Dear Colleagues —

This spring break, the Career Center hosted the first-ever Bay Area A.I. Industry Immersion, taking 25 students on eight company visits across four whirlwind days. It was an impressive demonstration of the awesome power of the Santa Clara network!

Throughout the immersion, students had the opportunity to meet, learn from and network with more than 40 employees at Google, Qurrent, Nutanix, HP, Genentech, Handshake, Wells Fargo, and Adobe.

This immersion was funded by a grant from the Regents Experiential Learning Initiative (RELI), and several members of the Board of Regents hosted and/or joined us throughout the immersion, including Marie Barry '68, Jacques Bolivar '94, Kathy Chou, Sean Huurman '93, and Anneliese Olson '94.

Thank you to Toby O'Brien '93 and Kori O'Brien '96, JD '07 for generously opening up their home for the closing networking mixer, and to the many, many alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the university who made this immersion possible.

All photos by Elaine Zhang '27 except center group photo

Here's what students are saying about the immersion:

"Thank you all so much for hosting this immersion! I learned so much and this is definitely one of the most rewarding things that I’ve done this school year!"

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"I had a great time at this immersion and would easily recommend it to anyone. Even if you are not in a technical field, as long as you want to work in tech, this experience is 100% worth it. ... I went into every day with an open-mind and I definitely learned a lot because of that!"

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"The connections formed through networking and the alumni community proved to be incredibly valuable. The openness and authenticity of others fostered meaningful interactions, allowing me to connect with a wide range of people. Additionally, meeting fellow students from our school was a key highlight of the trip, as it offered a unique perspective on how we all share similar experiences and a shared passion for curiosity and learning."

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"I really enjoyed being able to meet some of the alumni working at these incredible companies in the bay. People always say to tap on the alumni network at SCU but that can be very intimidating so being able to meet these alumni has shown me that the alumni at SCU are very friendly and really want to help and support current students which is really encouraging."

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Congratulations to Colleen Withers, Director of Career Development and Campus Integration and staff lead for this event, for your thoughtful planning and execution and coordinating the involvement of so many different stakeholders including students, companies, alumni, members of the Board of Regents, and faculty and staff. From idea to execution, you curated an unforgettable set of experiences that exceeded all expectations!

Curious to learn more about Industry Immersions? Email Colleen Withers at cwithers@scu.edu.

As always, I look forward to working together to deliver on the promise of higher education for all of our students: a good job, social capital, and economic mobility in pursuit of a more humane, just and sustainable world.

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The Career Center is pleased to announce that Mary Saetern has joined our team as the Assistant Director of Employer Relations - Business and Entrepreneurship. Her first day is Wednesday, April 2.

In this role, she will work closely and primarily with employers seeking to engage with and recruit undergraduate students from the Leavey School of Business. She will report to Melissa Thiriez.

Mary has a passion for ensuring every student has the opportunity to build a meaningful career. She joins Santa Clara University after nine years at Intuitive Surgical, a pioneer in robotic-assisted surgery, where she was a key player in developing their university hiring programs. She was born and raised in the City of Santa Clara and has always admired SCU values and community.

Mary holds a BA in Liberal Studies from Sonoma State University with an emphasis in Life Sciences and a minor in Philosophy.

As we welcome Mary, I want to take this opportunity to thank Melissa Thiriez, for leading the search process. I also want to thank those that participated in the search process – Brenda Versteeg, Iffat Bhuiyan and the Career Center staff. For all of the time and energy invested in this process, I am very grateful. 

Please feel free to send Mary a note of welcome and congratulations at EMAIL

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The Career Center is excited to offer a full and dynamic menu of events, programs, workshops, and fairs this spring quarter. Up-to-date information on our events calendar.

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Each quarter, Myriam Bartz, Assistant Director of Career Development, hosts a virtual five-week job search program for recent grads who are looking for work. ​In this program, students learn how to sustain their motivation, overcome procrastination and self-doubt, and develop a growth mindset and habits to achieve their job search goals.

Eight recent grads from across business, engineering, counseling psychology and humanities participated in the winter 2025 cohort and successfully completed the program.

Here's a testimonial from Maria Lorena Sanchez MA '24:
(pictured bottom row, center)

“Thanks to the resources and tools you introduced, I successfully secured a job [as a Marriage and Family Therapist Associate at Mindful Practices]. The comprehensive materials and strategies shared within the group were instrumental during my job search and interview preparation.

Before joining the program, I was grappling with low self-esteem following the loss of a close family member. Participating in the group not only revitalized my professional aspirations but also rekindled my commitment to self-care and serving others. The supportive environment fostered within the program played a pivotal role in this personal and professional rejuvenation.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to continue this program, as I believe many students can benefit immensely from your dedicated support and mentorship. Your efforts have a profound impact, and I am confident that others will find the same encouragement and direction that I experienced"

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Questions about the Recent Grad Job Search Program? Email Myriam Bartz at mbartz2@scu.edu.

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Twenty-six students recently completed the 5-week tech accelerator winter cohort powered by Possible. They participated alongside 24 students from Seattle University, creating a powerful networking opportunity between not only two Jesuit institutions but also two West Coast tech hubs.

Testimonial from Elaine Zhang '27:
(Read the full post on LinkedIn)

"As I flip through my 18 pages of notes, I'm still in awe of how much we've learned, discussed, and connected over the past 5 weeks with the Possible community. 💙 Huge thank you to David Chase (Possible CEO) and Jackie Wu (Possible Ops Manager) for making this such a meaningful and unforgettable experience, and to our wonderful career center for this amazing opportunity!! 🎉 It was so much more than just breaking into tech — hearing all of your genuine stories truly opened up new possibilities and gave me a clearer vision of what I want to pursue and how to get there. ... Never limit yourself by thinking something’s impossible!! We met marketing professionals who became software engineers and vegetable farmers who transformed into data scientists — college is just the beginning of lifelong learning and exploration 🤿"

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The Career Center is proud to provide a full scholarship for every Santa Clara student participating in Possible. Twenty-five more Santa Clara students will participate in the spring cohort, which begins on April 7. 

Questions about Possible? Email Dylan Houle at dhoule@scu.edu.

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The Career Center is raising funds to hire additional career coaches to support students with 1:1 appointments during the peak recruiting seasons. Watch the video below to hear from Anna Fleming '26, one of our graduate career development interns.

Our goal is to raise $15,000 to hire additional graduate career coaching interns to increase our availability by 600+ appointments per year.

Visit our Day of Giving department webpage to learn more and please feel free to share with your network.

Questions? Email Dylan Houle at dhoule@scu.edu.

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Meet Our Team.

Questions, concerns, ideas, suggestions?
Please email careercenter@scu.edu.