SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY

private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Santa Clara, Calif., U.S. It is affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic church. It offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. The College of Arts and Sciences, the largest academic division, manages about 30 majors through 18 departments. Other divisions include the Leavey School of Business and Administration, schools of Engineering and Law, and the Division of Counseling Psychology and Education; the university also offers a paralegal certification program. The university enrolls approximately 7,800 students. Santa Clara University is the oldest institution of higher learning in California. The school was founded on the site of the Santa Clara de Ass mission, originally established by Franciscans in 1777. Spanish-style buildings predominate campus architecture. The Adobe Lodge, built in 1822 and restored in 1981, is the oldest building on campus. Mission properties were secularized by 1837, and by mid-century, increased migration to California provided impetus for the creation of a school. Jesuit priests founded Santa Clara College in 1851; it was chartered in 1855, and the first bachelor's degree was granted in 1857. In 1912 Santa Clara was elevated to university status. After the mission church was destroyed in a fire in 1926, another was erected in 1928. Women were first admitted in 1961.