Mission Priority Examen
The Mission Priority Examen (MPE) is a process for Jesuit, Catholic universities in the United States to reflect on the integration of mission into the fabric of the university community and to set priorities for continued depth and breadth of mission integration into the future. Santa Clara University completed its first MPE in 2019 and its second in 2026. Both of these endeavors were shared discernment efforts, engaging broad representations of the SCU community in reflecting on how to live out our mission in our unique context of Silicon Valley at this moment in our history. The MPE is an opportunity to simultaneously listen, lift up, celebrate, and form our community. Recognizing that our Jesuit identity and mission is our long-term north star, we seek to better understand how it is at work in our community, how it is being complemented and strengthened by new voices that each day join our community, and the ways faith and Ignatian discernment can help us respond ever more authentically to the needs of our world.
“One of the reasons we do the Mission Priority Examen is so people can enhance their understanding of our mission and make it their own. As a community, we keep evolving in the ways we appropriate these values and make them our own, how we express them and sometimes even modify and see them grow. That to me is really exciting.”
~ Matthew Carnes, SJ | Vice President for Mission and Ministry
Our Mission Priorities
Through a robust and inclusive process with the SCU community completed in 2025-2026, we have established two priorities that will guide our work to deepen our Jesuit, Catholic mission for the next several years.
Promote Greater Depth in Living our Mission
Mission Priority 1
Our first mission priority aims to promote opportunities for greater depth of engagement with our Ignatian mission and guiding values, and with their roots in our Jesuit, Catholic traditions and identity.
Advance Institutional Commitments that Reflect our Mission
Mission Priority 2
Our second mission priority seeks to build on our strategic plan’s institutional commitments to advance the ways our community feels included in the living of our mission in the concrete circumstances of their lives.
Engaging Our Values
During the Fall quarter of 2025, the Santa Clara community members were invited to community conversations to offer feedback to help set mission priorities.
Self-Study Report
Over the course of the last full year, we gathered hundreds of our Santa Clara community members for probing conversations for the Mission Priority Examen.
Executive Summary
As can be seen in the descriptions of our two mission priorities, we see great resonance between them and the University’s strategic plan, Impact 2030.