and '' ...

, Tony Award-winning actor *

Eileen Collins Eileen Marie Collins (born 19 November 1956) is an American retired NASA astronaut and Air Force colonel. A flight instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle missio ...

, astronaut * Debra Drexler, painter, installation artist, curator * Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, television producer *

Nathan Lee Graham Nathan Lee Graham (born September 9, 1968) is an American actor and singer. He is known for film roles such as ''Zoolander'' and ''Theater Camp'' and stage roles such as ''The Wild Party (LaChiusa musical), The Wild Party'' and ''Priscilla, Queen ...

, actor and cabaret artist * Sidney M. Gutierrez, astronaut *

Clarence Harmon Clarence Harmon (born 1940) was the 44th Mayor of St. Louis (from 1997 to 2001), and the city's second African-American mayor. Early life and education Harmon was born to a Baptist family, and the only boy out of three children. His father was ...

, former mayor and chief of police for St. Louis * Jane Ellen Ibur, poet and arts educator * R. Alan King, military veteran (Panama and Iraq) and author of ''Twice Armed: An American Soldier's Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq'' – Winner of 2008 William E.

Colby Award The William E. Colby Military Writers' Award was established in 1999 by the William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium at Norwich University in Vermont in order to recognize "a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a major contributio ...

Jenifer Lewis Jenifer Jeanette Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films ''Beaches'' (1988) and '' Sister Act'' (1992). L ...

, television, screen, and stage actress * Sandra Mansour, fashion designer *

Marsha Mason Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and theatre director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in '' Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), '' The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), '' Chap ...

, four-time Academy Award-nominated actress *

Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer. Early life and education Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. Although he did not ...

, Tony Award-winning choreographer and director *

Leyna Nguyen Leyna Nguyen (born December 13, 1969)First Viet-Am wins tw ...

, news anchor and three-time Emmy awardee *

Richard Ojeda Richard Neece Ojeda II ( ; born October 25, 1970) is an American politician and retired United States Army major who served in the West Virginia Senate representing the 7th district from January 2017 until January 2019. A member of the Democrat ...

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

recipient,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

veteran of Afghan and Iraq conflicts, and West Virginia state senator *

Rob Riggle Robert Allen Riggle Jr. (born April 21, 1970) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and retired United States Marine officer. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, joining the Marines in 1990 and later attaining the rank of lieutenant colone ...

, comedian, television star and sports commentator * Roderick Royal, mayor of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to as SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired Indonesian Army, army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014 and the second president of Ind ...

, president of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

References

External links