To the parent or prospective student reading this,

I ask: what does it take to thrive in a world that never stops changing?

There was a time when higher education not only prepared learners for the workforce but also empowered them to build the very companies and ideas that defined their generation.

Somewhere along the way, that promise began to fade.

Too many institutions now cost too much, take too long, and produce skill sets misaligned with the pace and needs of today’s world.

And the schools that do produce the most “work-ready” graduates?

They often do so by the design of exclusion—selecting only the top 1% of talent who likely would have succeeded with or without them.

At University of Silicon Valley, we are going to change that.

While many institutions are still grappling with how to adapt, USV is already charting a new course. My mission is to advance that work—to design an education that moves at the speed of one’s ambition, is accessible to all ready to earn it, and remains relentlessly relevant to the future of work.

We are building a university where students learn like the future depends on it.

That means a formative education—one that develops not only skill, but also character, creativity, and conscience. Learners here will create works of genuine consequence—solutions and innovations that shape culture, technology, and society itself.

I’m no cynic when it comes to higher education. I’ve spent my life inside it—from serving as Student Body President at Arizona State University, to helping govern three of the nation’s largest public universities, to leading a student-driven research and development lab that built real-world innovations for industry partners.

And now, as one of the youngest university presidents, I intend to put the learner back where they belong—at the center.

The promise of USV is simple yet radical:

To deliver an education that teaches the most relevant tools of today, while forming the timeless qualities of mind and character that define great thinkers, builders, and leaders.

We will provide a holistic, polymathic™ education—one that fuses design, analytics, engineering, art, and entrepreneurship.

Our students will learn by doing—developing real solutions for real partners, all while still in school.

At USV, we will select for potential, form for excellence, and champion those who bear our credential for a lifetime.

I hope you will join us at a university built for a world that never stops changing.

Dr. Mark Naufel
President
University of Silicon Valley