{"id":416071,"date":"2026-08-25T08:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416071\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T08:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:26:11","slug":"uiw-welcomes-students-into-its-newly-renovated-founders-hall-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416071\/","title":{"rendered":"UIW welcomes students into its newly renovated Founders Hall expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early Monday morning the intersection of Hildebrand and Broadway was livelier than usual as University of Incarnate Word students began commuting to and from the main campus and Founders Hall, the university\u2019s 380,000-square-foot expansion across the street.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2019, UIW purchased the nine-story building with an attached 500-space parking garage. The building was once the headquarters of Southwestern Bell and AT&T<\/a>, and it later became the answer to UIW\u2019s main campus expansion needs.<\/p>\n

On Monday, as students trickled into 50 brand-new classrooms inside Founders Hall, university officials, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, faculty, students and alumni gathered to commemorate the milestone with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a blessing at the new Col. Charles E. Cheever Legacy Event Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to finally welcome you into this space. It has been a dream for the University of Incarnate Word community for some time,\u201d said UIW President Thomas Evans during the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

Danya P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

San Antonio Report <\/p>\n

From left to right, Gary Joeris, Charlie Lutz, Sister Walter Maher, Ryan Yaden, Jack Lewis, Liza Lewis, President Thomas M. Evans, Suzanne Goudge, Monse Elizondo, Sister Leticia de Jesus Rodriguez and Eva M. Fern\u00e1ndez, join in the ribbon cutting ceremony of UIW\u2019s Founders Hall on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this property first became available, we viewed it as a once in a lifetime opportunity,\u201d Evans continued. \u201cAs a landlocked campus, there were very few opportunities for physical growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

This purchase delivered on this growth, expanding the university\u2019s footprint along Broadway Avenue by 20%, Evans said. The university hired Lake Flato, an architecture design firm based in part out of San Antonio, to lead the design and restoration of the 1950s historic building<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first stage of the renovation included the first four floors of Founders Hall<\/a> \u2014 named after the sisters who founded UIW \u2014 which now house the School of Media and Design, the School of Math, Science and Engineering, the International Affairs Department, the Liza and Jack Lewis Center of the Americas, the University Police Department and the Student Health Center.<\/p>\n

Faculty were the first to move into the new building in June, Evans said, immediately after the end of the spring semester. Then administrators and staff began occupying their new offices.<\/p>\n

It was a busy summer, he said, as they began utilizing the space to make sure it was fully ready for the start of the fall semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved in people in stages,\u201d Evans said in an interview after the event. \u201cSo as the faculty moved in and started using the space, we started getting feedback\u2026 it was kind of a breaking-in period as we used the technology and worked out the kinks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Danya P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

San Antonio Report <\/p>\n

A new mural on the third floor of UIW\u2019s Founders Hall depicts the university\u2019s future. It was painted by students Giani Melendez, Jac Servin, MJ Davis, and Marissa Neuner. <\/p>\n

This fall the university is welcoming its largest incoming student class ever, Evans said, just as they are adding more space. Early student counts report about 1,150 first time students at UIW this fall semester, about a month ahead of census day, which provides the official headcount.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really gave us elbow room, a lot of elbow room,\u201d Evans said about the added space. \u201cIt also gives us the swing space that we\u2019ve never had. So as we renovate other parts of the campus, where do we put people? Now we have that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because only four of the nine floors were part of the first stage of the renovation, Evans said the next big undertaking will be the remaining floors.<\/p>\n

There is no official timeline for this yet, he said, but the top floors will likely include less student-facing space, such as the business office, information technology, human resources and perhaps some residential space.<\/p>\n

As students began to wander the halls of the new building, officials also pointed out three new murals, painted by local artists and students, that represent UIW\u2019s past, present and future, rooted in the university\u2019s history, faith, mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were designing this building, we called students, faculty, board members, leaders, and more to help us build our bold vision,\u201d Evans said. \u201cIt needed to reflect our mission and honor our spiritual heritage given to us by our founders, the Sisters of Charity of Incarnate Word.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in the San Antonio Report. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early Monday morning the intersection of Hildebrand and Broadway was livelier than usual as University of Incarnate Word…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-416071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}