It was founded in 1932 as a women's college by the Sisters of Mercy of Connecticut and began admitting men to its undergraduate programs in 2018.

Based on this review, the university began admitting male students to all full-time undergraduate programs in the fall of 2018.

Approximately 73 percent of first-year students live on campus and USJ offers university sponsored off-campus housing at the Millennium in downtown Hartford.

[11] This lab is a combination classroom, clinical practice area, and study space, and provides a high-quality simulation-based health care education.

In April 2024, USJ announced its partnership with MakerspaceCT, a 28,000-square-foot workshop and skills development center in Hartford, offering the community support and resources to learn and create.