Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - April 2, 2004 - The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University has joined the nation’s elite business schools, included for the first time in the annual “Top Business Schools” list published today by U.S. News and World Report magazine.

In addition, in a separate ranking by the magazine of the nation’s part-time MBA programs, SCU vaulted into the list of top 10 schools, which will be published today online and on April 5 in the magazine and its semi-annual “Best Graduate Schools” softcover book.

The overall business school rankings including the Leavey School of Business also reported that SCU’s business school, among all business schools nationwide, received the 14^th highest score in a national survey of business recruiters.

“The distinguished scholarship of our faculty, along with the quality of our students, and the recognition of our many alumni who lead dynamic, profitable organizations contribute to the growing recognition for the Leavey School of Business,” said Barry Z. Posner, dean of the business school and professor of leadership.

“As a Jesuit business school, we are committed to quality instruction and rigorous inquiry conducted within an ethical framework,” he said. “As the premier business program for Silicon Valley, our emphasis is on educating leaders of organizations in rapidly changing and dynamic global marketplaces.”

The University is in the midst of a $350 million fundraising campaign, a centerpiece of which is a new $40 million business school. The Leavey school’s MBA applications have grown for two consecutive years. In the fall, the business school is adding a Master of Science in Information Systems program. In recent years, it added Saturday classes, and an executive MBA program.

The overall business rankings are based on a combination of subjective and objective criteria: peer assessment, recruiter assessment, average undergraduate GPA, average GMAT score, the 2003 acceptance rate, the average starting salaries, and graduate employment statistics.

In addition to Santa Clara University, the other Bay Area business schools ranked in the "Top Business Schools" list were Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. The other California schools included in the list were UCLA, University of Southern California, UC/Davis, UC/Irvine and Claremont.

The business school part-time rankings were based on a reputation survey of business school deans and MBA program directors.

The part-time program (about 85 percent of SCU’s MBA 1,022 students are part-time) has risen steadily in the U.S. News rankings in the last three years, and is now ranked higher than part-time programs at Duke and Carnegie Mellon universities. There are more than 200 part-time MBA programs at U.S. universities.

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About The Leavey Schoolof Business

The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University began in 1926, and was one of the first business schools in the country to receive national accreditation. The business school’s MBA program was one of the original group of MBA programs in 1961 to be accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

SCU’s business school offers a professional education emphasizing humanistic and moral development as well as technical proficiency. In the MBA program, 1,022 students were registered in fall 2003, more than 80 percent of them working professionals in Silicon Valley.

About Santa ClaraUniversity

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 third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is on line at www.scu.edu.

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Call Barry Holtzclaw, communications and marketing, at 408-554-5126, for more information,