The State of Santa Clara

President talks school’s growth, new hires and improvements

In his first State of the University Address, University President Kevin O’Brien, S.J. addressed members of the Santa Clara community about the positive changes taking place on campus.

The address took place on Tuesday, Feb. 18 in the Mayer Theater. Overall, O’Brien noted that the state of the university is strong and that he has enjoyed his months so far as Santa Clara president.  

The first update O’Brien noted was about rankings. Santa Clara has a 91.1 percent six-year graduation rate—the highest ever, and a 94.1 percent retention rate of students from their first year to their second. Both of these are nationally high and are reflective of Santa Clara’s first appearance in the national rankings by U.S. news at 54 among all national universities. 

“A lot of rankings followed over the course of the year,” O’Brien said. “All of which indicate we are doing well. But as I said before, if we remain faithful to who we are the rankings will follow, and they have.”  

The one shortcoming O’Brien mentioned was the lack of mental health professionals available to students at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). Currently there are four open positions, owing to a shortage of mental health professionals throughout California.

In an effort to combat this, Santa Clara will be increasing the starting salary for these positions to help with recruitment and has explored virtual counseling for students on the university’s health insurance.

This point was also addressed by Associate Student Government (ASG) President Sahil Sagar. He spoke before O’Brien about the new era Santa Clara is entering.

Sagar praised the student body for taking charge of the mental health concerns on campus. While the number of students requesting appointments with CAPS is increasing, many organizations on campus have developed new programs to help students with mental health concerns.

“Although the university is slowly trying to address these problems we as the students took charge and reacted quickly,” Sagar said. “It’s truly inspiring to see this campus come together and show care and compassion for one another.” 

Sagar also used his address to highlight the changes taking place across campus. 

These included the new movements pioneered by ASG such as the Hyundai Challenge or the digital ACCESS cards.

Despite having only been president for eight months, O’Brien has already made some significant decisions including hiring former dean of the Law School, Lisa Kloppenberg as the new provost.

As provost, Kloppenberg will hire a variety of administrators including a new executive director of the Miller Center, a new dean for the College of Arts and Sciences and a new dean of the law school.

In addition to new hires, the creation of two new cabinet level positions has been approved by the Board of Trustees.

Those include a new chief diversity officer who will be responsible for diversity and inclusion and community engagement. Margaret Russell currently serves as the associate provost for Diversity and Inclusion. This new chief diversity officer will replace Russell’s position in the provost’s office. This new position was budgeted by the former president, Michael Engh, S.J.

The second position is vice provost for Mission and Ministry. This position exists at 18 other Jesuit universities and will help Santa Clara focus on what it means to be a Catholic campus. It will replace the position of executive director of the Ignatian Center.  

O’Brien’s preamble centered around a theme of generous encounters, something he had also focused on in his inaugural address.

In order to build a culture of generous encounters, he recommended two practices—gratitude and attentiveness.

Gratitude fuels generosity, and grateful people are happier people. 

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. O’Brien went on to discuss some of the meaningful encounters he’d had since becoming president at Santa Clara.

These included sitting in on a few classes, attending student forums and visiting alumni at various events across the country.

O’Brien also talked about building a culture of trust and transparency. Part of this includes having more opportunities for faculty to be in communication with the Board of Trustees and a buddy program—matching student leaders with cabinet members at Santa Clara.

The state of the university ended with talk about the budget, which was approved within the last week. 

Tuition is expected to rise 3.75 percent, a percentage increase that has held steady since last year. 

Funds and investments are being made in mental health on campus and for faculty promotions.

Each part of the university is also expected to make a 3 percent reduction in their operating expenses totaling to $1.4 million to be diverted elsewhere.

The address concluded with a story about O’Brien’s visit to Kids on Campus. Throughout the Kids on Campus building the same sign is posted that says, “We are kind. We listen to each other. Everyone can play.”

In response to the audience’s amusement, O’Brien light-heartedly suggested that this message would serve as a good motto for the adults within Santa Clara’s community.

Contact Emma Pollans at epollans@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.