'Campaign for Santa Clara' Raises $343 Million; Trustees Pledge Additional Funds to Help SCU Complete Construction Projects.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Santa Clara University President Paul Locatelli, S.J. today announced that the University's fund-raising campaign, the largest in its 156-year history, had raised more than $343 million of the total campaign goal of $350 million.

"The campaign has raised $25 million in the last quarter of 2005 alone," said Bob Peters, chair of SCU's Board of Trustees Fund Raising Committee and a graduate of the SCU class of 1961.

In addition, all 26 lay members of the University's Board of Trustees have agreed to make additional commitments to help SCU fund the priorities in its comprehensive capital campaign.

"We are asking the entire SCU community: alumni, parents, faculty, students, staff and friends to join the Trustees in bringing these projects to reality," said Peters. "Our hope is that the leadership and generosity of the Trustees will motivate the rest of the SCU family and our friends in the corporate and foundation worlds to join us in supporting these essential campaign projects." To date, SCU trustees have contributed $75 million to the campaign. "We are confident that some trustees will do more for Santa Clara," Peters said.

He added that rising construction costs in Silicon Valley have resulted in significant additional costs for three key SCU projects: a new commons and library, a new business school building for the Leavey School of Business, and a new residence for the Jesuits at the University.

The new commons and library at Santa Clara University will be roughly twice the size of the current library. It will have the capacity to store 1.1 million volumes, approximately 20 years growth, with its automated retrieval system (ARS) that will expand the library's capacity to store and access well over a million volumes. "Thanks to some exceptional donors, the capital projects got off to a great start," Peters said. "However, the three capital projects have received $80 million against a goal of $132 million, and projected construction costs have increased by $37 million for a total potential shortfall of $89 million," he said.

The new 85,000 square foot business school building on the university's mission campus will be about two and a half times as large as the current facilities and will unite the business school classrooms, faculty offices, research centers, and executive education programs that are currently spread across campus.

SCU President Paul Locatelli said that these two building projects represent the university's commitment to excellence. "The library is the intellectual heart of the university and the business school needs a 21st century facility to continue to train ethical leaders for Silicon Valley and the world," he said. Locatelli added that construction of the new Jesuit residence will help attract new Jesuits and allow Nobili Hall (the current Jesuit residence) to return to its original purpose as a student residence.

"This campaign represents an opportunity for SCU alums to invest in a world class Jesuit education and help shape future generations of leaders," said Heidi Le Baron Leupp. Leupp who earned her degree in German from SCU in 1984 and is a member of the trustee fund raising committee stressed, "Every gift counts, no matter the size."

Peters has lived in Silicon Valley all his life except for two years as a U.S. Army Signal Corps officer at the Satellite Communication Agency in Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, and two years at Harvard Business School where he earned an MBA in 1965. He spent 10 years working at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International), where he led many consulting projects on the future of communication satellites, cable television, inkjet technology, and telephony. In the '80s, he held senior positions in a number of start-ups including Sierra Semiconductor (now PMC Sierra), and Cisco Systems where, in 1988, his strategy of increasing the price of Cisco's first TCP/IP router strengthened the company's profitability.

The campaign for Santa Clara is scheduled to conclude in December 31, 2006.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,397 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.