Academic Support

Santa Clara University Mission
Santa Clara University is a Catholic and Jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning as it deals with the challenges facing it.

Student learning takes place at the undergraduate and graduate level in an educational environment that integrates rigorous inquiry and scholarship, creative imagination, reflective engagement with society, and a commitment to fashioning a more humane and just world. As an academic community, we expand the boundaries of knowledge and insight through teaching, research, artistic expression, and other forms of scholarship. It is primarily through discovering, communication, and applying knowledge that we exercise our institutional responsibility as a voice of reason and conscience in society.

We offer challenging academic programs and demonstrate a commitment to the development of:

• Undergraduate students who seek an education with a strong humanistic orientation in a primarily residential setting.
• Graduate students, many of them working professionals in Silicon Valley, who seek advanced degree programs that prepare them to make significant contributions in their fields.

In addition to these core programs, we also provide a variety of continuing education and professional development opportunities for nonmatriculated and nonmatriculating students.

Academic Advising
Advisors in the Academic Support Center guide student-athletes toward determining majors within the College of Arts and Science, the Leavey School of Business, and the School of Engineering as well as lead the student-athletes through specific course requirements for academic eligibility and, foremost, toward a baccalaureate degree.

Assigned Study Program
In order to facilitate a smooth transition from high school to Santa Clara University, the Assigned Study Program is required for all new student-athletes as well as for select continuing students. This program provides a context for recognizing the necessary characteristics of a good student (i.e. time management, study habits, advisory support, goal setting) and includes quarterly workshops.

Tutorial Services
For student-athletes who desire regular assistance in specific courses, the Academic Support Center, in conjunction with the University's Drahmann Advising and Learning Center, provides tutorial services and peer mentoring. Tutors are free of charge for all SCU undergraduates and are available for only lower division coursework.

National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)

Basic Purpose:
". . . maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body and, by so doing, retain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports."

West Coast Conference (WCC)

The purposes of this conference are:

• To initiate, stimulate and improve conference intercollegiate athletics programs for student-athletes.
• To support the principle of institutional control of, and responsibility for, intercollegiate athletics programs in compliance with conference and NCAA legislation.
• To provide a unified association for institutions that share similar academic missions and athletics philosophies.

To work with member institutions and their athletics officials to encourage student-athletes to gain a sound education while obtaining a degree.

NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Program

In 1991, the NCAA Foundation initiated efforts to create a total development program. Through the collaborative efforts of the NCAA Foundation and the Division 1-A Athletic Directors' Association, the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success) was created.

Mission:
". . . provide educational experience and services in order to develop well-balanced lifestyles for student-athletes; to encourage growth in decision-making, planning and fulfillment of career and life goals; and to enhance the quality of the student-athlete experience within the university setting."

Santa Clara University is an affiliated member of the WCC and the NCAA I-AAA. In accordance with the purpose and mission of the NCAA, the WCC, and the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program, the Bronco Academic Support Center mirrors these efforts by providing a number of services and programs as a part of the overall growth and experience of the student-athlete.

The Athletics Department, through the Athletic Academic Support Coordinator's office, offers a comprehensive academic support system that functions for the benefit of all student-athletes. For this support system to have maximum effect, a policy has been developed by department administrators, head coaches, student-athletes, and the Athletic Academic Support Coordinator. This policy regulates participation in the Academic Support Center, tutoring sessions, and various academic workshops.

Santa Clara University
Approved by the Board of Trustees
February 20, 1998