[6] In 1974, Michael Scanlan became president and began a series of major reforms to restore the school to its Catholic heritage.

[6] In 1946, the first Bishop of Steubenville, Anthony John King Mussio, invited the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular to establish a Catholic college in the diocese to serve local students and especially World War II veterans.

The friars bought a 40-acre property overlooking the city, and accreditation was provided by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1960.

[8] The College of Steubenville was successful during the early years, under the tenures of presidents Daniel W. Egan, Kevin R. Keelan, and Columba J. Devlin.

He instituted households, small groups of men and women devoted to personal and communal growth, and required students to join one.

Scanlan also created a renewal center on the campus, which organized retreats and seminars to further instruct students in the Roman Catholic faith.

The center began holding religious conferences in the summers, one benefit of which was attracting many young people to the college.

[11]: 160  Five of the top administrators at the college left or were dismissed, and the remaining faculty expressed discontentment with Scanlan's leadership.

By 2000, Scanlan's leadership and changes had helped the university to increase dramatically in size; there were more than 2,100 students, nearly double the number in the early 1970s.

[9][dead link‍] The university was granted an exemption from Title IX in 2014 that allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students.

[12][13] In 2022, David Morrier, a Franciscan friar who served as a campus minister until his removal in 2014,[14] was sentenced to probation after being pleading guilty to sexual battery of a student whom he had been counseling, which took place over three years, from 2010 to 2013.

Egan Hall houses classrooms, a theater, television and radio studios, special laboratories for the education and psychology departments, and computer workstations on each floor.

The Saint Joseph Center houses some administrative offices as well as The Sacred Music Program, Social Work, and Criminal Justice.

Starvaggi Hall is the main administrative building on campus housing many departments including Information Technology, and Career Services.

The OPAL Catalog and OhioLINK Network provide access to many research databases and more than 7 million books and journals.

Outside of this chapel are the Tomb of the Unborn Child, which contains the remains of seven aborted fetuses, a Creche, Stations of the Cross, and Marian Grotto.

In 2009 the Vatican designated the Portiuncula as a place of pilgrimage where the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence on five certain days through the year and under certain conditions of prayer and a detachment from sin.

[22] The Priestly Discernment Program offers human, academic, spiritual, pastoral and fraternal formation for men considering the Catholic priesthood.

The Austrian Program features a four-day class schedule, Monday through Thursday, so students may spend extended time visiting religious, cultural, and historical sites throughout Europe.

[30] In 2016, Franciscan University announced an agreement with D'Youville College which created a 3+4 dual degree program between the two schools.

Noting that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) had removed homosexuality as an illness, two Franciscan graduates tried to get the course description changed.

" In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, university vice president Daniel Kempton stated, "that principles of academic freedom apply to the course and that the view that homosexuality is deviant is a legitimate perspective for the course.

Under the leadership of Father Michael Scanlan, households (small groups of men and women devoted to personal and communal growth) were instituted and a once blossoming Greek life began to wilt, ending in 2016 when the final chapters, Theta Phi Alpha and Alpha Phi Delta were excluded from campus life.

Household members can apply to live “on wing” (the part of the residence hall where the common room is located) during housing periods.