The University of the Incarnate Word School of Professional Studies (UIWSPS) and Methodist Healthcare have entered into a historic agreement that promises to lift the lives of thousands of employees and their families.
UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine (UIWSOM) students in the First-Generation Medical Student Alliance (FGMSA) recently invited local high school students to their campus to attend a mini medical school event. The student-led organization represents and advocates for first-generation medical students by fostering a supportive environment that provides accessible resources crucial to personal growth, autonomy and educational advancement.
On Feb. 23, St. Anthony Catholic School (SACS) elementary and middle school students placed first in the Private Schools Interscholastic Association (PSIA) competition. The PSIA strives to inspire student achievement through academic competition in various subjects including art memory, mathematics, music memory, ready writing, spelling, vocabulary, maps, charts, graphs and more.
The end of the first week of March came after much anticipation, as students welcomed a much-deserved spring break. But before Cardinals departed to their hometowns and spring break trips, hundreds gathered in the Rosenberg Sky Room for the inaugural Cardinal Céilidh.
On Thursday, Feb. 22, UIW H-E-B School of Business and Administration (HEBSBA) students Kayla Lewis and Jbyr Reynoso attended the Financial Executives International (FEI) San Antonio Chapter Academic Awards Dinner and Networking Reception as the recipients of a prestigious scholarship.
The UIW community is proud to celebrate Women’s History Month in line with its 2024 theme of “women who advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion.” Throughout the month of March, the University will host a variety of events featuring students, faculty and guest speakers who will demonstrate the impact that women past and present have had within the University, city, state and across the nation.
The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is proud to announce that Dr. Sandra Fortenberry, dean of the UIW Rosenberg School of Optometry (UIWRSO), has been named the 2024 Optometrist of the Year by the Texas Optometric Association.
On an overcast morning, when the ground still carried the dampness of evening rains, a charter bus emblazoned with the markings of the University of the Incarnate Word pulled up to Madison High School. While the bus usually carries UIW athletes to their games, on this day, the driver’s task was to pick up a group of high school students. Seventeen students who spend their days and weekends volunteering as student athletic trainers and their faculty boarded the bus to experience tours of UIW’s Broadway campus and the School of Rehabilitation Sciences.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, faculty and students of the UIW Rosenberg School of Optometry (RSO) attended the annual Vestido Rojo event, hosted by the San Antonio Food Bank, to provide health screenings for attendees. Vestido Rojo is held in conjunction with Go Red for Women, the American Heart Association’s nationwide movement that celebrates the energy, passion, and power of women to band together and wipe out heart disease and stroke.
Throughout February, the University hosted a number of events and activities, and welcomed special guests to recognize the history, cultures, legacies and continuous impact of Black individuals across the nation. As the month came to a close, the UIW community came together for two final Black History Month events.
This February, nine St. Anthony Catholic High School (SACHS) students received their Junior Oblate Cross in celebration of Oblate Day, which marks the anniversary of when the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation obtained recognition from Pope Leo XII in 1826 for their work of serving the poor and needy in more than 60 countries. Pope Pius XI called the Oblates “Specialists of the Most Difficult Mission”.
The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Religious Studies Department was proud to present the annual 2024 Pierre Lecture on Thursday, February 22 in the Student Engagement Center ballroom. This year’s featured speaker, Dr. Jessica Coblentz, spoke on the topic of “Depression as a Wilderness Experience: Exploring Some Theological Resources for Life with Depression.”
The University of the Incarnate Word and the UIW Libraries have been selected as one of 10 institutions for the second cohort of the All of Us Data Training and Engagement for Academic Libraries Program (hereafter referred to as the Academic Libraries Program). This document describes activities performed under an Award Agreement between Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) and the University of the Incarnate Word.
“I can’t exactly remember the first time I became interested in art, but I suppose I began to explore it in middle school,” recalls Thuy-Tien Nguyen. “I guess I had just seen that I enjoyed playing with color and experimenting with different mediums such as digital art or even watercolor.”
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), an organization that aims to strengthen and promote the Catholic identity and mission of its member institutions, recently conducted a landscape survey of Catholic higher education best practices in civic learning and democracy education. Through this process, the University of the Incarnate Word was chosen as one of three institutions recognized and showcased for its best practices in work that educates students to become productive and thoughtful citizens.
Dr. Osman Özturgut, associate provost for Strategic Outreach and Partnerships and dean of the UIW School of Professional Studies, traveled with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to Washington D.C. for its annual “SA to DC” trip this month. The trip was organized by the chamber to address key issues in San Antonio and advocate for higher education and workforce development.
On Monday, Feb. 19, the annual Bernadette E. O’Connor Lecture on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT), sponsored by UIW’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) took place. The annual lecture, which originated in 2016, was created to engage some facet of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT), most broadly understood as the dynamic and mutually illuminating conversation between the Catholic faith and human culture. This year’s guest speaker was local artist William Rerick, who spoke about how Catholicism influences his art.
On Saturday, Feb. 24 the Annual Red Dress Fashion Show will return to UIW. Since 2006, the University of the Incarnate Word has hosted the Red Dress Fashion Show to raise awareness of the heart health of women, as heart attacks have different, lesser-known symptoms in women than in men. The fashion show will feature the garment designs of UIW and high school fashion students, with scholarship funds awarded to the winning designers to help further their education.
Since 2006, the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) has hosted the Red Dress Fashion Show. Organizers say the purpose of the annual event is to raise awareness of heart health in women because heart attacks have different symptoms in women than in men. The Red Dress Fashion show features designs created by UIW students and fashion students from area high schools who are also competing for scholarships from the UIW Fashion Management Program.
Students, faculty and other University members were invited to recognize and learn about these various forms of love at an event called, “A Valentine’s Day Date with C.S. Lewis.” Many may be familiar with Lewis’ series The Chronicles of Narnia, but he wrote about more than “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” During the Valentine’s Day event, event leaders took attendees through Lewis’s book The Four Loves, which explores four forms of love identified by him.
On Thursday, Feb. 15 the UIW Lewis Center of the Americas kicked off its Spring 2024 lineup of Conversations with Ambassador Creagan, a live discussion series that aims to bring government leaders and political thought influencers to campus to share ideas on improving international relations and bolstering democracies. The conversation this month featured special guest Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert, the youngest and first African American commissioner elected in Bexar County.
On Feb. 8 and 12, the UIW women’s and men’s basketball teams traded in their red and white T-shirts and jerseys to don black ones. This deliberate change in attire was made to celebrate the annual Black Out for Black History games and UIW Athletics’ Equality and Inclusion initiative.
UIW is proud to announce the presentation of the annual Bernadette E. O’Connor Lecture on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT). The 2024 speaker is local artist William Rerick who will speak about how Catholicism influences his art in a presentation titles, “Father Mike’s Lust: Catholicism’s Emphasis on Sensuality, and Caution.”
Dr. Steven Hayward, dean of academics at St. Anthony Catholic High School (SACHS), recently had his research published in the Journal of Catholic Education. His article, titled “Moral Formation in a Culture of Relativism: Correlates of Universalism and Relativism in the Moral Outlooks of Emerging Adults,” explores the topic of morality, and how people perceive it, as a culture and within the Catholic faith.
Dazhir Walker has been drawn to music almost as long as he’s been alive. His fascination with exploring notes, rhythms and chords began in his childhood as he played with toy pianos and xylophones. Any time he saw a piano – whether at school, a store or anywhere else – he had to play it, experimenting with putting different notes together. This musical spark was set ablaze when he started fourth grade and attended a music class during the school day.
Four UIW Meteorology majors, Sabrina Gonzales, Fatima Hernandez, Christian Schell and Katelyn Simenson, recently had the privilege of attending the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). The AMS is the world’s largest yearly gathering for the weather, water and climate community. It brings together great minds from a diverse set of scientific disciplines, helping attendees make career-long professional contact and life-long friends while learning from leading experts in the atmospheric sciences.
FLIGHT’s recent January retreat, centered on “Creating a Culture of Mentoring to Support Student Success,” provided the mentors’ most recent professional development opportunity. In consideration of the event theme, the program welcomed Dr. Allison McWilliams, assistant vice president of Mentoring and Alumni, Personal and Career Development at Wake Forest University.
In honor of Safer Internet Day, UIW’s Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) student chapter recently tabled outside of the Student Engagement Center to spread awareness on how UIW community members can better ensure their safety online.
Patricia Ramirez, director of the Brainpower Connection schools and newly named principal of St. Anthony Catholic High School (SACHS), understands the benefits of broadening horizons in a child’s education. In her role as director of the Brainpower Connection, she collaborated with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (CCVI) congregation in Mexico to connect San Antonio Brainpower students to students located on Mexico campuses.
Mariachi Cardenal has made its Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Convention debut! Founding Director John Lopez delivered a clinic, in which the students of UIW Mariachi Cardenal served as the demonstration group, at the TMEA convention on Thursday, Feb. 8 to a room full of mariachi instructors from across the state of Texas and beyond.
San Antonio – February 7, 2024 – U.S News & World Report released today its 2024 Best Online Programs rankings and the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is proud to announce that it made impressive improvement in two major categories. On the list of Best Online Bachelor’s, UIW went from #104 in 2023 to #57 in 2024. And in the category of Best Online Bachelor’s for Veterans, UIW jumped to #38 in 2024 from #61 in 2023. The publication based its rankings on engagement, services and technology, faculty credentials and training, and expert opinions.
San Antonio – February 2, 2024 – The St. Anthony Catholic High School Board of Directors, under the leadership of Board Chair Thomas M. Evans, PhD, president of the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW), is proud to announce the selection of Mrs. Patricia Ramirez to the position of principal at St. Anthony Catholic High School. In addition, the board announced that Ramirez will work under the direction of Marcos Fragoso, UIW vice president for International Affairs, who will oversee operation of the high school and UIW’s Brainpower Connection.
On Feb. 3, 1943, the U.S. Army Transport Dorchester traveling from New York to Greenland was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Labrador Sea. The steamship was carrying 904 service members, including four U.S. Army Chaplains. In the time immediately following the blast, the four chaplains of various faith backgrounds worked to get others to safety, offered calming words and helped organize evacuations into lifeboats. When it became clear that there were not enough life jackets for those onboard, the four chaplains removed theirs, gave them to others, then linked arms and prayed together as the ship sank. Since then, Feb. 3 has been known as Four Chaplains Day and serves as an annual reminder of the work and sacrifice of those called to share God’s message or offer spiritual support in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Since 1974, the week beginning the last Sunday in January has been dedicated to the annual celebration of Catholic education that is offered across the nation. That National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) notes that schools typically observe the week with Masses, assemblies and other activities for students, families, parishioners and community members to celebrate what makes Catholic schools great.
The UIW community is proud to celebrate Black History Month with a series of events featuring students, faculty and community members. With an emphasis on recognizing history, cultures, legacies and the continuous impact Black individuals have across the nation, hosts and participants will recall their experiences and reflect on Black history and the ongoing pursuit of a more just society.
On Thursday, Feb. 1, the University of the Incarnate Word had the privilege of welcoming award-winning composer Andrea Clearfield. Clearfield has been nationally and internationally acclaimed for her musical work in opera, orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, dance and multimedia collaborations.
UIW Rosenberg School of Optometry (RSO) professor, Dr. Joseph Pizzimenti, and retired professor and dean of RSO, Dr. Timothy Wingert were recently honored by the Poznan University of Medical Sciences (PUMS) in Poland with the Witelo Medal in Gold. The award was named for Polish scientist and philosopher Witelo of Silesia, who did original work in the physics of light refraction and is considered by many to be the father of Polish Optometry. The medal was presented to the pair in recognition of their contributions to improving and advancing Polish optometry and Polish optometric education.
San Antonio – February 1, 2024 – The H-E-B School of Business and Administration (HEBSBA) at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is pleased to, once again, offer the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program or VITA. The program provides free tax preparation services from IRS certified volunteers to households with incomes of $64,000 or less and helps working families take full advantage of all of the tax credits that they are eligible for. That includes the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and education credits.
This winter, 11 children and adults with severe visual impairments received visually assistive technology from Sight Savers America (SSA) at the UIW Rosenberg School of Optometry (RSO) Bowden Eye Care Clinic. SSA is a non-profit organization that helps to facilitate eye care and provides low vision and blind equipment, along with any necessary equipment training, in 16 states across the nation.
UIW’s core value of education is one passed down to students on their journeys of becoming “concerned and enlightened citizens within the global community.” UIW Ph.D. graduate, Alyssa Cortes-Kennedy, and current doctoral candidate, Melinda Jimenez-Perez, recently demonstrated this Mission in action through their work to make a positive impact in the field of education.
On Sunday, Jan. 21, the UIW Pastoral Institute had the privilege of co-hosting San Antonio’s inaugural Festival of Faiths. The event encouraged its roughly 700 attendees to build connections through the shared value of faith that is present within belief systems found across the city.
Working toward a degree is a worthy and rewarding pursuit, but it’s a journey that also brings challenges. For some students, these challenges include a lack of access to basic needs such as food and housing. The latest National Center for Education Statistics National Postsecondary Student Aid Study confirmed that U.S. college students face greater rates of homelessness and food insecurity than the general population (Inside Higher Ed, 2023). UIW’s Health Services team is taking action to ensure that students at the Nest have access to everything they need to learn and thrive.
Juliana Garza, a junior Cybersecurity Systems student at the University of the Incarnate Word, was recently honored with the “Cybersecurity & The Latinx Community Scholarship,” a financial award presented to only five students across the country each semester. The scholarship aims to financially support undergraduate Latinx students seeking an education and prospective career in the field of cybersecurity. As a Latinx individual, Garza says that she hopes to break boundaries to help make the cybersecurity industry more diverse and inclusive, a goal that her recent scholarship award will help her achieve.
Welcome Week is an exciting time for students at the University of the Incarnate Word. It's a time to meet new people, take part in fun activities and learn about campus offerings. The Spring 2024 Welcome Week was no exception, with a jam-packed schedule of events and activities to kick off a new semester at the Nest! It’s all made possible by the University’s Campus Life team.
At UIW, Political Science and Pre-Law students are eligible to enroll in the “Moot Court” course, a class that provides a high impact, applied learning experience focused on the basics of constructing and delivering appellate arguments. The course simulates an undergraduate competition for oral and written advocacy administrated by the American Moot Court Association (AMCA). The class, like the competition, utilizes a legal hypothetical and list of case authorities for which students must read, brief, and integrate case law into their own appellate-style arguments. Participation in the course not only prepares them for, but also provides students the opportunity to compete in the actual AMCA national tournament.
The University of the Incarnate Word Pastoral Institute is co-hosting San Antonio’s Inaugural Festival of Faiths, which will take place from 1- 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 21 in the Luella Bennack Music Center (4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209). This event welcomes and encourages the community to come together to share and learn about diverse faith traditions through music, storytelling and multi-faith panels.
On Saturday, January 13 the UIW Office of Alumni Relations welcomed UIW alumni and friends to watch the San Antonio Spurs take on the Chicago Bulls at the Frost Bank Center.
San Antonio – January 17, 2024 – The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) School of Professional Studies hosted the Greater San Antonio Chamber for their first meeting of the year on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. The meeting consisted of a panel discussion revolving around the importance of workforce development and partnerships within higher education. A common point of conversation highlighted how institutions such as UIW provide innovative education programs that provide unique skills preparing students for the workforce.
In an outstanding display of talent, the MARKeting Club at the H-E-B School of Business and Administration (HEBSBA) at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) secured the third position in a national advertising competition hosted by Omnicom Health Group and Harrison/Star. The four-week competition challenged teams to develop an advertising campaign for a client in the pharmaceutical industry.
