2013-14 Highlights and Points of Excellence
Grounded in a 450-year Jesuit tradition of intellectual excellence, ethical awareness, and community engagement, Santa Clara University (SCU) pursues its mission to educate leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara regularly collaborates with corporations, research centers, and community organizations that are major actors in the U.S. economy. More than half of SCU’s 79,000 alumni reside and work in the Bay Area, driving the innovative and pioneering spirit essential to high technology, biotech, and sustainable energy industries.
Established in 1851, Santa Clara has the distinction of being California’s first operating institution of higher learning.
SCU offers rigorous undergraduate curricula in the arts and sciences, business, and engineering to over 5,000 students.
Santa Clara enrolls close to 3,500 students in nationally recognized graduate and professional schools in business, law, engineering, education and counseling psychology, theology, and pastoral ministries.
University: Rankings and Recognitions
U.S. News and World Report ranked SCU #2 among master’s universities in the West for the 23rd consecutive year.
Santa Clara has achieved the second-highest undergraduate graduation rate (86%) among master’s universities nationally.
Santa Clara maintains the highest freshman retention rate (94%) of master’s universities in the West.
Forbes Magazine recognized SCU among the top 75 of America’s Best Colleges, ranking it at #72.
Kiplinger highlighted Santa Clara among its 2014 Top Values in Private Colleges, ranking it at #39 among 100 national institutions.
Schools and Colleges: Rankings and Recognitions
U.S. News and World Report listed SCU’s School of Law among the top 100 law schools in the country, and ranked its intellectual property program third nationally.
Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Santa Clara’s undergraduate business program #38 in the nation.
U.S. News and World Report ranked SCU’s undergraduate business program #58 in the nation.
Santa Clara’s undergraduate engineering school ranked 10th nationally among programs that primarily grant baccalaureate and master’s degrees.
SCU’s School of Engineering has the third-highest percentage of women on faculty among engineering programs nationally.
Community and Global Engagement: Points of Excellence
SCU was named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for community service programs and student involvement.
More than 1,200 undergraduates participate in service learning through SCU’s community-based placements and projects each year.
Santa Clara University’s School of Law supports several prominent public interest clinics, including the Northern California Innocence Project, the Center for Social Justice and Public Service, and the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center.
The U.S. Department of State has recognized Santa Clara among colleges and universities producing the most 2013-14 U.S. Fulbright Students, with three SCU students currently participating in the flagship international educational exchange program.
Through the University’s Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), 202 promising social entrepreneurs in developing countries have received intensive business mentoring, networking, and venture funding. Nearly 100 million people worldwide have benefited from their work.
SCU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute engages more than 800 local senior citizens in thoughtprovoking coursework, activities, and outings each year.
Sustainability: Points of Excellence
In 2007, Santa Clara University’s president became a signatory of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), committing SCU to climate neutrality.
In 2009, the University’s Sustainability Council and Office of Sustainability presented SCU’s first Climate Neutrality Action Plan, with the goal of complete climate neutrality by the end of 2015.
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has named SCU’s photovoltaic array among the top 10 roof-mounted installations at U.S. colleges and universities. This capacity satisfies about 6% of the University’s total energy needs and 20% of summer daytime demand when stress on the power grid is highest.
Sierra magazine named SCU among its top 50 “Cool Schools” for 2013, recognizing the University’s leadership in sustainability initiatives spanning renewable energy use, research, peer-to-peer education programs, and alternative transportation.
Meeting the DOE’s biennial challenge to design, build and test solar homes, undergraduate teams from SCU’s School of Engineering placed third overall in both the 2007 and 2009 Solar Decathlon competitions, and placed first in categories of Comfort Zone and Home Entertainment and fifth in Engineering in 2013. Numerous SCU Solar Decathlon alumni have gone on to work in green technology companies after graduation.
SCU supports the generation of 30,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy through Santa Clara Green Power. This amount is equivalent to the annual output of nine wind turbines, and prevents the emission of over 21,545 tons of carbon dioxide each year.
The School of Engineering offers a master’s degree in sustainable energy, allowing graduate students to pursue careers in energy management, smart grids, and energy generation and distribution.
For a fifth straight year, Santa Clara University (SCU) was recognized as using more green power than any other school in the West Coast Conference, making it the 2012-13 Individual Conference Champion in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) College & University Green Power Challenge.