<P> It 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 . The first male students were admitted in 1962 . The Sisters of Loretto transferred ownership of the university to a lay Board of Directors in 1967 . They were the first Catholic college in the United States to be totally under lay control . </P> <P> 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 . 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 . 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 . The negative publicity toward Glennon's segregationist policies led Saint Louis University to begin admitting African American students in summer 1944 . 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 . </P> <P> Colleges include the College of Arts & Sciences, the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts, the George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology, the School of Communications, and the School of Education . </P> <P> Webster University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (North Central Association), the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), the National League for Nursing (NLN), the Council on Accreditation (COA), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the National Board for Certified Counselors . In 2013, Webster University was ranked 21st among regional universities (Midwest) by US News . </P>

When did webster university first begin offering online courses