Santa Clara University

By now you likely are aware that Cal Grant funding for students is in jeopardy.  The Governor of California has proposed reducing the Cal Grant maximum award to students from private California schools from $9,708 to $5,472.  This would impact 580 students at Santa Clara and result in a loss of nearly $2.4M in aid for our students, dollars that Santa Clara University would be expected to cover.  I recently wrote an Op Ed in the San Jose Mercury News capturing how these proposed cuts will hurt rather than help students and the larger community of California. 

To let our legislators know how these cuts negatively impact our students, a delegation of SCU students and staff will lobby leaders in Sacramento on March 7.  I ask you to contact your local legislators to let them know how these cuts negatively impact Santa Clara students.  A list of your elected officials can be found online.

If you have not yet completed “The Best Places to Work Survey,” please consider doing so today. The survey is a joint project of San Francisco Business Times, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, and the East Bay Business Times and closes this Friday, February 24.

The survey asks you to evaluate your satisfaction with your workplace - management practices and policies, benefit offerings, and how happy people are with the work climate and culture.

To be considered for the rankings, we ask that staff and faculty respondents fill out the survey BEFORE Friday, February 24.  The survey does not require you to enter your name or any personal information, and it is completely confidential. Your participation will help SCU be recognized as a great place to work.

To complete the survey, please go to http://www.quantumworkplace.com/bestplaces/survey and enter the SCU code included in an email sent to all faculty and staff.

Thank you for your participation.
 

On February 24-25, 700 families of our students are expected to come to campus for the annual Family Weekend. With 35 sessions and over 100 speakers including faculty, staff, students and alumni, the event is an opportunity for families to learn more about the Santa Clara experience by living it for a weekend. Thank you to all who help make this weekend engaging and inspiring for families and our students. For more information, visit the Family Weekend website.

This week begins the observance of Lent, when Christians renew their baptismal promises and begin a new life in Christ.  Consider attending any of the services and opportunities for prayer organized by Campus Ministry, available here. Regardless of your faith tradition, I invite you to reflect on renewal in your own lives, a renewal of heart, mind, and soul that brings fullness of life, everyday and with all whom you meet.
 

With this update, let me share with you a short summary of the winter trustee meeting held on February 10.

A critical part of the meeting was the approval of the 2012-2013 budget.  Thanks to the University staff and the Trustee Finance Committee, I am pleased that the trustees approved a balanced budget that includes a performance-based merit pay increase of an average 2% for faculty and staff. Also approved in the budget was a minimal increase of 3.5% in the total cost of education. This increase is the result of many deliberations in which trustees emphasized the need to keep the increase as low as possible. 

Among other actions taken at the meeting, the board approved two proposals put forward by the Trustee Academic Affairs Committee.  The proposed revisions to the Faculty Handbook, which were clarifications of policies related to non-tenure track faculty and other policies, were approved, as was a proposal for a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in the Department of Education.  In addition, the board approved the conferral of degrees for commencement 2012.

Three members of the University gave presentations to the trustees. Mick McCarthy, S.J., Executive Director of the Ignatian Center, opened the meeting with his presentation, “Education as Spiritual Exercises. Part Two: The Early Christian Tradition.” He addressed four fundamental questions from the early Christian tradition: 1) Why are we here? 2) Who is my neighbor? 3) What is commitment? and 4) How do we imagine the life of the world to come? Drawing upon interviews with recent alumni, Fr. McCarthy reminded us of how these questions animate not only our own lives but also the life of Santa Clara University and the students we graduate.

Following Fr. McCarthy’s talk, Rob Gunsalus, Vice President for University Relations, updated the trustees on University Relations planning in preparation for a capital campaign.  Godfrey Mungal, Dean of the School of Engineering, then presented an overview of the school’s centennial and its many and varied activities.  As part of the regular business meeting, Trustee committee chairs, the Faculty Senate Council president Bill Greenwalt and Associated Student Government president Courtney Seymour reported out on the activities of their respective groups.

Before the close of the meeting, we bade farewell to longtime trustee Rupert Johnson.  Effective at the winter meeting, Mr. Johnson retired from the board after twenty years of service marked by impressive work on the Trustee Investment Committee.  As a parting gift to thank him for his dedicated and gracious service, the board presented him with a small version of the St. Ignatius statue installed on the St. Ignatius Lawn.

Following the meeting, Faculty Senate Council members joined trustees over lunch, a first of what I hope will be many opportunities for faculty, staff and students to meet and engage with our trustees.

Michael E. Engh, S.J.