Saint Joseph’s University Officially Merges With University Of The Sciences

Saint Joseph’s University announced yesterday that its historic merger with the University of the Sciences is now official, concluding a process that started in the summer of 2020 when the University of the Sciences, facing declining enrollment and growing financial difficulties, began searching for a partner with which it could collaborate on a potential institutional merger or acquisition.

Saint Joseph’s stepped forward, and after considerable exploration, the two Philadelphia-based institutions signed a letter of intent to merge in February of 2021. Following further mutual review of their finances, academic programs and operations, the two schools formally agreed to a merger in June, 2021. That agreement was approved in March of this year by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a crucial step to the transaction by the two schools’ accrediting agency.

A primary motive for the merger on the part of Saint Joseph’s, a private Jesuit university that has traditionally emphasized the liberal arts, was to expand that school’s health sciences offerings and research in fields such as allied health professions, pharmacy, and biomedical sciences.

As a result, the combined university will now offer more than 200 academic programs across four different schools: the Haub School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Health Professions and the School of Education and Human Development. It will award a full range of credentials including bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

Although the merger will terminate the University of the Sciences’ authority to grant degrees at the end of 2022, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy is expected to retain its name within Saint Joseph’s College of Health Professions. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, the first college of pharmacy in North America, was the University of the Sciences original name when it was founded in 1821.

“I’m proud that Saint Joseph’s is taking this bold step to provide access to in-demand health professions programs and to strengthen our University for generations to come,” said Saint Joseph’s President Mark C. Reed, in the university’s news release. “These excellent and well-established programs in disciplines like physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy and physician’s assistant allow us to meet market demand and position us for future growth in research, innovation and intellectual property development.”

“Through this combination, Saint Joseph’s will now be able to offer students more academic offerings than ever before,” said Cheryl M. McConnell, PhD, Saint Joseph’s provost. “In just one year of integration planning, our academic leadership and faculty have been able to define an academic structure with two new schools, as well as the historic Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.”

Post-merger, Saint Joseph’s University’s enrollment will total about 9,000 students, making it the fourth largest institution in Philadelphia, and the third largest private university in the city.

The University will now occupy two locations, with an overall footprint of 149 acres. Saint Joseph’s existing campus along City Avenue will be called Hawk Hill and the former University of the Sciences’ property, less than five miles away, will be referred to as the University City campus.

“Adding a second location, Saint Joseph’s takes its place in the heart of University City’s growing innovation district, offering on-campus state-of-the-art laboratories and brand-new recreation facilities,” President Reed said.

The integration of the two institutions is continuing even as the merger became official, with several personnel and organizational decisions still underway. Tenured University of Sciences faculty will be retained, and current University of Sciences students will pay their current tuition and fee rates until they complete their academic programs. After that, tuition decisions will be made on an annual basis by Saint Joseph’s.

Other personnel decisions, involving University of the Sciences staff and administrators (several of whom have retired or moved to other institutions since the merger plan was announced), have not yet been made final. Those decisions will largely become the responsibility of McConnell, the provost, who will become interim president when President Reed departs Saint Joseph’s to assume the presidency of Loyola University in Chicago this October.