The college fell on hard times after the end of the military draft and college deferment during the Vietnam War and offered itself to the state in 1975, which refused the gift. In December 1978, the school changed its name to the University of Charleston. Beginning with the inauguration of President Dr. Edwin H. Welch in 1989, the school has undergone a physical and academic transformation. Four new residence halls, a parking garage, a fitness center, an academic building housing the library, computer and science labs, and a new school of pharmacy have been built since 1998.
UC established campuses on Mountain State University’s former Beckley and Martinsburg, West Virginia, locations on January 1, 2013. UC later vacated the former MSU Martinsburg campus (the property was sold to a third-party buyer), and established a new location in Martinsburg, known as UC-Martinsburg. UC vacated the former MSU Beckley campus after the 2014–15 academic year and established a new campus in Beckley.
On December 15, the Board of Trustees appointed a committee of West Virginia University graduates who named Martin S. Roth to succeed Dr. Edwin Welch as the President of the University. He began on June 30, 2018. Roth left his position as the Dean of the Business School at the University of Hartford.