Founded in 1906 by lawyer Gleason Archer, Suffolk University was initially named Suffolk School of Law. The school`s goal was to ‘serve ambitious young men who are obliged to work for a living while studying law’.

In 1907, Archer moved the school from his Roxbury, Massachusetts home into his downtown Boston law offices. A year later the first of Archer`s students had passed the bar, leading to a boost in registration.

By 1930, Archer developed Suffolk into one of the largest law schools in the country, and decided to create ‘a great evening university’ that working people could afford. The Suffolk College of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1934, and the Sawyer Business School – then known as the College of Business Administration – in 1937. That same year, the three academic units were incorporated as Suffolk University.

During the 1990s Suffolk constructed its first residence halls, began satellite programs with other colleges in Massachusetts, and opened its international campuses. Suffolk employs nearly 800 full-time and adjunct faculty members, who instruct approximately 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

The Sawyer Business School (previously the Sawyer School of Management) focuses on global business education. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Joint degrees are also offered. About 3,000 students are currently enrolled in all programs. The Saturday-only Executive MBA Program incorporates four off-site one-week seminars and week-long global trips to London and China. The Global MBA is a specialized MBA in international business with an intensive concentration in either finance or marketing. The full-time program includes a 3-month internship outside the student`s home country. The Suffolk College of Arts and Sciences has seventeen academics departments which offer more than seventy undergraduate and graduate programs.

The university is also home to the Beacon Hill Institute, a ‘free-market think-tank’, the Centres for Crime & Justice Policy Research, Restorative Justice, and Women`s Health and Human Right, the Poetry Centre Political Research Centres, the R.S. Friedman Field Station, and the Sagan Energy Research Laboratory.