Santa Clara University Goes Public with $1 Billion Comprehensive Fundraising Campaign
The largest transformation of the Silicon Valley-based campus in its 168-year history will enable its students to learn more collaboratively, study more globally, and work alongside a more diverse, accomplished, and justice-oriented student body and faculty.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 20, 2019—With a goal of elevating the value of its graduates to Silicon Valley and to a world in need of conscientious leaders, Santa Clara University announced the public launch of its $1 billion fundraising campaign Saturday night.
The launch was announced at the University’s 53rd annual Golden Circle Theatre Party held Jan. 19 at San Jose’s Center for Performing Arts, which featured a performance by James Taylor, followed by a dinner for 2,500 guests at the Fairmont Hotel.
Over the past four years of the “silent phase” of its campaign, Santa Clara University has raised almost $600 million of its $1 billion goal. Those funds launched numerous capital projects including a planned new 275,000-square-foot complex devoted to interdisciplinary STEM education, the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation; the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building completed in 2014; the recently opened Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law; the Stephen A. Finn Residence Hall currently under construction to help accommodate 600 new undergraduate students; and a planned Stephen C. and Patricia A. Schott Athletic Excellence Center.
Now, the University will spend the next four years sharing with donors, alumni, and other supporters of the University its vision for additional academic, curricular, and co-curricular enhancements planned for the campaign: “Innovating with a Mission.”
“There truly is no other institution like Santa Clara University: our premier access to the innovation and entrepreneurship of Silicon Valley, combined with our Jesuit values of using one’s talents to improve the human condition, creates profound impact, both locally and globally,” said Jeff Miller ’73, MBA ’76, president of the business-consulting firm JAMM Ventures who is co-chair of the University’s campaign committee with real-estate executive John A. Sobrato ’60. “As we ‘go public’ with our strategic plan, it is crystal clear that the world needs these unique Santa Clara-educated alumni more than ever.”
The University has a website describing the campaign initiatives and impact.
Among the other initiatives that will now become a greater focus of the campaign:
Opening Doors
$210 million for funds to make a Santa Clara education more accessible to high-achieving students and boost SCU’s national prominence. That includes:
- adding student scholarships
- increasing undergraduate financial aid
- expansion of the LEAD program for first-generation college students
- a new Athletic Excellence Center
- support for student-athletes
Educating the Whole Person
$180 million for student experiences that “educate the whole person” in the Jesuit tradition. That includes:
- broadening the liberal arts to infuse arts and humanities into the University’s increased focus on STEM and innovation
- offering more study abroad, internships, vocational discernment, and experiential learning opportunities
- providing support for the Jesuit School of Theology and increased programming for the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education
- creating classroom and studios and common-space upgrades to foster collaborative work
Innovating for the World
$330 million for elevating programs that help SCU address social inequity globally and promote innovation in support of humanity. That includes:
- the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation, a collaborative hub for tech and humanities
- expansion of Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship focused on enabling social enterprises worldwide to bring environmentally sustainable solutions to those living in poverty
- expanding the School of Engineering’s humanitarian engineering focus
- expanding business-innovation and conscientious capitalism offerings at the Leavey School of Business
General University
$280 million for general University funds for academic units, global experiences, and other programmatic and education-enhancing initiatives.
The University’s previous fundraising campaign ended in 2006, and raised more than $400 million from more than 41,000 donors. That resulted in construction of the current business school and learning commons and library, more than $100 million for scholarships, and new professorships, among other campus changes.
A full list of initiatives can be found on the campaign website.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master's degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering doctoral degrees. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
Media Contacts
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media and Internal Communications | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121
Deepa Arora | SCU Media and Internal Communications | darora@scu.edu | 408-554-5125