The university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

[5] At the request of Bishop of the Allentown Diocese, Joseph McShea, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales began planning for the new college 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.

[13] The main DeSales campus is located on over 400 acres (160 ha) in Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania in the southern Lehigh Valley region of the state.

[14] The developed part of the campus, comprising 163 acres (0.66 km2),[15] is listed as the DeSales University census-designated place, with a residential population of 953 as of the 2010 census.

Dooling Hall is the main academic building and is home to the majority of liberal arts classrooms.

[11] The Gambet Center for Business and Health Care Education includes simulation laboratories, globally integrated classrooms[clarification needed] and administrative operations for undergraduate and graduate health care and business degree programs.

[11] The Hurd Science Center is a 36,000 square feet (3,300 m2) facility located on Station Avenue (on the Brisson Campus side).

The center is named in honor of Mrs. Priscilla Payne Hurd, a generous benefactor of numerous buildings and programs throughout the Lehigh Valley.

Billera Hall is an 82,500 square feet (7,660 m2) recreational facility with a fitness center with weights and aerobic areas, a gym with 3 full basketball courts, a running track and roll down curtains that can separate the large space into 3 smaller stations as needed for basketball, volleyball, or tennis.

[18] In 2017, DeSales women's basketball earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

DeSales is a private, four-year Catholic university for men and women administered by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

The Division of Performing Arts hosts the annual Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and features a 473-seat theater commercially operated by students.

[22] A student-run, student-funded clinic provides completely free primary and acute care, laboratory services and medications to the men seeking shelter or enrolled in a recovery program at the Allentown Rescue Mission.