Mission Statement
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.
Vision Statement
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.
Fundamental Values
The University is committed to these core values, which guide us in carrying out our mission and realizing 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.