Catholic liberal arts university in Kentucky, evolved from a women's junior college to a coeducational institution.
Brescia University offers undergraduate and master's degree programs. Master's programs were added in 1998 in Management and Curriculum and Instruction. The institution is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and holds membership in the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), NAICU, and the Collegiate Information Consortium (CIC).
The university traces its origins to 1925 when the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph founded Mount Saint Joseph Junior College for Women at Maple Mount, outside Owensboro. After World War II, the institution consolidated its campuses and became fully coeducational. It was renamed Brescia College in 1951 after the Italian city where Saint Angela Merici founded the original Ursuline order, and achieved university status in 1998.
Brescia's athletic teams, the Bearcats, compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) within the River States Conference since 1984–85. The university fields 18 intercollegiate varsity sports, including men's baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, and track and field; women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball; and co-ed cheer.