Veteran Admissions Leader Named Vice President of Enrollment at Santa Clara University
SCU’s undergraduate student body has one of the highest retention and graduation rates in the country.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 8, 2020—Santa Clara University has named Eva Blanco Masias, a progressive leader in higher education admission, as the new Vice President for Enrollment Management. Blanco Masias currently serves as the University’s dean of undergraduate admission.
She will start her new position on July 1.
In her current role as Dean of Admission, Blanco Masias oversees Santa Clara University’s admission, recruitment, marketing, and technology strategies for all first-year and transfer students. During her 17-year tenure in admission, the University has seen a record number of applications (16,500 in 2020) and expanded its national and international reputation. SCU’s undergraduate student body now comprises more than 50 percent students of color, while boasting the highest academic profile in its history and one of the highest retention and graduation rates in the country.
“Dean Blanco has played a critical role in the upward trajectory of Santa Clara University in the past decade,” said Santa Clara University President Kevin O’Brien, S.J. “Her consistent focus on the importance of building a diverse and talented student body at Santa Clara has been key to raising our national and global visibility. The University will continue to benefit from her leadership and expertise especially during these challenging times in higher education.”
Blanco Masias’ passion for college admissions stems from her personal journey, beginning in Los Angeles, where she grew up as the daughter of immigrants, all the way to her matriculation at Yale University. As a first-generation student, what she learned during the process of applying to colleges taught her the importance of timely recruitment and outreach, as well as access to resources, mentors, and financial aid.
In 2003, Blanco Masias joined Santa Clara University’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions after a successful career in media and marketing that included USA Networks, The Weather Channel, and Discovery Networks Latin America. In her various roles at Santa Clara since, she has leveraged her experience to elevate SCU’s brand recognition and launch innovative programs, broadening SCU’s enrollment access to a wider range of intellectually-charged and socially-minded students around the world.
“This is an incredible opportunity, both personally and professionally,” said Blanco Masias. “Santa Clara’s mission, to educate the whole person and form students in mind, body, and spirit, has inspired my life, work, and profoundly influenced my professional development.”
Blanco Masias’s civic involvement spans service on boards of several nonprofit educational organizations including The Foundation for Hispanic Education; as past president of the National Catholic College Admission Association, an advisory committee member for the California College Guidance Initiative (CaliforniaColleges.edu), chair of the Yale Latino Alumni Association, and member of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Silicon Valley Advisory Council.
She holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale, a master's in education administration from Santa Clara University, and a certificate in enrollment management leadership from USC.
About Santa Clara University
Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Assis. SCU has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1 percent of universities with the highest-paid graduates. SCU has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars as well as four Rhodes Scholars. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. For more information see www.scu.edu.
Media Contact
Deepa Arora | Sr. Dir. Media and Communications| darora@scu.edu