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Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States as well as campuses in Europe and Asia.[7] The university has an alumni network of around 200,000 graduates worldwide.[8]

History

The college was founded in 1915 by the Sisters of Loretto as Loretto College, a Catholic women’s college, one of the first west of the Mississippi River.[9] One of the early founders was Mother Praxedes Carty.[10] Its name was changed to Webster College, after Senator Daniel Webster, in 1924.[11] The first male students were admitted in 1962.[12] The sisters transferred ownership of the college to a lay Board of Directors in 1967; it was the first Catholic college in the United States to be totally under lay control.[13] In 1983, Webster College’s name was changed to Webster University.[11]

Webster was involved in the early racial integration battles in St. Louis. During the early 1940s, many local priests, especially the Jesuits, challenged the segregationist policies at the city’s Catholic colleges and parochial schools. 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.[14] However, in 1943 Archbishop John J. Glennon blocked that student’s enrollment by speaking privately with the Kentucky-based Superior General of the Sisters of Loretto.[15] The Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper with national circulation, discovered Glennon’s actions and ran a front-page feature on the Webster incident in February 1944.[16] The negative publicity toward Glennon’s segregationist policies led Saint Louis University to begin admitting African American students in summer 1944.[17] 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.[18]

In the 1960s, the school dropped its Catholic affiliation following the issuance of the Land O’Lakes Statement. The school’s then-president, Jacqueline Grennan, renounced her religious vows and continued as head of what had effectively become a secular institution.[19]

Academics

Colleges include:[20]

  • College of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • College of Science and Health
  • Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts
  • George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology
  • School of Communications
  • School of Education

Webster University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.[21] Specific programs are accredited by specialized accreditors, including the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP),[22] the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM),[23] the National League for Nursing (NLN),[24] the Council on Accreditation (COA),[25] the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE),[26] the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education,[27] and the National Board for Certified Counselors.[28]

In 2026, Webster University was ranked 32nd in Regional Universities Midwest and 41st in Best Value Schools by U.S. News & World Report.[29]

Partnerships

Webster University maintains a Confucius Institute in partnership with Beijing Language and Culture University.[30] In 2019, US senator Josh Hawley asked Webster University to close its Confucius Institute.[31]

Campus

Webster University’s home campus is located in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis.[13] It has two other campuses in the St. Louis metropolitan area and a campus in San Antonio, Texas.[7] Several international campuses are located in European countries including Switzerland, Austria, Georgia, and The Netherlands. Three campuses are located in Asia: one Uzbekistan and two in China.[7]

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 was until 2015 tied with Regent’s University London;[32] and Webster maintains a relationship with universities including Kansai University in Osaka, Japan[33] and the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico.[34] As of 2025–26, faculty-led study abroad opportunities include programs in Costa Rica, Ghana, and Ecuador.[35]

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.[36] 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.[37] 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.[38] Webster closed the Thailand campus in December 2021.[39]

  • Webster Hall, 2012
    Webster Hall, 2012
  • Loretto Hall, 2007
    Loretto Hall, 2007
  • Campus in Geneva, Switzerland, 2012
    Campus in Geneva, Switzerland, 2012
  • Campus in Leiden, Netherlands, 2009
    Campus in Leiden, Netherlands, 2009
  • Campus in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 2023
    Campus in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 2023

Athletics

Webster athletics wordmark

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 Division III and in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).[40]

  • 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.[41] Major League pitcher Josh Fleming played for Webster.[42]

Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE)

Webster’s chess team has won more national titles than any college team in the country and has been ranked #1 continuously since 2012.[43] In April 2025, Webster’s chess team won its seventh national championship earning the distinction of having the most President’s Cup championships than any other college program in the United States. Webster previously won the national title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2023.[44]

SPICE was founded by chess Grandmaster and Webster University professor, Susan Polgar. She served as the head coach of the Webster chess team from 2012 until her retirement in 2021. The team’s current coach, Liem Le, is a Webster alumnus and contributed to the chess team’s President’s Cup wins four years in a row from 2014 to 2017. He became a Grandmaster at just 15 years old and is currently the number 20 ranked chess player in the world.[45]

Due to this history of excellence in chess, in 2022, Webster began offering a “Chess in Education” minor consisting of 18 credit hours of instruction on subjects ranging from the history of chess to the psychology, strategy, and global perspectives of chess. The program aims to prepare students to become future chess educators. With this course of study, Webster became the first university in the United States to offer a formal chess degree program.[46]

Student life

As of 2024, Webster has about 2,000 undergraduate students and about 8,000 graduate students.[29] Webster students’ SAT score range was 1120–1245 and the ACT range was 18–25.[47] Students come from 50 U.S. states and more than 130 countries.[48]

Webster University St. Louis has a student newspaper called The Journal and a student radio station called The Galaxy. The Galaxy was re-launched online in 2007.[49] 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 and the founding of the Gamma Zeta chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon.

Notable people

Faculty

See also: List of Presidents of Webster University

Professors for the university have included Chess grandmaster Susan Polgar, actor/dancer Lara Teeter, dancer Alicia Graf Mack, poet David Clewell,[50] video artist Van McElwee,[51] political scientists Daniel Hellinger and Johannes Pollak, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women Rashida Manjoo,[52] activist and writer Sulak Sivaraksa, sound engineer Bill Porter, Holocaust scholar Harry J. Cargas, and former Missouri Governor Bob Holden.[53]

Alumni

See also: List of Webster University alumni

There were over 190,000 alumni as of 2017.[54] They include:

References

  1. ^ “U.S. and Canadian 2025 NCSE Participating Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2025 Endowment Market Value” (XLSX). National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  2. ^ “Chancellor Tim Keane”. Webster University. n.d. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  3. ^ a b “College Navigator – Webster University”. National Center for Education Statistics. 2024. Retrieved March 9, 2025.
  4. ^ “Webster University”. U.S. News. U.S. News & World Report. n.d. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  5. ^ “Brand Guidelines” (PDF). Webster University. n.d. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  6. ^ “What is the Webster Gorlok?”. Webster University. n.d. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c “Campuses and Locations”. Webster University. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  8. ^ “Alumni Association”. Webster University. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  9. ^ “Commemorating the centennial of Webster University”. Bill Text: 113th Congress (2013–2014): S.RES.465.ATS. June 3, 2014. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  10. ^ Lee, Barbara (April 17, 2012). “Honoring the Sisters of Loretto” (PDF). Congressional Record: E545.
  11. ^ a b “Webster University History Timeline”. Webster University. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  12. ^ “Webster University Forbes”. Forbes. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  13. ^ a b “About Webster”. Webster University. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  14. ^ “Webster University 100 years”. Webster University 100 Years. April 2014.
  15. ^ Donald J. Kemper, “Catholic Integration in St. Louis, 1935–1947”, Missouri Historical Review, October 1978, pp. 1–13.
  16. ^ Ted LeBerthon, “Why Jim Crow Won at Webster College,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 5, 1944, p. 13.
  17. ^ “Pressure Grows to Have Catholic College Doors Open to Negroes,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 19, 1944, p. 1; “St. Louis U. Lifts Color Bar: Accepts Five Negroes for Summer Session”, Pittsburgh Courier, May 6, 1944, p. 1.
  18. ^ “Missouri College Admits Race Girl,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 13, 1945, p. 1.
  19. ^ “Taking the Catholic Out of Catholic Universities”. City Journal. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
  20. ^ “Colleges”. Webster University. Retrieved September 16, 2022.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ “The Higher Learning Commission website”. Ncahlc.org. Retrieved November 19, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ “Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs website”. Acbsp.org. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
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  24. ^ “National League of Nursing website”. Nln.org. Archived from the original on November 5, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  25. ^ “Council on Accreditation website”. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  26. ^ National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education website
  27. ^ “Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website” (PDF). Dese.mo.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  28. ^ “National Board for Certified Counselors”. Nbcc.org. March 21, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
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  30. ^ “- Involved@Webster”. involved.webster.edu. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  31. ^ “Hawley asks universities to cut ties with Chinese program”. Associated Press. July 25, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  32. ^ “Regent’s College website”. Regent’s College. Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  33. ^ “Study abroad – Japan program”. Webster University. Archived from the original on December 29, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  34. ^ “Study abroad –Mexico program”. Webster University. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  35. ^ “Study Abroad with Webster University”. Webster University. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  36. ^ “Webster U acknowledges failures of Thailand campus: News”. Stltoday.com. April 13, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  37. ^ Redden, Elizabeth (February 12, 2016). “A site review committee offers extensive recommendations for improving Webster U.’s campus in Thailand”. Insidehighered.com. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  38. ^ “Ombudsman Appointed to Webster University Thailand Campus | Webster University”. Webster.edu. May 4, 2015. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  39. ^ Wright, Joshua (December 26, 2023). “Webster strives to uphold global reputation amid adversity”. Webster Journal. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  40. ^ “Webster University Athletics”. Websterathletics.com. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  41. ^ “2015 D3baseball.com Top 25, preseason”. D3baseball.com. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  42. ^ “Josh Fleming”. Baseball Reference. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  43. ^ “Webster chess wins 3 national titles in 2021 under new coach”. FOX 2. October 19, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
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  46. ^ “Chess in Education | Webster University”. www.webster.edu. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
  47. ^ “Webster University Admissions – BigFuture College Search”. bigfuture.collegeboard.org. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
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  52. ^ “Violence Against Women: South African legal expert takes over as new UN Special Rapporteur”. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
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  55. ^ [1] Archived October 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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  58. ^ “Astronaut Bio: Sidney M. Gutierrez”. Jsc.nasa.gov. February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
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