Santa Clara University

State of the University 2008

Paul Locatelli, S.J.

April 8, 2008

As you know, I spent roughly two and half months in Rome at an international meeting of 225 Jesuits from around the world. The meeting is called a General Congregation. During that meeting, it became clear that I would have to step down as president and begin new expanded responsibilities as secretary for Jesuit higher education globally.

The time and discussions at the General Congregation confirmed again the importance of Jesuit education – and the Jesuit commitment to excellence in learning and living. I saw confirmed that Jesuits affirm the importance of understanding one’s faith both in the context of a plurality of faiths and cultures and in the commitment to ethics and justice. This understanding requires valuing knowledge for its own sake and using knowledge to become a more humane and just person who desires to ensure and promote the dignity of each person and improve the quality of life for people of all walks of life – the affluent but especially the poor, the old and young, the immigrant and the long-time resident – and of the earth. All people and the earth are God’s creation to be cherished and preserved – and this perspective must be at the heart of Jesuit education.

My decision to resign will provide Santa Clara both an opportunity and challenge to move to the next level of quality in what it already does exceptionally well. My reflections will begin with the theme Present as Prologue and be followed by brief thoughts on the Congregation and the search process for the new president.

So first, where are we today, and where do we go from here, as a Catholic, Jesuit university?

Soon after I became president of Santa Clara in 1988, we saw the fall of Berlin Wall, which symbolized the crumbling of the communist bloc and the end of the cold war between two mega-powers. I assure you there was no cause and effect between my appointment as president and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Nonetheless, the timing awakened us to consider how education should come to grips with the changing needs of a new generation of students and for a rapidly and dramatically changing world. In that context, a new strategic planning process was born. Father Bill Rewak, the president from the late 1970s to 1988, and the university community had established a first-rate academic foundation upon which to build.

In the early 1990s, the Santa Clara University community initiated a strategic planning process. Conversations began among the university community, which also included trustees, regents, and astute observers of trends in higher education, and led to developing our current strategic plan. That plan re-energized our quest to develop a more integrated, whole person education; to build up the quality and diversity of the faculty, staff, and student body; to revitalize the learning environment; and to build a stronger financial foundation, especially by increasing the endowment.

That process led to the Board of Trustees adopting a strategic plan in May 1996, with the proviso and mandate of regularly adjusting the plan to respond to the current generation of students; the relevancy of teaching, learning, and research; and the changing global realities.

Strategic planning has served the University, its community, and society well. It has guided the process of achieving new levels of excellence in many areas. The aim of strategic planning has been, and continues to be, the deepening and enhancing of the quality and distinctiveness of teaching, learning, and research as a Catholic, Jesuit university for the world of today and tomorrow.

Central and important to planning is who our students become and how they will use their education to fashion a more humane, just and sustainable world. Will they become leaders and citizens of the competence, conscience, and compassion? I believe recent valedictorians have answered this question:

In 2007, we heard:

You forget about the ME and begin to focus on the WE. You become uncomfortable with ignorance, and passionate about understanding....In a world that confronts us with tragedies – it is our responsibility to go out and infuse the concept of WE into everything we do and to create a more just and ethical world, though both our professional and family lives.

In 2006, we heard:

We have been asked in the last four years not to stand idly by acts of injustice and systemic injustice, and this is a mission we will carry on for the rest of our lives.
Regardless of where we end up tomorrow or ten years from now, we will always have the shared values and experience of our time together at Santa Cara – we will always have the commitment to ethics and justice that unites us.

In 2005, we heard:

In the end, you will have to ask yourself, “Did I love well? Was I kind to people? Have I lived well?” The trick is not to wait. We must live these questions now.
If I am standing here today, then I can only conclude that there is an infinitely loving and merciful God. I am extremely grateful to be here with you. I could not be here without the love of my friends. I could not be here with the grace of God.

We are at a moment in time when we have an even stronger foundation than in 1988 or 1996 from which to move to a new level of excellence and to respond to the new global reality. Periodically, we need a new aggiornamento – literally, a "bringing up to date" – of the education we offer at Santa Clara.

This is another moment in our history for such an aggiornamento - to re-affirm our vision, mission, and values and to refresh our three strategic initiatives and goals. We will move from focusing on a community of scholars, an integrated education, and excellence in resources, to three new ones which i will mention in a moment.

Why should we do this when our current initiatives are serving us well?

The short answer is that the world has changed.

Today, globalization and new technologies are rapidly changing the way we learn, socialize, recreate, and work. We see myriad effects of these two factors in the economic, political, cultural, and religious landscape of society and human relationships. Ecological deterioration and conflict, exacerbated by fundamentalism, are also impacting everyone on the planet, both as individuals and as members of our global village.

Consider, for example, how

With globalization, we also see people on the move, migrating for a wide range of reasons, some good and many more detrimental to living humane lives. Further, the number of refugees is growing.

With technology evolving rapidly, our lives change in ways we do not always understand or anticipate. Fewer than two decades ago, we did not have the Internet, email, text-messaging, and Podcasts. Only recently have Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube emerged as new social net-works. And Google has changed the way we search for information and surf the Internet. Solar energy is emerging as one key to eco-sustainability and eco-justice.

Education must also change -- both to adapt to these new ways of learning, to deal in the rapid expansion and exchange of knowledge, to learn to use knowledge in new ways, and ultimately, to prepare graduates in this new century as insightful, reflective, compassionate, and creative persons.

To this end, the University’s Planning Action Council is beginning the aggiornamento process that will engage the campus community over the next year or so. We are not starting a new series of meetings but will use technology and regularly scheduled meetings for conversations to look at three strategies to improve the quality and the prestige of the University, namely,

First, A Pedagogy of Engagement that enhances Academic Excellence
Second, Partnering with the Silicon Valley that enhances Academic Excellence
Third, Global Understanding that enhances Academic Excellence

The current program of study – University core, college and school core, academic majors and minors – already advances this strategies. But we need to do them better. The programs that I will mention are merely some illustrations of how we have advanced; many of them include or integrate all three of the proposed strategies but focus more on one than the others.

To set the context, a word about academic excellence. Since the time of Ignatius, academic excellence has been and continues as the sine qua non of Jesuit education. The Jesuit Order was born at one of the best universities in 16th-century Europe, the University of Paris. Ignatius and his small band of companions committed themselves to serving the Church by also serving society. He soon realized education was for the “greater glory and service of God our Lord and the universal good, which is the only end sought in this matter, [and this] was the reason for the Society’s initial involvement and for its persistence in the field of education. For the Society there is no such thing as an either-or approach between God or the world, however dangerous the latter may look. The meeting with God always takes place in the world, so that the world may come to be fully in God..[Kolvenbach, Rome, May 2001]

Similarly, since its founding, Santa Clara has offered students an excellent Jesuit education. Two key qualities of this education are, first, to educate for the contemporary and future world, not some past time; and, second, to have a passion for academic and moral excellence which also signals the constant quest to strive for moral, human perfection and the well-being of society – the magis.

In 2000, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach expanded the ideal of a whole person education. He told us it required engagement with the world, particularly, with those who suffer because they are the ones often marginalized or forgotten in the process of globalization and economic development. His ideal of a well-educated solidarity integrates an “educated awareness of society and culture with which to contribute socially, generously, in the real world.” And this “personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection.” [Kolvenbach, Santa Clara, October 200]

With that content of academic excellence at a Catholic, Jesuit education established, let me turn now to the first proposed initiative: a Pedagogy of Engagement to educate the Whole Person that enhances Academic Excellence.

The first initiative: A Pedagogy of Engagement to educate the Whole Person that enhances Academic Excellence

1. Future Directions (2004/05). Santa Clara, as a Jesuit university, embraces the educational philosophy of educating the whole person of solidarity for the 21st-century globalizing world. When we asked concretely what this means for our students, seven areas of learning emerged as part of our Future Directions discussions in 2004-05: Globalization, Technology, Ecological Sustainability, Civic Engagement, Diversity and Cultural Understanding, Theology and Culture, Ethics and Justice.

   Each area of the arts and sciences, professional schools, and other areas, such as student and residential life and athletics, articulated “future direction” ideals and goals as well. These are on the University website for your review.

   The question then became: what do we do about it? A logical response was to revisit the core curriculum, which we next did.

2. The University Core Curriculum (2006/May 07), developed by a remarkably astute faculty committee, was approved by the Board of the Trustees in May of 2007 for implementation in fall of 2009. It is one of the best cores, if not the best, that I have ever seen.

   Its overarching goals of Knowledge, Habits of the Mind and Heart, and Engaging the World capture the ideals that Father Kolvenbach articulated in his 2000 address in the Mission Church. The Core is well grounded academically but also engages the great questions and problems of the day.

   Progress on Implementation of the New Core Curriculum: Pilot courses have been approved for the first level and will be offered next year. Summer workshops are planned for faculty transforming or developing courses for the Core – and these are filled. Also, a multi-year assessment plan is under construction. Almost 20 pilot courses will be offered in 2008-09, with full implementation in place for all freshmen in 2009-10.

   One friend of the University was so impressed with the ideals of the University Core Curriculum that she wants a part of her $5-million gift to the university designated for its implemention.

3. WASC.  In the same way that our new core looks to the future and the needs of our graduates to be effective leaders and citizens for a globalizing world, so too have we structured our WASC accreditation self-study to advance academic excellence and engagement: we are focusing on the themes of Educating for Competence, Conscience, and Compassion; Supporting the Teaching Scholar Model, and Promoting a Community of Inclusive Excellence.
4. New Majors, Minors, Programs.  Another measure of our responsiveness to changing realities of our contemporary world is the addition of new majors, minors, and programs over the past 10 years.  Examples include:
   • Environmental Studies, which now allows Environmental Studies majors to choose a concentration in Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy & Law, or Sustainable Development.
   • The College of Arts and Sciences has a new academic major in Biochemistry, which already boasts 10 declared majors in its first year; the College also has a new academic minor in Arabic, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies.
   • The Business School is developing a new undergraduate major in accounting and information systems and an MS in Information Systems linked directly to the needs of Silicon Valley.
   • The School of Engineering developed the new Bio-Engineering program through which it established a collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences. The School of Engineering also established a new concentration in Mathematical Finance within the Master’s of Sciences in Applied Mathematics.
   • The school of Law has established the Alexander Community Law Center, The Center for Social Justice, the High Tech Law Institute, the Innocence Project and the Center for Global Law and Policy.
5. Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University  (2008):   Last week, Santa Clara signed a letter of intent with the presidents of The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and the Jesuit Conference to move forward with JSTB becoming a school of Santa Clara University.  This acquisition will benefit Santa Clara, the Jesuit School of Theology, and Jesuit education both in the U.S. and globally.
   

   There is no other comparable theological center of learning and research in the Western United States, so this acquisition will rank Santa Clara among the best centers of Catholic theology in the United States, along with Notre Dame and Boston College.  However, an added value is that JST is part of the Graduate Theology Union and matriculates students from all parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia.  Also, there is mutual benefit in that the GTU provides an ecumenical context for learning theology, and Santa Clara brings both quality in Catholic theology and a highly-developed “religious studies” perspective.

6. Faculty: Over the past 20 years, impressive indeed is the growth in the number of endowed professorships, a benchmark of academic excellence. We have gone from having one (1) in 1977 to roughly 18 in 1989 to over 50 today.
   

   These endowed professorships permit us to attract the high caliber of faculty who today  routinely:

   • receive funding from national foundations to do their research – foundations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and NASA-Ames;
   • receive national and international awards for their scholarship and teaching, from such prestigious organizations as the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fulbright Foundation, the HP Technology for Teaching, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory;
   • engage students in their scholarship and research as well as mentoring students in the students’ own scholarly questions through new programs such as the Provost Junior Fellowships;
   • host or organize conferences in their fields, such as the very recent Sally Ride Festival hosted by the School of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences. 
7. Students:  Undergraduate:  The growth in both the numbers and quality of undergraduate students applying to Santa Clara is impressive as well: 
   • In 1988, 3,247 students applied – but Admissions reported just last week that 10,124 students have applied to start their education at Santa Clara next Fall.
   • In 1988, the average SAT scores of applicants were 1094; today the admitted pool GPA and SAT averages are 3.64 and 1,269 respectively.

   The excellent caliber of our present students has led to their national recognition as well:

   • Individual students have been awarded named fellowships such as a Goldwater Fellowship, a Panetta Internship, as well as being awarded a Udall Scholarship and an Undergraduate Fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
   • Students working on common projects have been recognized:

   -the Solar Decathlon of course comes to mind with its third place among the 20 competing schools. An inspiring underdog story, the SCU team entered the competition with boundless idealism, faced challenges and obstacles along the way with relentless optimism, and surpassed a field of highly respected universities with tenacity and confidence. This group of student engaged many leaders in the Silicon Valley in ways that none of us has been able to do.

   -the student newspaper was recognized at the National College Media Convention and brought home numerous awards.

   • Athletics’ winning WCC Commissioner’s Cup was wonderful, but the student-athletes strong academic performance is much more important.
   • Students in the graduate School of Education, Counseling Psychology, and Pastoral Ministries have strengthened their relationship with Sacred Heart Nativity School in San Jose, offering complete scholarships for eight teachers working with disadvantaged boys and girls in this Jesuit-sponsored parish school.
8. External Recognition of Excellence:
9. • The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching chose SCU as a pilot site in 2006 for a new category within the foundation’s Classification of Institutions of Higher Education:   institutions committed to community engagement.
   • Santa Clara received high national rankings in such publications as US News and the Princeton Review.  Although Colleges of Arts and Sciences have no national ranking systems, since it is our largest undergraduate college, our College of Arts and Sciences of course contributes greatly to our recognition by Kiplinger’s or U.S. News and World Report.
   • The part-time MBA program is ranked No. 14 among part-time MBA programs in the nation. SCU has been listed in the top 20 MBA programs every year since the part-time rankings began in 1995.  The Executive MBA program is now ranked #19 nationally. And the undergraduate business program is ranked  #27 in the nation.
   • The School of Law has been named one of the top 100 law schools in the nation. The intellectual property law program is recognized as one of the top 10 nationally. Commendable as well is that the School is noted as one of the 10 most diverse in the country.
   • Santa Clara has been a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious honor society in the nation, for over thirty years. 
   • Santa Clara law school was admitted to the Order of the COIF, the prestigious honor society for law schools.
   
   

   The second initiative: Technology and Location in the Silicon Valley, also enhances Academic Excellence and Jesuit Education

The better we capitalize on our location in Silicon Valley, the greater will be the quality of education. And consequently, the better we will be able to serve the local community.

1. Our professional graduate programs focus on serving the Silicon Valley community in many professions:
   • Business
   • Education and Counseling Psychology
   • Engineering
   • Law
   • Pastoral Ministries serves both the community and the Catholic Church. This program was in response to San Jose’s becoming a diocese, and we are the only Catholic University in this diocese.

2. Academic departments continue to identify and develop an educational and research niche appropriate to Santa Clara and its Silicon Valley location:  e.g., nanotechnology, biotechnology, bioengineering, biochemistry, ecological sustainability (solar energy, etc.).  Note the Center for Nano-technology.

3. In an unprecedented move by NASA, control of the GeneSat-1 satellite was given to Santa Clara engineering students. GeneSat-1, which is still operating in orbit, is a project that Santa Clara students and scientists at NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, California, have been working on for years. In addition to performing experiments for NASA, Santa Clara is using the satellite as an experimental test bed for graduate-level research in advanced diagnostic techniques.

4. Santa Clara was invited to be part of a research and education consortium among NASA-Ames, University of California/Santa Cruz, Carnegie-Mellon, Foothill DeAnza, and Santa Clara..

5. Our Centers of Distinction continue to expand their partnerships with a number of key organizations and corporations in the Silicon Valley
   • In the Ignatian Center, Arrupe Partnerships educate students, and the University as a whole, in the realities of the lives of the marginalized and the poor. Through community placements in Santa Clara County, Arrupe Partnerships create opportunities for active engagement, research, and service – serving as a catalyst for a unique collaboration between scholars and community members.
   • The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics now provides ethics services to three hospitals and one hospice.  An example of expanding corporate partnerships is a joint conference with Morrison & Foerster on the role of corporate ethics gatekeepers as well as offering presentations to corporate management and boards.
   • The Center for Science, Technology, and Society hosted its annual conference series based on the use of technologies to address urgent unmet needs in the developing world—Technology Benefiting Humanity: Taking Innovation to the Next Stage.  This conference was sponsored by Applied Materials and Microsoft.
   • The Center also works with the Tech Museum and a number of corporations and foundation on the Laureate Awards in education, ecology, equality, health, and economic development.   The Global Social Benefit Incubator program developed out of this relationship.

6. Solar Decathlon – Santa Clara’s outstanding third place finish at the 2007 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., is a testament to the University’s commitment to sustainability and innovation, proof of the academic excellence of our programs, and an excellent example of partnerships with corporations in the Valley.

7. The University continues to build on the strong relationships developed by friends and members of the board of trustees with Silicon Valley corporations and civic organizations such as the Silicon Valley Leadership Ggroup.For example, STS has deep government ethics engagements with San Jose Water District and Valley Transportation Authority.

The third initiative: Global Learning that enhances Academic Excellence in Jesuit Education

1. International Studies and Learning Languages
   • International Studies Programs has advanced international education world-wide and on campus through interdisciplinary minors. The world-wide International Studies have expanded: from one major provider and the few direct exchanges in 1988 to opportunities today for undergraduates in more than 40 countries.
   • The Law School has expanded the number of summer international programs from 5 just several years ago to 14, in places such as Costa Rica, Turkey, and Germany.
   • Interdisciplinary minors seeks explicitly to engage China, India, Latin America, and Africa: for example, the School of Engineering has some Senior Design Projects in which students are involved with Nicaragua and India. Faculty in the Business School and Arts and Sciences are engaged in research in Africa. And there is an African Studies emphasis within the International Studies Minor.
2. In 2000 an experiment attempted to capture the best of the Global Understanding. Casa de la Solidaridad is now a very successful academic initiative that began in cooperation with the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, and Santa Clara University. Its learning outcomes include:
   • Integrated Education. Students experience the power and potential of rigorous academic study as it is integrated with concrete experiences of the gritty reality of our world. This praxis-approach brings the wisdom of the academic disciplines into conversation with these harsh realities. As Dean Brackley, S.J., always says, the experience of the Casa sends students to the library with new motivation.
   • Seeing the World with New Eyes. Over the course of the semester, students develop relationships with Salvadorans who struggle daily with the realities of poverty and injustice. These relationships and experiences with these harsh realities often challenge the way students make sense, both in their heads and in their hearts, of the world and serve as a catalyst for transforming students vision. They see the world and themselves within the world from a more holistic vantage point - recognizing, for example, that life at SCU represents only approximately 1% of our world’s population.
   • Re-Framing One's Vocation. Extended contact with these harsh realities combined with the supportive residential learning community created at Casa fosters deep reflection on vocational questions. All students are asking life's big questions: who am I? what is my place in this world? how do I want to spend my life? What do I believe? etc. At Casa, students continue to answer these questions from a concrete experience of the global reality. In a recent survey conducted by over 200 Casa alums, 97% reported that the Casa experience helped them discover their vocation.
   • Replication of the Casa program. 99% of respondents reported that they would like to see the program replicated in another country

3. Faculty are exploring new international partnerships. With Dean Mungal's encouragement and support, Samiha Mourad is beginning her sabbatical by visiting the Catholic University of Uruguay and the Catholic University of Cordoba (Argentina) to explore possible links or academic exchanges. Others in history and other academic disciples will also be looking at these relationships.

4. The new Core Curriculum is infused with globalization: Among the Learning Goals for Knowledge is “the intertwined development of global, including western, cultures, ideas, institutions, and religions”; among the Learning Goals for Engagements with the World is that “The Core enhances students’ understanding of the integrity of their own lives and the dignity inherent in the lives of others, especially the impoverished, suffering and marginalized.”

5. The Kolvenbach Solidarity Immersion Program was started a few years ago. The ideal is that participants learn with and from the marginalized and poor – people who account for two-thirds of the world population. We have a responsibility not only to learn with and from them, but to work together as equals with them to fashion a better life for them and us. We are only as good as the most fragile member of our human family.

   • These experiences offer poignant moments of vocational discernment and invite participants to consider their place in our global society and to see the world with new eyes. The Center links the University with important stakeholders through partnerships, scholarship, and service, as we seek to realize the Jesuit higher education mission of forming well-educated women and men who will help fashion a more just and humane world. And immersion experiences have been increasing
   • I am happy to note that during spring break the Business School and some of their students organized an immersion experience in El Salvador, focusing on economic development, micro-lending, and sources of poverty and compassion.
   • The College of Arts and Sciences offers new international, collaborative immersions: the experience of Justice & the Arts Initiative in El Salvador Immersion, and a general immersion experience in Nicaragua.
   • The Law School sponsors an annual immersion trip to El Salvador.
   • And the new Core Curriculum will increase the number even more.

All of these programs or projects integrate academic, moral and spiritual excellence, but perhaps both the University Core Curriculum and the three University Centers of Distinction provide the clearest example of integrating the three pinnacles of engagement in learning, partnership in location and global understanding.

Resources have made all of this possible.

1. Financial Resources:One goal that I have enjoyed with the support and encouragement by Trustees, key friends many of whom serve on various University boards, and University Relations, was to build our financial base and the endowment. Here are some comparative numbers, rounded from audited financial statements:

1. June 30	1988	1996	2007
   Expenditures/Budget	$75M	$120M	$262M
   Endowment	$70M	$270M	$700M

2. Campus Learning Environment & Facilities:

   Reroute of the Alameda: Thanks to Bill Rewak who initiated the process, we closed the Alameda 18 plus years ago. That changed the campus environment and made a number of things possible.

   • Since the mid-1990s, we have constructed 11 new facilities, purchased 1 major one and several smaller ones, received Loyola Hall as a gift, and renovated 4 at an investment:

   Facilities	1988	1996	2007	2008
   Gross	$N/A	$190M	$501M	$650M
   Net	$125M	$132M	$398M	$500M

   The 2008 numbers include the new Learning Commons and the Business School.

   – The new Business School building is scheduled to open for the fall term. Dedication will be September 14. This building, with the lead gift from parent Don Lucas, will enhance both the education of students and the work of faculty and the reputation of our School of Business.

   – A special word about the Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center, and Orradre Library (LCTCL): it is one of two focal points or centers of the campus, and it exemplifies the best of Santa Clara as a university. The other center is the Mission Church, which exemplifies our Catholic character and Jesuit educational mission. Together, they speak to the academic excellence which is enhanced by moral and spiritual excellence.

   The day that the LCTCL was opened, we had a group of educators on campus, meeting in St Joseph’s that overlooks the Mission Gardens. I pointed out that Santa Clara has now matured academically – no one was sitting in the Gardens on a very warm, sunny day, but the LC was full of students.

   Special thanks again to all of you who contributed to this transformative facility – the academic heart of the campus.

   • Athletic Facilities have also improved during this time, such as a new aquatics center to replace our existing swimming pool, thanks to a $3 million lead gift from alumnus Jack (class of '59) and Joan Sullivan. Also, we will have new soccer fields – with the latest natural grass in Buck Shaw and synthetic turf on the practice field. The Earthquakes will play 4 or 5 games per year at Santa Clara and have provided a large part of the funding for the new playing surfaces for our teams and other renovations

Let me turn now from the overview of Santa Clara – using this theme of Present as Prologue and showcasing where we are today and where we are going in the future – to the recent General Congregation that I attended from January 7 to March 6.

As I said at the beginning, the General Congregation confirmed again the importance of Jesuit education and intellectual inquiry in the understanding of faith with a commitment to ethics and justice. It also underscored the importance of improving the well-being of each person and the community – to having a universal view of life.

Imagine 225 Jesuits from every continent and reflecting a wide array of cultures – with only 31 individuals, or roughly 14%, from the United States. One quickly realizes there are various perspectives of the same reality. Yet even when one listens to the perspective of people from other cultures, one saw and understood the universal commitment of Jesuits to the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

Our discussion in Rome of education and intellectual inquiry again confirmed the Jesuit commitment to academic excellence which both values knowledge for itself and believes in learning by engaging reality in order to construct a more humane, sustainable, and just global society.

The experience of the General Congregation, for me, also confirmed that refocusing our strategic initiatives around engagement, location, and global understanding would be beneficial. Engagement means learning with and from each others who came from very different cultures and experiences. Learning within the context of location meant that learning to understand and respect different cultural perspectives and cultures becomes a means for acquiring and using knowledge. And global (or globalization) understanding meant moving from a narrow point-of-view to a world view and to an understanding that we are in this life together and have a responsibility for each other, especially the poor, suffering, vulnerable, marginalized, forgotten, and trampled on. In summary, learning related to engagement, location or place, and globalization means learning to respect each person, recognizing the dignity of each and good that is common to all.

So, what did we do?

First, we elected a new Superior General to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who visited Santa Clara in October of 2000 and delivered a landmark talk on Jesuit Education. He resigned after 25 years of services as General. On the sixth day of our meeting, we elected Father Adolfo Nicolas, Father Nicolas was born in Spain but has lived as missionary in Japan for most of his life. He is extremely intelligent, engaging, and wise – a leader who will move the Jesuit Order and Jesuit works like higher education to new levels of cooperation and engagement with the world. He will push us to find ways to make the world more faith-filled, humane, just, and sustainable.

We discussed several topics, and papers (decrees) will soon be published for further reflection and consideration. The topics were wide ranging: migration, indigenous people, fundamentalism, ecology, globalization, communication and the Internet, our mission of faith and justice, our identity as being called by God to be companions of Jesus within a plurality of religions, collaboration with others in our work, and the intellectual apostolate.

The last topic – the intellectual apostolate – is the shorthand for knowledge, learning, and research. As most of you know, in December 2006, I was appointed by Father Kolvenbach as secretary for Jesuit higher education worldwide. That includes 150 Jesuit colleges and university spread around the world. The members of the General Congregation recommended, and Father Nicolas confirmed, that the Intellectual Apostolate should be added to my responsibilities. That means I will be encouraging and expanding the intellectual dimensions of all that Jesuits do, no matter what their ministry.

It became clear that I could not continue both as president and as secretary of higher education. Having served 20 years as president, I recognized that it was most reasonable for me to resign before my current term ends.

A few words on the transition and the selection of a new president – closing the loop on the question I began with: “where are we today, and where are we going, as a Catholic, Jesuit university?”

I believe this is an ideal time for the transition for four reasons:

• the quality of the top administration
• the beginning of new strategic planning for SCU
• the preparing for a new campaign
• the quality of the resources

A new president will, as I did, be building on a good foundation.

The new President will be a Jesuit, selected by the Trustees, with a Search Committee chaired by Trustee Vice Chair Bob Finocchio. The search committee, which will recommend a final candidate to the Board of Trustees, includes 6 trustees, 5 faculty (3 of whom are Jesuits), one academic administrator, and one staff administrator.

Updated information on the search may be found on the University web site under the President’s Office.

Whether I remain involved at Santa Clara is a consideration for a later time. The new president needs space and time without me around. I will remain until the new president is named and ready to start and will also remain involved in a couple of fund-raising opportunities.

In closing,

let me offer something I said to some students who yesterday asked a couple of questions. Do I have any regrets? My answer was “no.”

If they had asked: Did you make any mistakes? Or, could I have done better? My answer would have been “yes.” Historians can decide which ones to cite.

They then asked: “What am I am most proud of?” My response was and is “the community – all of the people who have made Santa Clara what it is.”

I want to express my deep gratitude to the entire University community for what we have accomplished together through these 20 years. I am very proud of what this University has become.

It is our work together in building the academic excellence and Jesuit distinctiveness of Santa Clara that caught the attention of others in the Jesuit Curia – and that resulted in my new responsibilities. After much prayer and discernment, it is a challenge that I look forward to.

Thank you for your attention; thank you for these many happy and blessed years.