All the Ingredients

James Lyons joins the university as the new Vice President for University Relations

James Lyons came aboard as the new vice president for University Relations in mid-October, but folks who were here for Grand Reunion before that may have run into him on campus then. After all, he didn’t want to miss the biggest annual gathering of Broncos. He now heads up SCU’s fundraising, government relations, alumni relations, and marketing and communications activities (a division where this mag resides). No stranger to Catholic higher ed, he comes to us from University of Portland (perennial women’s soccer rival, we note), where he headed up admissions (result: 600 percent increase in applicants) and then was VP of university relations and point guard for Portland’s RISE campaign, a $175 million shebang that was the largest in the school’s 111-year history. He’s been president of the National Catholic Colleges Admission Association and directed admissions at Sonoma State University and Seattle University, the latter his alma mater (undergrad and grad). After college, he took a year off to travel the world. So maybe it’s no surprise that he says: “Santa Clara has all the ingredients to make a significant and lasting impact—from the Silicon Valley to sites throughout the globe.”

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From Scratch

The new leader of SCU’s adolescent mental health concentration wants to design better mental healthcare delivery systems to help more kids, now.

Green Is the New Black

Leaders in sustainable fashion shared career advice with student designers at SCU’s popular EcoFashion Show.

Hop 2 It

How do you get from hops to beer? Sustainability interns found out by turning hops grown at SCU’s Forge Garden into “Forge Ahead,” an English-style pale ale.

Racking Up

Tess Heal ’26 is nabbing awards left and right thanks to a stellar freshman year with Santa Clara women’s basketball.