Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh oldest Jesuit university in the United States and the fourth largest university in Philadelphia. It is named after Saint Joseph.
Saint Joseph's University has nearly 9,000 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in over 135 undergraduate programs, 77 graduate programs, and 9 adult learner programs. It has 14 centers and institutes, including the Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support and the Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Center for Business Ethics.
Saint Joseph's athletics teams, the Hawks, are an NCAA Division I program that competes in the Atlantic-10 Conference and Philadelphia's Big 5. The official colors of the university are crimson and gray. The school mascot is The Hawk which never stops flapping its wings while in costume.
Jesuit and Catholic identity
Approximately 38 Jesuits live on campus with 10 serving as faculty. The university's Jesuit community lives in the Loyola Center, directly across the street from Barbelin Hall. The Loyola Center joins Manresa Hall, the infirmary for Jesuits. The property features the Ziff Carriage House, which serves as a meeting place and guest house. Other Jesuit residences include St. Alphonsus House (at 5800 Overbrook Avenue) and Faber Hall (39 Berwick Road). One Jesuit lives in a residence hall; the lay university president maintains an apartment in the Merion Gardens Apartment building.
The university extensively uses its Jesuit identity in its branding. It began the Magis ("greater") campaign in 2013 to highlight commitment to living "For the greater glory of God" (Ad maiorem Dei gloriam), the motto of the Society of Jesus.
SJU also promotes the Jesuit principle of cura personalis or "care for the whole person." Undergraduates must complete a general education program that focuses heavily on traditional liberal arts disciplines. Every general education class is titled "154", which stands for the year AD 1540 when the Society of Jesus was accepted by the Pope.
On September 27, 2015, Pope Francis, a Jesuit, made a stop at the university during his two-day visit to Philadelphia.
History
Beginning of Collegiate Jesuit Education in Philadelphia
St. Joe's, founded by the Jesuits in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College, is the seventh oldest Jesuit university in the United States and is named after the legal father of Jesus, Saint Joseph.
Origin of North America's First College of Pharmacy
On June 1, 2022, Saint Joseph's University acquired University of the Sciences (aka USciences and fka Philadelphia College of Pharmacy), adding professional programs in health and science, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy and physician assistant (as USciences had offered more than 30 degree and certification programs across a wide range of pharmaceutical and healthcare-related disciplines.). Hence, St. Joe's can now trace its history to February 1821, when 68 apothecaries aka pharmacists met in Philadelphia's Carpenters' Hall to establish improved scientific standards and to develop programs to train more competent apprentices and students. They formalized their new association through a constitution, which declared their intent to establish a school of pharmacy to enhance their vocation and to "guard the drug market from the introduction of spurious, adulterated, deteriorated or otherwise mischievous articles, which are too frequently forced into it". Classes began nearly immediately, making it the first institution of higher learning in the United States dedicated to the field of pharmacy.
In 1825, the college began publishing the first academic journal in the United States dedicated to pharmacy. The apothecaries formalized their new association through a constitution, which declared their intent to establish a school of pharmacy to enhance their vocation and to "guard the drug market from the introduction of spurious, adulterated, deteriorated or otherwise mischievous articles, which are too frequently forced into it".
Since Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (last known as University of Sciences in Philadelphia or USciences) was chartered in 1822, SJU, the successor to Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and USciences, is now the first institution of higher learning in the United States dedicated to the field of pharmacy.