University of the Southwest

Since 1962, Southwest University has been educating young minds, helping mold the next generation of leaders through Christ-centered values.
The University of the Southwest is a Christ-centered educational community dedicated to developing men and women for a lifetime of servant leadership by emphasizing individual faith, responsibility, and initiative. For over 50 years, the University of the Southwest has been offering academically stimulating and career-enhancing degree programs in various disciplines.
A dynamic and intellectual environment, USW will provide you endless opportunities to learn, lead, and make a difference in your life and the lives of others. As a student, you will be motivated to succeed, inspired to serve, and empowered to take action toward your future. Whether you're interested in one of our on-campus or online undergraduate programs or pursuing one of our 100% online graduate degrees, USW provides you the knowledge, resources, and support you need.
Building leaders through faith, responsibility, and initiative. Whether it is in the classroom, on the playing field, or through the computer, the University of the Southwest is committed to developing you academically, spiritually, and personally. With over 50 undergraduate programs and 15 graduate programs to choose from – either online or at our campus in Hobbs – your courses are taught by quality faculty who are committed to your success.
Whatever educational path you choose, realize that you are part of a community dedicated to excellence in academics, athletics, and Christ-centered living. Learning and engagement go beyond the classroom. At the University of the Southwest, academics are one aspect of the student experience. Whether you live on campus or commute from home, the opportunities to participate in student activities are abundant, and the effects are boundless.
Located in Hobbs, New Mexico, the University of the Southwest's story is an inspiring one. It is a story of vision and dreams, faith and determination, work, and wisdom. It encompasses countless numbers of hearts and hands who have joined together to build an institution that not only enriches human lives but also glorifies God. It is the story of one community's belief in the future.
In the first half of the century, the story begins, so it is told when "a young man on horseback scaled the heights near Cloudcroft and climbed the Wofford fire lookout tower to gain a panoramic view of 'The Land of Enchantment.' In prayerful meditation atop the tower, the youth was inspired to beseech God to give him New Mexico for Christian Education." Through the intervening years, we are told, "God made this young man ready to help answer his prayer."
That young man was B. Clarence Evans, and he was destined to become the founder and first president of what was to become the University of the Southwest eventually. And so, after many prayers and dreams and plans, Clarence Evans finally saw his "college for Christian Education" become a reality. Hobbs Baptist College was chartered as a two-year junior college in 1956 and changed to New Mexico Baptist College when the school became a four-year college in 1958.
Within a few years, however, it became apparent that the college had grown beyond the original design, and the move to a larger, permanent location became a motivating force. By 1961, the present site north of Hobbs on the Lovington Highway was obtained.
In 1962, to reflect the expanded vision of the entire community that had now embraced this fledgling institution as their own, College of the Southwest was founded as an independent, non-denominational, four-year liberal arts college to serve the southeastern New Mexico and West Texas region, an approximately 21,000 square-mile service area. In 2008, the Board of Trustees voted to change the name of College of the Southwest to University of the Southwest to communicate better the type of academic community into which the institution was evolving.