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Rosh Hashanah
Dear Staff and Faculty,
Beginning at sunset on September 28, our Jewish sisters and brothers will celebrate Rosh Hashanah and welcome in the Jewish new year 5772. The first of the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah, marks the beginning of a ten-day period of prayer, self-reflection and repentance that culminates on the fast day of Yom Kippur. Jews around the world take this time to reflect on and correct mistakes of the past year, and resolve to change in the new year.
To our Jewish colleagues and friends who will be celebrating the Jewish new year, I extend a warm "L' shanah tovah" - Happy New Year. Please join me in wishing them a holy celebration filled with inspiration and a renewal of the covenant of faith.
Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President
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Faculty Recognition Awards
I am pleased to recognize several faculty who received awards at last week's Faculty Recognition Event. The event proved to be a true celebration of the fine teaching scholars we have here at Santa Clara.
The following faculty received the President's Special Recognition Awards to honor their distinguished academic achievements and contributions to students and colleagues:
- Susan Parker (Accounting)
- Rose Marie Beebe (Modern Languages and Literatures)
- Elsa Chen (Political Science)
- Beth Van Schaack (Law)
- Andre Delbecq (Management)
- Jane Curry (Political Science)
- Leilani Miller (Biology)
Several faculty received special recognition for outstanding contributions in teaching and scholarship.
- Fabio Lopez-Lazaro (History) received the Award for Recent Achievement in Scholarship
- Andre Delbecq (Management) was recognized with the Award for Sustained Excellence in Scholarship
- Craig Stephens (Biology) was awarded the Brutocao Family Foundation Award for Curriculum Innovation.
- Chuck Powers (Sociology) received the Louis and Dorina Brutocao Award for Teaching Excellence.
- Fred Parrella (Religious Studies) received the Faculty Senate Professor Award.
Congratulations to all our award recipients.
Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President
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September 11 Reflection
Dear Faculty and Staff,
As we join the nation in observing the tenth anniversary of September 11, we celebrate what historian David O'Brien describes as the heroic generosity of the many good people who died that day. Those who sought to change the tragedy unfolding on Flight 93, the rescue workers who knew the likely outcomes of their heroic acts, and the "people in the stairwell" who helped one another, gave comfort to one another, and prayed together amidst unthinkable horror. They were mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters.
We remember in a special way members of our Santa Clara family - Deora Bodley, a junior at the time, who died on Flight 93, and Captain Lawrence D. Getzfred, USN, class of 1971, who died in the attack on the Pentagon, and the relatives and friends of students, alumni, staff and faculty. We celebrate the gift of their lives and all the innocent who died that day. All who perished are on our minds and in our hearts and will not be forgotten. We pray for their everlasting peace in the presence of God.
The tragedy and death of 9/11 are overcome by the hope and loving response manifested in the selflessness of so many that day and thereafter. Communities joined together in a solidarity of compassion for victims and their families, and we all struggled to understand the incomprehensible. Through 9/11, we remember our connectedness with one another and recognize the presence of God in each other.
As a community in mourning, our communal prayer to God continues, one in which we ask God for peace, for strength, for hope. At the same time, we also thank God for the life of those who died, for the promise of the gift of resurrection, and for the profound acts of love we witnessed that day.
To commemorate 9/11, the Santa Clara University community will hold an Interfaith Service of Remembrance, Reconciliation and Peace on Monday, September 12, at 12:45 p.m. in front of the Mission Church near the memorial roses and plaque that honor our campus connections to the 9/11 tragedy. In prayerful reflection we will remember those who died and recall the prayer recorded at the dedication of the memorial:
"May the God of peace and justice bless and tenderly embrace them and lift up the hearts of all good people of faith, hope, and love."
- Memorial Roses plaque, outside the Mission Church
Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President
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Dear Faculty and Staff,
Along with Thomas Smolich, S.J., vice-chancellor of the Jesuit School of Theology, I wish to announce that Kevin F. Burke, S.J. will complete his tenure as dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University at the end of the current academic year. Following University procedures and the Statutes of JST as an ecclesiastical school, we will commence a search for the new dean of JST in September.
I am very grateful to Kevin for his generosity in serving at JST. He has seen the school through a time of significant institutional change, and his own position has gone through several transformations. In 2006, Kevin joined the faculty of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (JSTB) as the academic dean. That year JSTB and Santa Clara University began a three-year process that culminated in the integration of JST and SCU. During that process, Fr. Joseph Daoust, S.J., then-president of JSTB, left for a position in Rome, and Kevin stepped in for one year as acting president of JSTB (2008-09). When the Integration took effect on June 30, 2009, he began yet another new position as executive dean (and later dean) of JST. In this role, he joined the SCU council of deans under the university provost and oversaw the complicated and exciting integration process. Throughout the last five years he has helped reshape the administrative structures of JST and led the school through the WASC and ATS (Association of Theological Schools) reaccreditation process. He also served, at different times, on the council of deans, the council of presidents, and the board of trustees of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) to which JST also belongs.
After a well-deserved sabbatical Kevin will continue at JST as associate professor of systematic theology. I have also asked him to assist the new dean and the assistant dean of development at JST as part of the development team. We shall celebrate Kevin's leadership in the coming academic year and express more fully our gratitude for his generosity and dedication. Today I want all of us to be able to learn of Kevin’s plans and congratulate him for his service to JST.
Sincerely,
Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President
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WASC Reaffirms Accreditation
In a letter received this week from Ralph Wolff, President of WASC Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, WASC reaffirmed accreditation of Santa Clara University for ten years. The next comprehensive review visit will be in 2021. Read the WASC letter to learn more.
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