Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University

UNIVERSITY VISION, MISSION, AND FUNDAMENTAL VALUES

Santa Clara University has adopted three directional statements to describe the kind of university that it aspires to become (Strategic Vision), its core purpose and the constituencies it serves (University Mission), and the beliefs that guide its actions (Fundamental Values).

Strategic Vision
Santa Clara University will educate citizens and leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion and cultivate knowledge and faith to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world.

University Mission
The University pursues its vision by creating an academic community that educates the whole person within the Jesuit, Catholic tradition, making student learning our central focus, continuously improving our curriculum and co-curriculum, strengthening our scholarship and creative work, and serving the communities of which we are a part in Silicon Valley and around the world.

As an academic community, we expand the boundaries of knowledge and insight through teaching, research, artistic expression, and other forms of scholarship. It is primarily through discovering, communicating, and applying knowledge that we exercise our institutional responsibility as a voice of reason and conscience in society.

We offer challenging academic programs and demonstrate a commitment to the development of:

• Undergraduate students who seek an education with a strong humanistic orientation in a primarily residential setting
• Graduate students, many of them working professionals in Silicon Valley, who seek advanced degree programs that prepare them to make significant contributions to their fields

In addition to these core programs, we also provide a variety of continuing education and professional development opportunities for non-matriculated students.

Fundamental Values
We hold ourselves responsible for living out these core values, which are critical for carrying out our mission in pursuit of our vision:

Academic Excellence. We seek an uncompromising standard of excellence in teaching, learning, creativity, and scholarship within and across disciplines.

Search for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. We prize scholarship and creative work that advance human understanding, improve teaching and learning, and add to the betterment of society by illuminating the most significant problems of the day and exploring the enduring mysteries of life. In this search, our commitment to academic freedom is unwavering.

Engaged Learning. We strive to integrate academic reflection and direct experience in the classroom and the community, especially to understand and improve the lives of those with the least education, power, and wealth.

Commitment to Students. As teachers and scholars, mentors and facilitators, we endeavor to educate the whole person. We nurture and challenge students—intellectually, spiritually, aesthetically, morally, socially, and physically—preparing them for leadership and service to the common good in their professional, civic, and personal lives.

Service to Others. We promote throughout the University a culture of service – service not only to those who study and work at Santa Clara but also to society in general and to its most disadvantaged members as we work with and for others to build a more humane, just, faith-filled, and sustainable world.

Community and Diversity. We cherish our diverse and inclusive community of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni, a community that is enriched by people of different backgrounds, respectful of the dignity of all its members, enlivened by open communication, and caring and just toward others.

Jesuit Distinctiveness. We treasure our Jesuit heritage and tradition, which incorporates all of these core values. This tradition gives expression to our Jesuit educational mission and Catholic identity while also welcoming and respecting other religious and philosophical traditions, promoting the dialogue between faith and culture, and valuing opportunities to deepen religious beliefs.