Santa Clara University establishes the Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential

John and Susan Sobrato Discovery and Innovation Building at Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University establishes the Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 14, 2026 — Accelerating its role as a leader in the application of artificial intelligence to address real-world challenges, Santa Clara University established today the Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential.

The new Center will be a university-wide interdisciplinary hub where faculty, students, staff and industry partners collaborate to design and deploy AI technologies that benefit society by amplifying creativity, enhancing problem-solving capabilities, and accelerating the application of this rapidly evolving technology to improve our lives, communities, and the world.

The Center–the University’s fourth Center of Distinction–was funded by a generous gift from Santa Clara alumna, trustee, and executive vice president of operations for NVIDIA, Debora Shoquist ’76. In naming the Center, Shoquist included the last name of her sister, G. Lee Cunningham, M.A. ’73, to acknowledge and honor the supportive role Cunningham has played in her life.

"We are so grateful to our esteemed alumna and trustee Debora Shoquist for making this Center a reality,” said President Julie Sullivan. “With this Center, Santa Clara will strengthen its leadership in creating AI technologies that serve the humanity we cherish, enhance human dignity, and advance the common good.”

Center Focus

Rooted in Santa Clara’s Jesuit, humanistic mission and with a focus on real-world applications, the interdisciplinary Center will build on existing Santa Clara strengths by advancing applied AI research and education in domains such as:

Healthcare and medical imaging
Information access including search engines and recommender systems
Infrastructure
Intelligent robotics
Computational creativity and human-computer interaction

Importantly, the Center will also address fairness, safety, transparency, privacy, and security to benefit a wide range of downstream applications.

The mission of the new Center will be to advance responsible and applied AI research and education to enhance human capability, and drive innovation for the common good. Housed in the School of Engineering, the Center will build on the university’s existing AI-related research and collaborations within and among Santa Clara’s other schools (business, law, education and counseling psychology, and Jesuit theology) and the College of Arts & Sciences, in addition to existing centers of distinction in social entrepreneurship, applied ethics, and Jesuit educational traditions. Currently, well more than 100 faculty across the University are engaged in AI-related research and scholarship across a wide range of disciplines.

The Center will also be a focal point for AI-related academic-industry engagement in Silicon Valley, and will further support both thought leadership and an evolution in the research and education portfolio as the field evolves over time. Students will be trained to ethically design and employ AI systems that work for—and in—the real world while preparing them to adapt to a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

“We are profoundly grateful for this gift from Debora Shoquist. This Center is a reflection of her vision and her belief in Santa Clara as a leading Jesuit university at the forefront of technology,” said School of Engineering Dean Kendra Sharp. “Through this gift, the Center will become a catalyst to build upon our existing applied research capacity, by attracting and retaining world-class faculty; creating premier hands-on student learning experiences through strong alumni and industry connections; and strengthening our leadership in responsible AI.”

The gift will cover both endowed funding and startup costs for new faculty. Center funds will be used to recruit and support an executive director and endowed professors, core faculty, and staff. It will also fund internal grants for Santa Clara faculty to initiate new collaborations, as well as industry partnerships, graduate and undergraduate student engagement through fellowships; capstone/practicum projects, hackathons and other events, and public engagement and outreach.

Honoring Family Ties

In naming the new Center, Shoquist is paying tribute to her older sister and only sibling, G. Lee Cunningham, M.A. ’73, who runs the family’s steel fabrication business in Eureka, where the two women grew up. Cunningham has provided vital support to Shoquist through her successful career and personal milestones.

“My sister is an integral part of my life. I went to Santa Clara University because of her belief in me and her encouragement to venture forward and take risks to reach my full potential,” said Shoquist, who helped lead NVIDIA to become a global AI powerhouse over her nearly 20-year career there, and joined the Santa Clara Board of Trustees in 2023. “This Center will help Santa Clara and its students truly realize their full potential. Santa Clara has the industry proximity, the leadership vision, the values-orientation, and the faculty expertise and interest to make a tremendous impact with AI—and to teach its students how to use AI in the ways industry is looking for.”

Collaborations, Partnerships, and Industry Practicums

The Center’s mission will also include a broad expansion of the industry partnerships that enable students to envision and road-test AI solutions in real-world situations. In recent years, industry leaders from Amazon.com, ServiceNow, NVIDIA, Google, Apple, Arista Networks, and Intel have provided strategic partnership opportunities, speakers, or hands-on practicums for Santa Clara students.

The Center will recruit an industry leader as executive director in the coming months, who will focus on:

Expanding industry partnerships
Strategically hiring new faculty with experience in interdisciplinary research in advanced applied AI
Ensuring the University’s curriculum prepares Santa Clara students across all disciplines for an AI-driven future, including the ethical design and deployment of AI systems that work for—and in— the real world in a rapidly evolving technology landscape
Building an advisory board comprising industry leaders from Silicon Valley and beyond to help keep the Center focused on advancing responsible and applied AI research and education

“This gift is a validation of Santa Clara’s unwavering commitment to creating a positive impact on the world, and to do so by advancing the common good—asking not just what can we do, but what we should do,” added Sullivan. “Our students strive to lead with humility and collaboration, and the Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential will be a powerful source of innovation, inspiration, and impact for generations of student leaders.”

About Santa Clara University
Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Ranked among the top 15 percent of national universities by U.S. News & World Report, Santa Clara has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1 percent of universities with the highest-paid graduates. The University has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars as well as four Rhodes Scholars. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Apr 14, 2026