DeSales University

DeSales University is a private Catholic university for men and women, located near Allentown and Bethlehem in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Named for St. Francis de Sales, the university was founded in 1964 as "Allentown College of Saint Francis de Sales" by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. On February 11, 1961, Joseph McShea was appointed Bishop of the Allentown Diocese by Pope John XXIII. One of the first actions of Bishop McShea was to make a study of the educational facilities, which called attention to the fact that there was no Catholic college in the Diocese. At the request of the Bishop, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales agreed to assume the responsibility for establishing a liberal arts college to serve this need. Planning for the new college began in April 1962, and the charter for Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales, with full power to award the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees, was granted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on May 27, 1964. Classes began for freshmen in September 1965. Allentown College was fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools during the 1969-1970 academic year. In September 1970, the College became a co-educational institution. ACCESS, the College's continuing education department, was established in the fall of 1977. In the spring of 1988, the College opened the Easton campus, an extension of its ACCESS evening degree program.