Dear Friends,

We are grateful for all that this summer season of warmth and light offers: the chance to reflect, reconnect, rejuvenate, plan, and grow. It’s also a very productive season for our law school community. 

Our faculty are actively advancing their research and engaging in thoughtful conversations about the role and impact of artificial intelligence–in their disciplines, in the classroom, and in the broader context of higher education. We look forward with great anticipation to learning the insights and innovations that will emerge from their explorations, and how they will enrich our collective work. 

Toward that end, I am so pleased to share that we are launching a new event titled, "What I Did Last Summer," to be held August 27, 2025, from noon to 1pm, in the Charney Atrium. Please save the date! This engaging forum will give students and other community members the opportunity to learn more about what our preeminent faculty and staff-educators did during the summer, including their cutting edge research and public service. 

We’re also grateful for the many global learning opportunities offered through our summer abroad programs. Since launching 50 years ago, these experiences have opened doors for our students, faculty, and staff-educators to broaden their learning, pursue international externships, and engage with cultures and communities across the world. A heartfelt thank you to the faculty and staff-educators who are accompanying our students on these transformative journeys. While we’re dispersed across different continents–whether working, studying, or traveling–we continue to stay connected through our shared experiences. 

Our dedicated faculty, staff-educators, and administrators are also busy preparing for the semesters ahead, enrolling a sensational new incoming class, and laying the foundation for another successful academic year. We are deeply appreciative of Andy Kryder '74, J.D./MBA '77, executive member and former chair of our Law Advisory Board, and his wife Joselle, who generously hosted a staff appreciation luncheon at their home on June 18. The beautiful occasion gave us the chance to express our great thanks to our staff-educators for their hard and heroic work throughout the year. 

At this juncture, let’s also take the time to send our best wishes to our graduates who are preparing for the July bar exam. We thank our OABS and LSS teams for providing wrap-around support during the long and intense study period. We also thank the many volunteers who stepped up to be “Bar Buddies” to check in on our bar takers and the offices who provided meals and friendly faces during lunch breaks throughout the summer. I am inspired by the community effort to lift up and support our students when they most need it. 

Although this season has been a terrifically productive period for us, I also hope that you will all find time to heed Mary Oliver’s call in her prayerful poem, “The Summer Day”: to really recollect “how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields.” 

With warm regards and tremendous gratitude,

Santa Clara University School of Law