SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Two Jesuit educators were elected to Santa Clara University’s Board of Trustees, bringing to 44 the number of members of the governing body that helps steer strategies and priorities of the 163-year-old private University.
The two new trustees, Erick Berrelleza, S.J., and Matthew E. Carnes, S.J., were approved by a board vote on June 6, 2014. Both are members of the California Province of the Society of Jesus.
"We are pleased to welcome Fr. Carnes and Mr. Berrelleza to our board,” said President Michael Engh, S.J. “As Jesuits who are highly regarded in their respective fields, they bring perspectives that will both guide and enrich us as we move forward with our integrated strategic plan."
Berrelleza is a Jesuit scholastic currently pursuing master’s degrees in theology and divinity at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry in preparation for ordination. He currently serves as a pastoral minister at St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown, Mass., and researches with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. His previous appointments have included advocacy for asylum seekers with Jesuit Refugee Service in Munich, Germany; chaplain at the Institute for Latin American Concern in the Dominican Republic, an immersion organization for Creighton University students; and a teacher of religion and English at Colegio San Javier in Uruguay. He has a B.A. in philosophy from Loyola Marymount University and has studied political philosophy at the Hochschule fur Philosophie in Munich.
Originally from Los Angeles, Calif., he taught religious studies at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose from 2010 to 2012 and has served on special assignment at the President’s Office at SCU.
“I am honored to be elected to the Board of Trustees of Santa Clara University,” said Berrelleza. “The mission of Santa Clara energizes my own passion for education and pastoral work in a global context. I look forward to collaborating with the board to serve the members of this generous, visionary, and compassionate community.”
Carnes, a native of San Carlos, Calif., has been assistant professor of government at Georgetown since 2009 and is the recipient of several awards for outstanding teaching and faculty excellence. He spent a year as a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a semester as a fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford, where he also received his B.A. in international relations. He holds a M.Div. degree from the Jesuit School of Theology of Berkeley (now of Santa Clara University) and an M.A. in philosophical resources from Fordham University.
A Jesuit priest since 2003, he was a Jesuit scholar-in-residence at Unity residential learning community at SCU from 2004 to 2008 and from 2011 to 2012. During that time, he periodically served as coordinator for student immersions in Tijuana, Mexico.
“I have a great fondness for Santa Clara University and the time I’ve spent here,” said Carnes. “The University is a remarkable community of open, intellectual debate that keeps justice for the world’s poorest and most needy at the forefront in all its endeavors. It will be a privilege to contribute to Santa Clara’s work and foster its growth.”
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
