The following comes from a Jan. 21 story in the Mercury News.

For a school steeped in 167 years of history, Santa Clara University clearly has the future in mind with the public announcement Saturday night of an unprecedented $1 billion capital campaign.

The public phase of the campaign, “Innovating with a Mission,” was launched in front of the university’s strongest base of supporters, the 2,500-person audience at the 53rd annual Golden Circle Theatre Party, a sold-out fundraiser headlined by superstar James Taylor at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.

“This is like an IPO. We’re taking this campaign public,” said Jeff Miller, a 1973 SCU grad and president of JAMM Ventures who is co-chairing the campaign. “Part of the campaign here is to thrust ourselves to the point where we’re recognized nationally and we impact things globally.”

Miller is co-chairing the campaign with real estate veteran and philanthropist John A. Sobrato, giving the university two well-connected heavy hitters who are also longstanding donors themselves. They helped bring in more than $570 million over the past four years during the campaign’s “quiet” phase.

That has provided funding to launch several projects on campus already, including a new law school building, a new undergraduate residence hall and an Academic Excellence Center. And that’s not counting the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation, a hub for tech and humanities learning that received a lead gift of $100 million from Sobrato and his wife, Sue Sobrato, in 2017.

With all the construction on campus, Mission Santa Clara at the heart of the university may be the only thing left unchanged a generation from now.

The Rev. Michael Engh, Santa Clara University’s president, said the campaign has its roots in a strategic plan that predates his presidency but presented a future that emphasized engineering and business skills, a future that would mean updated facilities and technology throughout campus. An initial list of more than 600 potential projects was whittled down to 44, many of which have been partially completed.