September 2012

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012— Santa Clara University’s President Michael Engh, S.J., convened the 2012-2013 academic year at a Mission Church ceremony Tuesday evening, by celebrating honors bestowed on several faculty and staff members and sharing ways SCU is working to overcome its newest challenges.

Engh highlighted two employees who received special honors for professional excellence: Susan Popko, assistant vice provost for international education, was named one of three AIEA Presidential Fellows by the Association for International Education Administrators. The award singles her out to receive special mentoring as an emerging leader in the field of international education.  

Jim Koch, professor of management at the Leavey School  of Business and a director at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society, was named Santa Clara University’s first Don C. Dodson Distinguished Professor. The honor, named after SCU's former provost, recognized Koch's contributions to the mission of Santa Clara, which Engh said are “both broad and deep, spanning scholarship, teaching, service to the profession and leadership of high-impact initiatives, particularly those in the area of social justice.”

Endowed professorships announced by Provost Dennis Jacobs during the event include: 

•    Greg Baker, management, Naumes Family Professor
•    Sanjiv Das, finance, William and Janice Terry Professor
•     Valerio Ferme, modern languages and literatures, Harold and Edythe Toso Professor
•    Kristin Heyer, religious studies, Bernard J. Hanley Professor
•    Ed Maurer, civil engineering, Robert W. Peters Professor
•    Thomas Plante, psychology, Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J., University Professor
•     Sally Wood, electrical engineering, Thomas J. Bannan Professor

Engh discussed some of the challenges facing SCU, such as keeping up appropriately with technological innovation and balancing Jesuit educational priorities with calls for accountability and career preparation.  He likened this point in time to the early days of the Jesuit order, when the order had to be “brokers of culture” between their superiors in Europe and the diverse people they served.

 Now, Engh said, SCU is striving to balance its Jesuit tradition with the need to keep up with the latest information technology, prepare students for careers, and continue providing access in an inclusive fashion.

Several changes are underway with those objectives in mind, Engh said:

* The Faculty Collaborative for Teaching Innovation, to nurture and support innovations in pedagogy among faculty; create interdisciplinary communities of faculty; and establish a network of mentors to identify opportunities.
*A collaborative-learning-spaces pilot initiative.

*A mobile-technologies pilot initiative for student learning

*A Markkula Center for Applied Ethics experiment with “Massive Open Online Course” offerings, to share the Center’s hallmark business ethics program with a greater number of alumni, corporate and professional groups, and the global Jesuit network.

*A new “place-based initiative” by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, involving new outreach in San Jose for students, faculty and staff

“We educate beyond professional competence and job preparation,” said Engh. “Our common mission possesses significance, a holiness, because of its broad implications for the well-being of our fellow human beings, our community, and the care of our planet.”