Central to the Froeblian philosophy is the idea that individuals are important and unique, a focus that remains today at Lesley University.

Edith Lesley, after having lived in Panama and Maine and studied in Freiburg, Germany, moved to Boston and became involved with public school teaching.

She wanted a school that would "consider the individual of basic importance; to inculcate the idea of gracious living; and to foster the tradition of American democracy."

Now married, Lesley and her husband expanded the school by constructing an addition at the rear of their home, which today is known as Livingston Stebbins Hall.

In 1954, the college began to award graduate degrees; it later added majors in the fields of education, counseling, human services, global studies, art therapy, and management.

The school's early philosophy was based upon John Ruskin's words that it is "in art that the heart, the head, and the hand of a man come together" and Davidson's own belief that "beauty comes from the use.

In 2006, the university acquired Prospect Hall, a former church listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the goal of bringing the Art Institute of Boston to Cambridge.

The following year, the university entered into a partnership with Episcopal Divinity School to jointly operate their Brattle Street campus and purchase several buildings.

[17] In 2015, the College of Art and Design officially left Kenmore Square[18] in Boston and joined the remainder of the university in Cambridge.

[9] In 2016, Jeff A. Weiss[21] became president and resigned in 2018 due to personal health reasons (he almost immediately became Chief Strategy and Transformation Office at Mass General Brigham[22].).

[27] Part of a long-term demographic trend of fewer college attendees in the United States, enrollment at Lesley declined by about a third from 2011 to 2021.

[28] In fall 2023, Lesley laid off 30 faculty members and 20 staff, largely from the undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The university offers a variety of housing options from traditional style dormitories to Victorian homes and suite-style apartments.