Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct 15, 2004. Santa Clara University Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to extend the presidency of Paul L. Locatelli, S.J., for an unprecedented fourth term of office. Locatelli, who has been president of the Jesuit university in Silicon Valley since 1988, accepted the position. His current term of office ends in 2006, and the decision adds another six years to his tenure.

            Board chairman A.C. (Mike) Markkula made the announcement. “The Board made this decision recognizing that this is an unusually long tenure for a university president,” Markkula said.  “Paul’s leadership since 1988 has been nothing short of exemplary.”

            Markkula said board members are particularly pleased with Locatelli’s leadership in building campus support for a focused, long-term Strategic Plan.

            “Fr. Locatelli has persevered to help create academic programs and a community of scholars that today distinguish Santa Clara as an educational leader serving society and our globalizing world.  Through Centers of Distinction dedicated to ethics, technology and society, Jesuit education, and community-based learning, faculty and students from every academic area learn and work with people from all walks of life–from corporate and community leaders to at risk middle school students, from fourth generation alumni to new immigrants,” Markkula said.

            He said the board is pleased that Locatelli will remain in office through the duration of the current fund-raising campaign, which has so far raised $250 million of its $350 million goal, and construction of the new campus buildings that will be one result of the campaign.

            “The Board of Trustees would like to have him continue to serve here at Santa Clara for every second that he’s willing and able,” Markkula said.

            Locatelli said, “It is a blessing to be part of Santa Clara at this most exciting time in our history.  The University has attracted an exceptional community of faculty and staff, students and parents, trustees and other volunteers, alumni and benefactors. I am excited at this opportunity to continue guiding my alma mater on its path to becoming recognized as one of the nation’s most distinctive Catholic, Jesuit universities.”

           Santa Clara University was founded in 1851 and has been led by a Jesuit priest (the Society of Jesus is the name of the Order) ever since.

            Before becoming president, Locatelli served two years as rector and professor of accounting at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and six years as academic vice president at SCU. He earned his undergraduate degree in business from SCU, a doctorate in business administration from the University of Southern California, and a master of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1974.

          Locatelli serves on a number of boards including the National Conference of Community and Justice/Silicon Valley Region, the American Leadership Forum, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the second-highest graduation rate among U.S. masters’ universities across the country, California’s oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu