Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís which traces its founding to 1777. The campus mirrors the Mission's architectural style and contains Mission Revival architecture and other Spanish Colonial Revival styles. The university is classified as a "Doctoral/Professional" university.
The university offers bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through its six colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education and Counseling Psychology, Leavey School of Business, School of Engineering, Jesuit School of Theology, and School of Law. It enrolls 6,484 undergraduate students and about 3,151 postgraduate students as of Fall 2024.
Santa Clara's sports teams are called the Broncos. Their colors are red and white. The Broncos compete at the NCAA Division I levels as members of the West Coast Conference in 19 sports. Broncos have won NCAA championships in both men's and women's soccer. Santa Clara's student athletes include current or former 58 MLB, 40 NFL, and 12 NBA players and 13 Olympic gold medalists.
History
California mission era
Inheriting the grounds of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, Santa Clara University's campus, library holdings, art collection, and many of its defining traditions date back to 1777, almost 75 years before its founding. In January of that year, Saint Junipero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan friar, established Mission Santa Clara as the eighth of 21 Alta California missions. Fray Tomás de la Peña chose a site along the Guadalupe River for the future church, erecting a cross and celebrating the first Mass a few days later. The campus was built on the land of the Ohlone people who relocated after suffering a decline in population due to epidemics and a loss of natural resources in the area.Natural disasters forced early priests to relocate and rebuild the church on several occasions, moving it westward and away from the river. Built of wood, the first permanent structure quickly flooded and was replaced by a larger adobe building in 1784. This building suffered heavy damage in an 1818 earthquake and was replaced six years later by a new adobe edifice.
Early college history
The mission flourished for more than 50 years despite these setbacks. Beginning in the 1830s, however, the mission lands were repossessed in conjunction with government policy implemented via the Mexico's secularization, and church buildings fell into disrepair. The bishop of Monterey, Dominican Joseph Sadoc Alemany, offered the site to Italian Jesuits John Nobili and Michael Accolti in 1851 on condition that they found a college for California's growing Catholic population when it became part of the United States following the Mexican–American War.Two colleges were organized during 1851 in the small agricultural town of Santa Clara, at the height of the Gold Rush, less than a year after California was granted statehood. Santa Clara College, forerunner of Santa Clara University, was the first to open its doors to students and is the state's oldest operating institution of higher education. Shortly after Santa Clara began instruction, the Methodist-run California Wesleyan College received a charter from the State Superior Court on July 10, 1851—the first granted in California—and it began enrolling students in May of the following year. Santa Clara's Jesuit founders lacked the $20,000 endowment required for a charter, which was eventually accumulated and a charter granted on April 28, 1855.
Santa Clara bears the distinction of awarding California's first bachelor's degree, bestowed upon Thomas I. Bergin in 1857, as well as its first graduate degree granted two years later.
The California Historical Society, the official state historical society of California, was founded in June 1871 on the campus of the College of Santa Clara by a group of prominent Californian politicians and professors, led by Californian Assemblyman John W. Dwinelle.
Modern era
In 1912, the College of Santa Clara separated out its secondary-school component, Santa Clara Prep, and became the University of Santa Clara, with the addition of the School of Law and the School of Engineering.In 1923, the Leavey School of Business was founded.
Women were first admitted in 1961 to what had been an all-men's university, making Santa Clara University the first Catholic university in California to admit both men and women.
In 1985, in part to avoid confusion with the University of Southern California, the University of Santa Clara, as it had been known since 1912, changed its name to Santa Clara University. Diplomas were printed with the new name beginning in 1986.
In 2001 the School of Education and Counseling Psychology was formed to offer Master's level and other credential programs.
In 2012, Santa Clara University celebrated 50 years of having women attend Santa Clara University.
Campus
The university address is in Santa Clara, California, though a significant part of the campus lies over the border into San Jose, California. Over the last century and a half, the Santa Clara University campus has expanded to more than.In the 1950s, after the university constructed Walsh Hall and the de Saisset Museum on two of the last remaining open spaces on the old college campus, Santa Clara began purchasing and annexing land from the surrounding community. The first addition, which occurred slightly earlier, brought space for football and baseball playing fields. Thereafter, particularly in the 1960s when women were admitted to the school, more land was acquired for residence halls and other new buildings and facilities.
In 1989 the Santa Clara University campus was unified when The Alameda, a major thoroughfare that had bisected the university, was rerouted. Several interior roads were also closed and were replaced by sparsely landscaped pedestrian malls and plazas. The current five-year campus plan calls for integration of these areas with the gardens of the campus core.
The 1990s brought a number of campus additions, including the Music and Dance Building, a new science wing, the Arts and Sciences Building, the Malley Fitness Center, the Sobrato Residence Hall, and the first on-campus parking structure. Santa Clara carried out all deferred maintenance, including the renovation of Kenna Hall, the Adobe Lodge, and many other historic buildings. One unique feature of Santa Clara University's undergraduate education is the Residential Learning Community program. Eight Residential Learning Communities, each with a distinct theme, integrate the classroom and resident life experience.
Recent development
Recently completed expansion projects include a new baseball field, a renovated basketball arena, Kennedy Mall – the campus' first "green building", a Jesuit community residence, a library, a new building for the Leavey School of Business, a new residence hall, Graham, a new Admission and Enrollment Services building, and a new Art and Art History Building. The new Charney Hall replaces and consolidates Bannan Hall and the Heafey Law Library into the new Law School.The university's main entrance, Palm Drive, was closed to automobiles in 2013 to create a new gateway to Santa Clara's campus. The new pedestrian mall was designed to "highlight the Mission Church as the centerpiece of the campus." In 2014, Alviso Street between Franklin and Market was also closed to cars and remodeled.
In 2022, Santa Clara University completed construction of the $300 million dollar, 270,000 square foot Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation. Spanning three buildings, SCDI is one of the largest STEM educational facilities in the country. It is home to 13 academic departments from the School of Engineering and the College of Arts & Sciences, the Innovation Zone, Robotics Systems Lab, Latimer Energy Lab, and Imaginarium virtual reality lab. It also features natural science and flex labs, collaboration hubs, and multidisciplinary project spaces.
In 2025, the university began to relocate the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University from its current location in Berkeley to the main campus in Santa Clara.
Points of interest
- Mission Santa Clara de Asís: University Chapel and historical mission dating back to 1777. The current location is the third site; it was built in 1828, destroyed by fire in 1925, and rebuilt in 1929.
- Bellomy Field: Bellomy is used for intramural sports and for casual student use.
- Malley Fitness Center: Santa Clara University's center for recreational sports, indoor intramurals, weightlifting, and fitness classes. Malley Fitness Center has three full basketball/volleyball courts, a large weight room, two locker rooms, a 2,100-square-foot multipurpose room, lounge space, and new offices for recreation and wellness programs.
- Saint Clare School: The mission's first elementary school. Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1856. Located behind Nobili Hall at Lafayette and Lexington Street.
- Saint Clare Parish and St. Clare Parish Hall: In 1926 St Clare's Parish was built one block behind the Mission Santa Clara to take over the parish functions of the Mission church after it suffered a fire in 1925.
Sustainability
In 2013, the Center for Sustainability was established to advance academic and public understanding of the ways in which social justice and sustainability intersect by integrating principles of social, environmental, and economic sustainability into campus operations, academic and student life, and outreach programs.
Santa Clara University is a member of The Green Building Council, the overseeing body of the LEED rating system. In the fall of 2011, Paul Locatelli, S. J. Student Activities Center was certified LEED Gold. In addition, Schott Admission and Enrollment Services, Donohoe Alumni House, and Graham Residence Hall have all been designed to LEED gold standards and are pending certification. All new buildings are designed with the Sustainable Building Policy, adopted in May 2014.