Authentic Connections for Students, Staff and Faculty

We invite all students, staff and faculty to attend Santa Clara's annual Authentic Connections: Showcase & Awards. Each year, we award $10,000 in scholarships to five individual students and five student organizations thanks to the generous sponsorship of Enterprise Mobility.

10th Annual Authentic Connections: Showcase & Awards
Thursday, February 11, 2027, 4-7 p.m.
Locatelli Student Activity Center
Santa Clara University

The submission and nomination deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, November 22, 2026.

Thank you to our corporate sponsors for providing $10,000 in student award scholarships.

What is Authentic Connections: Showcase & Awards?

• Authentic Connections celebrates students from all backgrounds, while simultaneously connecting students with employers who champion healthy company cultures in the workplace, especially for people early in their career.
• This event is a career development and networking pipeline for organizations to meet SCU’s diverse students in a celebration of what our students will bring to their future workplaces and careers. Employer partners can serve as facilitators for roundtable discussions or company representatives during our networking session.

Why should you attend?

• Celebrate: Be celebrated and celebrate peers as they receive awards and recognition for sharing their backgrounds/experiences and how they shaped their career and professional journeys.
• Educate: Learn from professionals by engaging in breakout discussions and hearing from panelists who will provide insights from their lived experiences and perspectives in their personal and career journeys. 
• Connect: Network with people from diverse backgrounds who care about early-career talent, student leadership, and the future workforce.

 What will the event include?

• Buffet dinner catered by Bon Appetit
• Student and student organization awards presented by Enterprise Mobility
• Panel of speakers
• Facilitated breakout discussions
• Reverse career fair featuring student organizations

What is a reverse career fair?

We’ve all heard about regular career fairs, where students meet recruiters from different companies, but have you heard of a reverse career fair? Instead of students walking from table to table to meet recruiters, it’s switched. Student organization leaders are the ones behind the tables! This is a great opportunity for employers to make direct connections with student clubs and meet the next generation of student leaders.

If your student organization is interested in being represented at the Reverse Career Fair, please reach out to Amanuel Bizuneh, Assistant Director of Employer Relations, at [email protected]. 

Who should come?

Diversity Works is a celebration of identity and personal stories as they relate to career. As such, DWE is for all Santa Clara students, staff and faculty. We welcome the diverse array of identities we all bring to the future of work, including but not limited to people of color, LGBTQIA+, veteran, non-traditional age students, people with disabilities both visible and nonvisible, allies, and more!

What will I get out of this?

• A safe and brave space to talk about diversity, inclusion and equity issues in the workplace
• Authentic engagement with companies and employers who practice DEI and a commitment to social identity awareness
• Support with identifying your values, needs and considerations that can support your career discernment
• Free food!

Santa Clara's Authentic Connections: Showcase & Awards has been highlighted by Handshake, Inside Higher Ed, and the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers.

Authentic Connections: Showcase & Awards honors the unique and diverse contributions of all members of our community which is core to SCU's mission as a Jesuit Catholic institution of higher education. The program and all awards are open to all students, without regard to race, color, national origin, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Questions? Email us at [email protected].