Campus briefs

2006 commencement speakers announced

Former editor of America Magazine Thomas Reese, S.J., and Peter Steinfels, current co-director of the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture, will be speaking at the 2006 commencement ceremonies, the university announced Monday.

Reese, who will speak at the undergraduate ceremony, resigned from the Jesuit publication abruptly in May 2005. His resignation followed a term marked by controversy over article choices and material published by the magazine, according to reports in The New York Times, especially in dealing with influential Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith -- a church task force headed by now-Pope Benedict XVI.

Reese has been a visiting scholar at Santa Clara this academic year.

Steinfels, who will speak at the graduate ceremony, is a former editor of Commonweal Magazine, an independent journal published by Catholic lay people.

New bioengineering program comes to Santa Clara

A new bioengineering program is beginning on campus this spring through the School of Engineering in the hopes of bringing more engineering undergraduate students to Santa Clara.

Bioengineering will be offered as a concentration within the general engineering major. A biomedical engineering minor will also be offered starting this spring. Santa Clara's School of Engineering is ranked 14th in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

From staff reports. E-mail news@thesantaclara.com.