A grand new gateway

The doors are officially open on a building sure to welcome visitors to the Mission Campus like never before. Just inside the University’s main entrance on Palm Drive, the Patricia A. and Stephen C. Schott Admission and Enrollment Services Building was dedicated on Oct. 10. It’s the crowning piece of a master plan for campus improvement rolled out in 2001.

A generous gift from Patricia and Stephen Schott ’60 made the building possible, with additional gifts donated by other members of the Class of 1960.

Built with prospective students and their families in mind (with parking right next door), the Mission-style building also provides an enrollment hub for current students, who can check financial aid, enroll for classes, and pay bills under one roof. The design incorporates the latest in sustainable technologies. But it’s inside where the real surprise awaits.

The lobby is home to a dazzling array of images and technologies that invite: “See yourself at Santa Clara.” Stories old and new are displayed through panoramic portraits of Broncos past and present, videos, interactive kiosks, and a reflective sphere that offers to make that metaphoric invitation literal. (Think a much smaller scale version of the mirror-surfaced sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, affectionately known as The Bean.) The whole package is designed to involve and inspire visitors, and to illustrate the University’s Jesuit mission.

Above the metallic sphere, its external surface a cylindrical panorama of photos, are images of alumni who make the headlines—from Leon Panetta ’60, J.D. ’63 to Brandi Chastain ’91 and Steve Nash ’96.

On the interior are faces of some recent grads. And on the back wall, opposite the main entrance, hangs an expansive golden-colored map of Silicon Valley, dotted with companies that extend key opportunities for internships and careers. Hannah Watanabe ’10 was thrilled to find her profile on the map.

Currently a social media marketing specialist for Silicon Valley software giant Synopsys, Watanabe found that position through a Santa Clara internship. “When I was applying to SCU and touring the campus,” she says, “all I really wanted to know was ‘What is life like after graduation? Are students successful? Where do they end up?’” Now, as one of the University’s Silicon Valley success stories, she helps answer that question for prospective students.