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 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, 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==