Posts Tagged ‘Santa Clara University’

Former Santa Clara University President Jesuit Father William Rewak will return to the campus as the new chancellor of the 160-year-old Jesuit institution effective August 15th, SCU President Jesuit Father Michael Engh announced.

In his role as SCU chancellor, Rewak will assist Engh in vital areas, including civic engagement, fundraising, community outreach, and ceremonial events. He will also head a newly established Council of Trustee Emeriti, a board comprising former, honored trustees who will continue to serve and provide counsel to SCU.

“I’m very happy to be returning to Santa Clara and look forward to renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. The position of chancellor is a challenging one, but challenges keep the imagination alive,” said Rewak.

Rewak was appointed chancellor of SCU once before, in 1989. But he held that post for only a few months before being tapped to fill in for the unexpectedly ill president of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. He ended up staying in that post until 1997. Since January 2011, Rewak has been interim director of the Jesuit Retreat House in Los Altos, for which he was director from 1998 to 2005. Prior to his current post, he served as minister of the Jesuit Community at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he also taught poetry.

“I am honored and grateful that Fr. Rewak has accepted my offer of this position to help advance the vision, mission, and strategic plan for Santa Clara University,” Engh said in an announcement to the University community. “He showed a passion for this University when he was president that has continued unabated, and we are fortunate for his continued service.”

To read the full announcement, please visit Santa Clara’s website.

Fairfield University’s Center for Faith and Public Life has been awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to study the education of undocumented students at Jesuit universities. Fairfield University will lead the project, collaborating with Santa Clara University and Loyola University Chicago.

Jesuit Father Rick Ryscavage,  professor of sociology and director of the Center for Faith and Public Life at Fairfield and a former national director of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, who will serve as director of the project, said, “there is very little hard data about the situation of undocumented students in American universities. This grant will allow us to make a major contribution to the national understanding of the problem.”

Under the grant, a research study will seek to survey and understand the social context and current practices and attitudes in American Jesuit schools of higher education regarding undocumented students.

The study will consider:

• Structures that support or challenge the higher education of undocumented students
• Best practices and strategies for ensuring their eventual success
• A potential collaborative model for helping students as they move through their university years
• Issues facing students after graduation

Leading the research team, consisting of law and social science faculty from all three institutions, will be Dr. Kurt Schlichting, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Fairfield.

The project is designed to stimulate a sustained dialogue with the 28 Jesuit schools of higher education in the United States by asking two questions:

1. What are the current practices among our schools?
2. What challenges do we face in trying to serve these students?

A final policy paper, highlighting the results of the study, will include a moral argument, anchored in Catholic social teaching, for better meeting the needs of undocumented students.

At least 1,500 mourners are expected to attend the outdoor funeral service Friday evening for Jesuit Father Paul Locatelli, Santa Clara University‘s (SCU) chancellor and former president who guided the university through tremendous change and revitalization.

Fr. Locatelli, 71, died Monday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He had recently returned from Rome, where he worked as secretary of higher education for the Society of Jesus. He retired in 2008 after 20 years as president of the university, but remained chancellor despite his job in Rome.

A viewing inside Mission Santa Clara, the heart of the Jesuit university campus, will take place today from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The funeral service begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight and will be held outside in the nearby Mission Gardens. A live video feed of Locatelli’s funeral mass will be at www.scu.edu/locatelli. SCU is requesting people share their memories of Locatelli on their website here.

Jesuit Father Michael Zampelli, a faculty member since 1998 and currently the Paul Locatelli University Professor in the department of theatre and dance, has been named rector to the Jesuit community at Santa Clara University.

As rector of the second-largest Jesuit community in the California province of Jesuits, Zampelli will serve as the religious superior for his 40 fellow Jesuits on campus. His role is to support and serve them in living their personal, communal, and apostolic lives as Jesuits. Jesuits are members of the Catholic order of priests, the Society of Jesus.

Appointed to his role by Jesuit Fr. General Adolfo Nicolás, the superior general of the Society of Jesus in Rome, Zampelli will work closely with University President Jesuit Father Michael Engh, in cultivating the Jesuit and Catholic mission of SCU.

Read more about Zampelli’s appointment here.

Team California, comprised of students from Santa Clara University, got its day in the sun after winning second place in engineering and third place overall at the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. The students beat top universities such as Tufts University, Rice University and Cornell University, making their home one of the most energy-efficient, beautiful and comfortable solar-powered homes in the world. The judges described Team California’s 800-square-foot house, called Refract House, as masterfully executed, exquisite and well designed.

Read more about Team California’s win here.

Helping lead the team to its win was Jesuit Father Jim Reites, faculty member at SCU. With his endless supply of energy, infectious laugh and no-nonsense, do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-job-done attitude, Reites is an essential and beloved member of the team who has been inspiring students at SCU since he joined the community in 1975.

Allison Kopf, ’11, student project leader for the ’09 team, calls Reites “one of the most enthusiastic, hard-working people I’ve ever met. His pride in the project and excitement about the process encourage students to work to their fullest.” James Bickford, BSME ’08, who led the student team to their third place victory in 2007, agrees: “Father Reites is the Energizer Bunny of the Solar Decathlon program. He is an all-around great guy with a big heart, can-do spirit, and energy becoming that of a 20-year-old.”

Read more about Fr. Reites’ work with the SCU Solar Decathlon team here.

You can also view a video of Fr. Reites speaking about Team California at SCU’s website:
http://www.scu.edu/news/videos/Reites-Talks-About-Team-California.cfm