In 1967, the college established a board of trustees and became independent of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Roman Catholic Church.

Without the proper zoning for such an addition to the Stevenson campus, the college leased off-campus apartments in Pikesville and later in the county seat of Towson, where resident students began living in 1993.

Villa Julie was granted admission to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its NCAA Division III in 1994.

On October 28, 2000, Villa Julie College inaugurated its fourth president Kevin J. Manning, who succeeded Carolyn Manuszak.

[4] In late 2007, the school's leaders decided to make changes needed to attain university status.

Meetings were held to help determine whether the name should be changed to Villa Julie University, or something different, given its broader reach.

On June 11, 2008, the university's board of trustees voted to name the school Stevenson University: it referred to the original location of Villa Julie College and Robert Stevenson, a prominent Baltimore grain merchant who married Deborah Owings, the granddaughter of the founder of Owings Mills.

The university expanded its athletic facilities in 2010 with the opening of a 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) gymnasium and the 3,500-seat Mustang Stadium on the Owings Mills Campus.

In summer 2017, Stevenson University reached an agreement with the state of Maryland to acquire the former Rosewood Center property in Owings Mills.

The 117-acre site is adjacent to Stevenson's existing Owings Mills campus and nearly doubles the total acreage of the university.

[6] In 2018, the university introduced five professional minors—Applied Management, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Human Resources, Real Estate, and Software Design and Coding—designed to pair with students’ majors to give them additional career options and a competitive edge in the job market.

[11] Stevenson University enrolls approximately 3,600 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 40 bachelor's and master's degree programs.

In fall 2018, a reading room and the university's fourth fitness center were also opened in Garrison Hall.

Stevenson teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III.

Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, track & field, volleyball and swimming.

In 2016, Stevenson University became the first NCAA Division III Institution to add Women's Beach Volleyball as a collegiate sport.

Speakers have included former President Bill Clinton, electronics engineer Steve Wozniak, former FBI director James Comey, television journalist Tom Brokaw, Monty Python actor John Cleese, former First Lady Laura Bush, author and radio personality Garrison Keillor, and author/historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

initiative, the university offers a year-round calendar of cultural programs, including art exhibitions, theatre productions, film screenings, musical performances, and guest speakers.