June 2018

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 15, 2018— In front of a packed audience of cheering family and friends, more than 600 Santa Clara University students of business, counseling psychology, education, engineering, and pastoral ministry were awarded advanced degrees Friday evening.

The celebration was the 167th commencement for recipients of graduate degrees, which took place in Santa Clara University’s Buck Shaw Field at Stevens Stadium.

During the event, Santa Clara University President Michael Engh, S.J., congratulated the graduates and urged them to put their education to work to improve the lives of others. “The work you’ve done must continue,” he said.

Quoting the late Jesuit Superior General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Engh said SCU graduates, must “let the gritty reality of the world into their lives, to feel it, to think about it critically, to respond to suffering and engage it constructively.” Engh said that, to do so, “love must motivate our actions… a love for humanity, a love for life, a love that recognizes each individual encountered as a fellow companinon on this journey, life.”

Quoting American author Maya Angelou, Engh noted “love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

“Love is our hope-filled life raft on which we can save the world,” he concluded.

During the evening, advanced degrees were conferred upon students from the Leavey School of Business; the School of Engineering; the School of Education and Counseling Psychology; and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Pastoral Ministries program. More than 800 students earned degrees; over 600 chose to walk in the commencement ceremony.

Prior to the ceremony, recent alumni Travis Chen ‘17 M.S.; Jesse Hans Stokes Harder ’17 M.S.; and Nathanial Surman Tucker ’17 M.S. were presented with the School of Engineering’s Graduate Academic Excellence in Engineering Awards.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | (408) 554-5121 | dlohse@scu.edu