Santa Clara University

President's Letter

Paul Locatelli, S.J. President

America’s colleges and universities play a major role in making the world better, each in its particular way. Santa Clara University, as a Catholic, Jesuit university located in Silicon Valley, focuses its distinctive values and institutional priorities on the same goal of making the world a better place for all.

Faculty as Teaching Scholars. We are committed to being a community of scholars. Teaching scholars lead the way with exemplary teaching, research, original scholarship, artistic work, and performance. Faculty, staff, and alumni serve as mentors, role models, and ethical leaders of competence and compassion for students. Students have opportunities to produce original scholarship while learning collaboratively.

Jesuit Commitment to Faith and Justice. We embrace, in all its complexity, the concept of social justice, articulated within the Society of Jesus as a core aspect of an integrated education. Today, justice calls us to be in solidarity with all people of good will, especially with the poor and marginalized. This gives everyone in the Santa Clara community—and I emphasize everyone, because staff, students, faculty, alumni, and administrators all have multiple, university-sponsored opportunities to experience this—new ways of perceiving ideas, experiences, and beliefs from within the contexts of those who frequently have fewer options of directly leading change. In doing so, we can become voices for those who have no voices, agents for change incorporating the principles, values, and needs of those we learn with and from in communities around the world.

Location in the Silicon Valley. We have the unique advantage of being located in the heart of a community that has become synonymous with innovation, creativity, and globalization. The Silicon Valley was once known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, when the innovations were in farming and wine-making. Today, the region is famous for its entrepreneurial spirit in a wide variety of technologies. Some of our most dedicated alumni are still vintners, farmers, and land developers; other alumni and friends have become leaders in the region’s newer industries, including Cisco Systems, Google, and Xilinx. Santa Clara University embraces the best of the historical and current Valley ambition to improve society through fresh ideas and the application of technology.

In combination with the individual talent, motivation, and passion of each student, member of the faculty, graduate and SCU volunteer, these institutional values encourage doing well in ways that benefit people of all walks of life. Our hope is that the greater the good, the greater will be the effect on local and global society, especially on those with the greatest need.

Thank you for your interest and support.

Regards,

Paul Locatelli, S.J.

President