Lou&Kent14Dear Friends:

UIW will mark a couple of important milestones later this spring that illustrate how much we have grown in the past few years. They also indicate that our impact has reached beyond South Texas to the rest of the country.

The School of Physical Therapy will graduate its first class in May. It seems like only yesterday when the school opened its doors at the beautiful Saidoff Center in northwest San Antonio in a poignant ceremony that incorporated traditions from the Catholic and Jewish faiths. The donation of the building by Debbie and Naty Saidoff was significant because it was our first major gift by benefactors from the West Coast (the Saidoffs are from Los Angeles, Calif.).

The school’s graduation will actually be one of four that will be held over a 24-hour period, the first time in our long history that we’ve held that many graduations in such a compressed period of time. The Feik School of Pharmacy and the Rosenberg School of Optometry will also each have their own commencements. Graduation weekend will conclude with a combined ceremony for our undergraduate and graduate students. In case you’re wondering, I’ll be helping to hand out diplomas at all of the graduations.

This important distinction allows us to link our historical Mission – to provide access to communities underserved by higher education – with the present by producing a well- educated, diverse workforce capable of meeting the needs of tomorrow’s workplaces.

The common thread binding the ceremonies is that we will be graduating students who are representative of the changing demographics of our state and country. We’re proud that in just a few short years, graduates of our pharmacy and optometry programs have already changed the national racial and ethnic composition of practitioners of both of those fields, and we expect graduates of the physical therapy program to someday have a similar impact.

UIW may not be the biggest private university in Texas or the United States, but there’s something special that separates us from the others: we’re ranked No.1 nationally among not- for-profit universities in the conferring of bachelor’s degrees to Hispanics. Despite being the largest racial or ethnic minority group in Texas and the U.S., Hispanics continue to be under- represented on college campuses (FYI: we’re an exception, as more than half of our students are Hispanic).

This important distinction allows us to link our historical Mission – to provide access to communities underserved by higher education – with the present by producing a well- educated, diverse workforce capable of meeting the needs of tomorrow’s workplaces.

Our facilities and academic programs also continue to expand. The new Fine Arts com- plex should be complete this spring. Work has commenced on the facilities that will house our new School of Osteopathic Medicine at Brooks City Base, which will open in 2017.

Additionally, work has commenced at Republic Golf Course – located down the street from Brooks – on the facility that will house our men’s and women’s golf teams as well as our new academic program in Professional Golf Management. After the spring semester, work will begin on a state-of-the-art Student Engagement Center on the main campus that will serve as the focal point of the UIW community when it’s finished.

I encourage you to read the rest of this issue to catch-up on what else has been happening at Incarnate Word. This includes a farewell tribute to Bill Moll, a long-time member of the board of trustees who retired from active status at the end of 2014 and is now an emeriti trustee. The men and women who comprise our board are a wide-ranging group of individu- als with one overarching goal – the continued well-being of UIW. Bill personifies this goal. And while his good humor and wise counsel will be missed, Bill has assured me that he plans to remain closely connected to his UIW family.

Remember, it’s because of your commitment to our community that we can continue ful- filling Incarnate Word’s goal of offering students the best possible educational opportunities within a context of faith. Please remember an investment in higher education is something that will yield returns for a lifetime for you, your family and ou community.

Special blessings on you and your loved ones throughout 2015.

Best Wishes,
Louis J. Agnese, Jr., Ph.D.
President