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Table of contentsSanta Clara University welcomes its largest freshman class Santa Clara University welcomes its largest freshman classWith cooler weather comes the end of summer and the start of a new academic year. It’s back-to-school season and excitement fills the air on college campuses across the country. In fact, this year SCU is gearing up for more excitement than ever as an expected 1,350 freshmen—the largest freshman class in the University’s 156-year history—will start classes Sept. 18. That’s about 150 more students than the University usually welcomes at the start of the year. There is no single reason for the larger class, explains Sandra Hayes, associate vice provost for enrollment management and dean of undergraduate admission at SCU. “We are seeing what is called the ‘baby boomlet’…there are more kids in the pipeline. We are also seeing more students applying to colleges and universities in general, and part of that has to do with the electronic application.” Like many universities, SCU uses the common application, an electronic application that allows students to use one application for up to 30 schools. Last fall, applications came in at a tremendous rate at the beginning of the cycle, then, suddenly leveled off, Hayes said. This phenomenon threw a wrench in forecasting numbers for the incoming class. “Before, you could look at two or three years of data and you could make projections about what your entering class would look like, feel like, and where they would be coming from…the outcome of the yield this year has certainly taught us that we can’t rely just on data.” Hayes and the University’s admission counselors are making adjustments to meet the changing admission trends. In addition to the data, Hayes and her colleagues will be listening carefully to students and parents who visit SCU, as well as those they meet while doing outreach across the country. Read more.
SCU gets high marks in U.S. News & World Report rankings
In its annual ranking, “America’s Best Colleges 2007,” the magazine compared SCU with other similar comprehensive universities that offer a range of undergraduate programs and master’s degrees, but few doctoral programs. The Western region includes master’s level colleges and universities from Colorado to the West Coast, including Texas. Additional highlights from the U.S. News rankings include:
The magazine’s rankings relied on: academic reputation, graduation rates, class size, percent of full-time faculty, student/faculty ratios, retention of students, student test scores and grades, student selectivity, financial resource, and alumni giving. The “Best Colleges” rankings are on the U.S. News Web site. 19th Annual Staff Recognition Dinner
On Sept. 13, SCU staff members gathered in Market Square to celebrate their accomplishments over the past year. Several members of the SCU community were recognized for their hard work and commitment to the University. Deepa Arora, media relations director in the Office of Marketing and Communications, received a special award from President Paul Locatelli, S.J., for raising the profile of SCU through local and national media coverage. The entire Orradre Library staff was recognized for their hard work in making a seamless transition out of Orradre and into the library’s temporary location during the construction of the new learning commons. Other Special Recognition Awards went to: Lisa Millora, assistant dean of student life; Jo-Anne Shibles, assistant dean, undergraduate business programs; Nirmal Palliyaguru, ACCESS and conference services director; Julie Stone, director of events in the development office; and Bran-Dee Torres, assistant director, direct mail in the development office. The president also took the opportunity to introduce some of the new senior administrators who are joining the campus community this fall. Among the newcomers was Jack Treacy, S.J., the new director of campus ministry, who delivered the benediction. Fyi will feature profiles of Treacy and the other new administrators throughout the fall. An article about the faculty recognition dinner will run in the Oct. 2 issue of fyi. Construction of Learning Commons and Library gets under wayIf you were on campus July 24, you no doubt witnessed the start of the demolition of Orradre Library. Keep track of the site in person or online and you’ll witness the emergence of the new Learning Commons and Library that will catapult SCU into the new information age. Retaining the central location of the Orradre Library, the 21st century facility will have a foot in the past, but an eye on the future. Set for completion by fall 2008, the new building will merge the best of traditional information resources with the latest technological tools to access and manipulate information in all formats. “The new Learning Commons and Library is the most important facility to be built in my tenure as president,” said SCU President Paul Locatelli, S.J. ’60. “It will benefit many generations of students and faculty, improve the campus learning environment, and move Santa Clara to a higher level of quality.” Read more.
SCU welcomes several new senior administratorsA new provost and a new dean of the School of Education, Counseling Psychology, and Pastoral Ministries are just two of the eight new senior administrators SCU is welcoming this fall. To help introduce the new administrators to the campus community, fyi will feature brief profiles on each new administrator throughout the fall. Coming in the Oct. 2 issue: Lucia Albino Gilbert, provost; Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education; and Rich Giacchetti, associate vice president of Marketing and Communications. Vintage Santa Clara XXIII
fyi survey resultsThank you to all of those who took the time to respond to last spring’s fyi survey. We received more than 150 responses from faculty and staff. We have taken into consideration many of the comments and suggestions and will use them where possible in our ongoing effort to create a quality faculty and staff newsletter. The survey results are now available online.
University Convocation 2006 Human Resources Workshop: Tuition Remission and Exchange Programs Premiere: The Fatherhood Project
Kirk Hanson (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics) was interviewed on KQED-FM's California Report about the Hewlett-Packard shake up. Listen to the report. Geoffrey Bowker (Center for Science,Technology, and Society) was a featured expert on NBC 11's series about the prevalence of security cameras and other recording devices in public places. Watch the story. Thomas Plante (psychology) and Casey Kute (undergraduate) were featured in an NBC 11 story about the impact Sept. 11 had on the career choices of young adults. Watch the report. David DeCosse (Markkula Center for Applied Ethics) wrote an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle about the national debate around the war on terror. Read the editorial.
Ronnie Christie joined the Office of Marketing and Communications as the production coordinator in August. Kate Hidalgo was named coordinator of accommodations with Disabilities Resources in the Drahmann Academic Advising and Learning Resources Center. Maureen Muscat ’91 was named associate director, events in the alumni office. Erin Patchett was named the new assistant director of recreation and joined the Campus Recreation Program in August. Elspeth Rossetti joined the Career Center staff as assistant director, liaison to the schools of business and engineering. Heidi Williams ’06 was named communications coordinator of the School of Engineering on July 17. Williams was previously a receptionist for nine years in the School of Engineering.
As we start a new academic year, please take a moment to review the fyi schedule and timeline for submitting information for upcoming issues. Also, because of space contraints, not all awards, grants, and publications submitted over the summer could fit in this issue. They will be included in fyi throughout the fall. Angelo Ancheta (Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center) has received renewal funding of $30,000 from the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency to support Legal Assistance for Low-Income Immigrants. Ruth Cook (education) has received $197,022 in year-two funding from the U.S. Department of Education to support “Joining Forces to Meet the Challenge: Preparing Special Educators who will also be able to Meet the Needs of Young Children with Autism Spectrum.” The award with this amendment totals $391,340. Jane Curry (political science) has received a 17-month award from the U.S. Institute of Peace that provides $45,000 to support “Making Peaceful Change: People Power in Serbia, Ukraine, and Georgia.” Jorge Gonzalez, Timothy Hight, Christopher Kitts (mechanical engineering) and Mark Aschheim (civil engineering) have received a subcontract award from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that provides $50,000 to support the SCU 2007 Solar Decathlon Entry: “Promoting Sustainable Living Through Dynamically Responsive Buildings.” Christopher Kitts (mechanical engineering) has received supplemental funding of $115,000 from NASA-Ames to support “Development of Small Satellite Design, Test and Operations Technologies.” The award, with this amendment, totals $425,000. Kitts also received a three-year award from the National Science Foundation that provides $366,861 to support “MRI: Development of a Mobile Robot Instrument Cluster.” Michelle Marvier (biology) has received third-year funding of $44,366 from the Environmental Protection Agency to support “Evidence-based Risk Analysis: Learning from Our Experience with Genetically Modified Crops.” The award, with this amendment, totals $232,347. Sally Wood (electrical engineering) has received a 3 ½-month award from Applied Signal Technologies that provides $10,000 to support “Communications Research: Equalization for FSK in Multipath Environments.” SCU’s Office of Marketing and Communications won a bronze medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for the publication of the “Past…Present…Future” calendar. To submit grants, awards, and publication information, click here.
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