By Voice staff

The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley will become a school of Santa Clara University on July 1 in an arrangement approved by the boards of both schools and announced May 4. Under the new arrangement, JSTB will remain in Berkeley, but will be known as the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. Degrees granted by JST eventually will bear that name.

“This partnership solidifies and fortifies SCU and JST in their shared goal of engaging in global theological study, contextual education, and justice-oriented ministry,” said Michael Engh, S.J., president of Santa Clara University, in announcing the joint venture. “It will also help ensure a continued, strong Jesuit presence at SCU,” he said.

JST will remain a member of the nine-school ecumenical Graduate Theological Union, which has the largest doctoral program in theology in the United States.

JST students will continue to have the right to cross-register at UC Berkeley and will also have access to Santa Clara’s resources in religious studies and other disciplines.

The Vatican Congregation of Catholic Education in Rome will continue to set standards for the granting of JST ecclesiastical degrees and both Santa Clara and the Jesuit School will retain the academic freedoms they currently enjoy, according to spokeswomen for the two schools.

“The integration with Santa Clara University represents a crossroads for the Jesuit School of Theology,” said Jesuit Father Kevin Burke, executive dean and acting president of JSTB.

Father Burke said the integration with Santa Clara is the third major move for the theology school which was founded as Alma College in 1934 and moved to Berkeley in 1969.

Both schools have a strong tradition of theological study. “By bringing those traditions together, this partnership will ensure a strong future for the education of tomorrow’s Jesuits, religious women and Catholic lay ministers.” said Jesuit Father Thomas H. Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States.

The Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University will have a board of directors numbering between 15 and 27. Seven of these directors will be Jesuit priests. The Jesuit School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the American Association of Theological Schools, and by the Vatican Congregation of Catholic Education as an Ecclesiastical Faculty of Theology.

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