Centers, Institutes, and Special Programs

Accelerated Cooperative Education Program

The Accelerated Cooperative Education (ACE) program offers a unique, challenging, and rewarding experience for business majors. Participants receive a program of workshops designed to build, strengthen, and enhance their professional development and leadership skills. Students receive advising to help obtain a summer internship opportunity.  Students are selected into this program through an application process and are active in this three-year experience until graduation..

Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship provides opportunities for students from all disciplines to learn and explore the entrepreneurial mindset. The center is guided by an interdisciplinary Student Advisory Board that includes both graduate and undergraduate students. Through academics, experiential learning programs, competitions, coaching, and mentoring, students can immerse themselves in every aspect of the entrepreneurial experience.

Our hands-on interdisciplinary programs include business pitch and venture capital competitions, as well as experiential workshops where students and alumni have the chance to interact and work together on real-world problems. The Bronco Ventures Idea Lab, Prep School, and Accelerator provide students the opportunity to learn from industry professionals how to start their own ventures. Innovation Fellows are committed to curiosity and fostering the development of the student experience at Santa Clara University by finding a pain point on our SCU campus and using design thinking methods and empathy to identify and implement solutions. The Mindset Scholars program is designed to develop an early entrepreneurial mindset for incoming first-year students at SCU. All of our programs offer students the chance to connect with and learn from other like-minded students, distinguished alumni, and industry professionals.

Global Fellows

Created in 2008 through the Leavey School of Business, the Global Fellows Program is a premier professional fellowship program open to undergraduate sophomores and juniors of all majors. The Global Fellows Program is a nine-month, mixed disciplinary program dedicated to fostering global citizens of competence, conscience, and compassion.

The Global Fellows Program sends up to 30 students to work for a nongovernmental organization (NGO) or business that embodies the ideal of global leadership and reflects the increasing level of globalization in our world. Each organization varies in its methods and values. All provide an exposure to global citizenship through an enhanced understanding of cultural, economic, social, political, and technological factors that underlie social injustice, marginalization, and privilege. Selected fellows participate in a spring quarter leadership practicum that engages their knowledge of global citizenship and what it means to be a leader in the 21st century. Following spring quarter, fellows head to a developing country for a 6- to 8-week internship with the organization for whom they have been selected. The Global Fellows Program is a unique program, offering a global professional and civic engagement opportunity, comprised of internship, travel, and cultural immersion.

Leavey Scholars Program

The Leavey Scholars Program offers special opportunities for undergraduate business students who have established a record of excellence in their Santa Clara studies. Leavey Scholars are invited to enroll in honors sections of selected business courses that are especially rigorous and academically challenging. Successful completion of the program warrants the designation “Leavey Scholar” on the student’s transcript.

Leavey School of Business Community Fellows Program

The Leavey School of Business (LSB) Community Fellows program places junior and senior year  business majors in paid, yearlong internships in community organizations (e.g., government, nonprofit, or education agencies). Students apply business knowledge and skills to real-world situations in local community organizations. Participation is required  in a yearlong academic seminar (BUSN 183A, B, and C) which satisfies the Experiential Learning for Social Justice requirement in the University’s Core Curriculum. Students explore issues of economic disparity, community development, and organizational management as well as reflect on the professional development skills and abilities needed to be effective in a variety of business settings. Students are selected by application process.

My Own Business Institute

The My Own Business Institute (MOBI) is the world's leading provider of free online education for entrepreneurs. The mission of MOBI is to help start businesses that create jobs, by providing entrepreneurship education to people around the world. MOBI offers five online courses: Starting a Business, Business Expansion, Quick Start Entrepreneur,  the Sales & Marketing Badge Course, and the MOBI On Demand Small Business Essentials audio and video course, as well as a free Business Plan Template and other resources. Content is available in English and Spanish. MOBI coursework is used by universities, schools, nonprofits, and government agencies all over the world. MOBI students and alumni represent all 249 ISO recognized countries and territories. All participants are eligible to earn a Certificate of Completion and/or digital badge to demonstrate their achievement.

The MOBI curriculum and website are based on the work of Phil Holland, a successful entrepreneur and author of The Entrepreneur's Guide. By providing content that is engaging, understandable, accessible, and actionable, MOBI helps aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs from any background take the next steps in pursuing their business goals.

Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative

Launched in January 2012, the Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative (NPI) provides opportunities for SCU students to work directly with business owners from underserved communities in Silicon Valley. The goal of NPI is to support economic opportunity in our most challenged neighborhoods while offering a community-based learning experience to our Santa Clara undergraduate students. The primary component of NPI is the Field Studies course (BUSN 188) which satisfies the Experiential Learning for Social Justice (ELSJ) requirement in the University’s Core Curriculum. NPI is a two-quarter course offered in winter and spring.

Retail Management Institute

The Retail Management Institute (RMI) is recognized as an academic partner to the retail industry. We have a strong reputation for developing strategic influencers with the advanced skills necessary for success in the new technology-infused world of retail.

RMI provides a platform for deep collaboration and knowledge at the intersection of retail and technology, engaging industry and leading academics into the emerging and evolving concepts impacting retail today. The knowledge generated from this collaboration forms the basis of the retail studies curriculum.

The minor in retail studies offered by the Retail Management Institute is an in-depth immersion experience that prepares and provides exposure to its students for a diverse set of roles including e-commerce, digital marketing, digital merchandising, planning and allocation, buying and supply chain management. The program is open to all University undergraduates. Students entering the retail studies minor continue to major in their field of choice and receive their bachelor’s degree in that field.

Senior Leadership Academy

This academy provides undergraduate business seniors the opportunity at an in-depth exploration of a leadership topic relevant to postgraduate. Students are selected through an application process and participate in a two-quarter experience that includes mentoring, directed reading, and guided reflection. The program pairs each senior with an alumni mentor who provides one-on-one mentorship and support to discuss topics like personal and professional development, including career exploration and work-life balance.

Sustainable Business Institute

The Sustainable Business Institute (SBI) is a newly developed institute focused on creating transformative programs that empower students to become agents of positive change in an evolving global business landscape. Through practical research, undergraduate and graduate education, co-curricular programs, and corporate and community engagement, SBI will be preparing future leaders who are equipped to address complex challenges through their business endeavors.