Santa Clara University recently celebrated a rare and prestigious milestone: the completion of its $1 billion ‘Innovating with a Mission’ campaign, the largest comprehensive fundraising campaign in the University’s 173-year history.
In under ten years, the ‘Innovating with a Mission’ campaign energized the Jesuit Catholic university campus with wide-ranging physical and programmatic transformations, diversifying the campus and creating new opportunities and experiences for current and future generations of students, faculty, alumni, and staff.
Of the just over $1 billion raised, hundreds of millions support student scholarships and financial aid; new STEM, residential, and arts facilities and programming; internships and experiential learning opportunities; and expanded athletic and collaboration spaces across campus.
This achievement was celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 27, during the University’s annual Golden Circle gala at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. And superstar singer John Legend — whose hits include “All of Me,” “Green Light,” and “Ordinary People” — was the event headliner. Following the performance, laser lights and music also accompanied the nearly 2,500 guests as they walked from the Center to dinner at The Signia by Hilton San Jose hotel.
‘Innovating with a Mission’ launched in July 2014. The record total of $1.017 billion reflects contributions from more than 46,000 alumni, corporations, foundations, parents, and other friends of Santa Clara. The showing reflects the broad support for the Silicon Valley-based University’s academic excellence and values-based mission.
Santa Clara has become the fourth Catholic university in the United States to hit the $1 billion goal. SCU also joins a select group of fewer than 5% of all U.S. universities that have raised $1 billion—only a handful of which, like Santa Clara, have done so without being a designated Research 1 (R1) university or home to a medical school.
Over the course of the Campaign — which concluded on a theme of “Santa Clara Rising” — the Jesuit, Catholic university has attained new levels of prominence, recognition, and achievement in U.S. higher education, including:
— Becoming a national rather than regional university in 2019 in the influential U.S. News & World Report ranking system; today, SCU ranks in the top 15% of national universities
— Creating the largest STEM campus on the West Coast
— Greatly increasing merit- and need-based scholarships and financial aid, with over $280 million raised for new scholarships and expanding by one-third the number of awarded scholarship funds
— Reaching two women’s soccer final fours and a national title, as well as two first-round NBA draft picks
— Producing 35 Fulbright; two Rhodes; one Truman; one MacArthur; and two Knight-Hennessy scholars
— Attracting and meeting the needs of our nation’s increasingly diverse college-age population, as seen in a:
— 40% increase in transfer students
— Undergraduate student body increase to 58% students of color, from 45% when the Campaign started
— 60% increase in first-generation students participating in the University’s LEAD Scholars Program
During the Campaign, the University:
— Added or renovated seven new buildings, with a focus on interdisciplinary and collaborative learning spaces and sustainable construction practices:
— John A. and Susan Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation
— Stephen A. Finn Residence Hall
— Stephen C. and Patricia A. Schott Athletic Excellence Center
— Stevens Stadium—Buck Shaw Field (renovation) and Stevens Soccer Training Center
— Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building
— Howard S. and Alida S. Charney Hall of Law
— Benson Memorial Center (renovation)
— Doubled the University’s solar generation capacity via the Bird Solar Project
— Increased student opportunities for global and experiential learning, such as 167 students who took part in the Miller Center Lewis Family Fellowship
The Campaign also enabled Santa Clara to build out spaces and centers to foster collaboration and interdisciplinary work among students and faculty, and to create centers for underrepresented students to meet and host speakers and discussions. The Diversity and Inclusion Student Center in the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation, the Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Whitham Collaborative Scholarship Awards are vital and valued examples.
The generosity of donors helped ensure that students have enhanced access to wellness resources whenever and wherever they need them, including inside their residence halls, after hours, and on weekends. And the new services include over a dozen campus mental health professionals, three of whom are dedicated to residence halls; new training for faculty and staff to identify students in need; unlimited free counseling sessions; and a 24/7 mental health support line that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, including when students are studying abroad.
KEY QUOTES:
“The success of this Campaign is a testament to the commitment of our alumni and supporters to our mission to produce not just exceptional scholars, but true persons for others, who will make a positive impact on our global society and our nation’s democracy—no matter their fields of endeavor. The world needs what Santa Clara has to offer.”
– President Julie Sullivan
“This Campaign marks a key moment in Santa Clara University’s ascent as one of the nation’s leading institutions of higher learning. It helps us fulfill our promise to equip all talented students with the knowledge and ethical clarity our complex and globalizing world will demand of them. ”
– Larry Sonsini, chair of Santa Clara University’s Board of Trustees
“We are profoundly grateful for the ongoing generosity of Santa Clara’s amazingly strong base of alumni, donors, and other supporters. They have helped us achieve a milestone that only a small number of private, teaching-scholar universities like ours have attained, and positioned us to focus intently on ensuring our world-class Jesuit education can be available to all talented students. ”
– University Relations Vice President Jim Lyons
