DeSales University is a private Catholic university for men and women, located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Before 2001, it was known as Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales. On February 11, 1961, Joseph McShea was appointed Bishop of the Allentown Diocese by Pope John XXIII. This Diocese is composed of five counties in northeast Pennsylvania: Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill. One of the first actions of Bishop McShea was to make a study of the educational facilities of the Diocese. Since the Allentown Diocese had been split off from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, it already possessed a well-organized elementary and high school educational system. It was evident, however, that the system needed to be enlarged. Bishop McShea announced that there would be a drive to obtain funds for the expansion of the high school system, and at the same time, he called attention to the fact that there was no Catholic college for men in the Diocese. At the request of the Bishop, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales agreed to assume the responsibility for establishing a liberal arts college to serve this need.