The University is on the cusp of major changes driven by a desire to tackle tremendous problems of our age, President Michael Engh, S.J., M.Div. ’82 said in the 2015 State of the University address on Feb. 19. “If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough,” he said, quoting Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Some recent big numbers: a record-high undergraduate retention rate of 96.2 percent for first-year students returning as sophomores, and more than 15,000 students applying for 1,250 openings in next fall’s class. Even bigger plans are afoot—including a campus expansion—as part of SCU’s comprehensive campaign and Integrated Strategic Plan. Summing up, Fr. Engh said, SCU’s ambitious plans are a way of challenging the University to “do something great,” and Silicon Valley is “a rare ecosystem of venture capital, creativity, risk, and genius.” Learn more about the speech.

Spin Masters

In searching for patterns that would differentiate one species of webspinners from the next, Professor Janice Edgerly-Rooks wondered: What if you put their steps to music? Would you be able to hear the differences?

A Strong Red

Santa Clara’s signature red has been around since the late 1800s. Before it was made official, though, we were almost the blue Broncos.

Unspooling Stories

Art historian Andrea Pappas explores the sneaky feminism woven into colonial embroideries.

The Pope, AI, and Us

Santa Clara’s Markkula Center joins the Vatican in contemplating—what else?—the ethics of AI and other disruptive tech.