Cyrus C. Taylor
These are exciting times for Case Western Reserve University. In May, we celebrated the groundbreaking for the Tinkham Veale University Center, a $50 million project that will transform student life on our campus. The center has been on the drawing board of our collective imagination for more than a decade, and it figured prominently in the university’s 2008 strategic plan. When it opens three years from now, programs and activities of every description will have the space they need, the visibility they deserve and unprecedented opportunities for collaboration.
In the College of Arts and Sciences, members of our faculty have joined with colleagues across the university to promote another major strategic goal: developing interdisciplinary collaborations that increase the university’s impact. The Institute for the Science of Origins is the first of many examples that will be featured in art/sci.
Inspiring young people to pursue careers in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and medicine—has long been part of the college’s mission. Our work in this area has been immeasurably enhanced by the generosity of the Gelfand Family Charitable Trust, which has endowed our new Gelfand STEM Center.
This issue also highlights two master’s programs that are especially close to my heart. In a story about our Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP), you will meet young alumni who are already leaders of innovation in fields ranging from cancer therapy to alternative energy. And alongside a feature about our MFA Acting Program’s move to PlayhouseSquare, you will catch a glimpse of two alums—one of them a Tony nominee—now making their Broadway debuts.
You would expect to see many of the nation’s highest-achieving students flock to the vibrant, multifaceted institution described in this issue. And so they have. This fall, we will welcome the largest and most academically accomplished class in the university’s history. Meeting them during admission events this spring, I was impressed by their lively curiosity and their eagerness to contribute both to the university community and to the larger world. I am confident that they will fit right in, and that one day I will be reporting to you about their outstanding achievements.
Case Western Reserve pursued a national recruiting strategy to create this entering class, and we hope to build on our success with help from our alumni. The Office of Undergraduate Admission is seeking volunteers to interview prospective students around the country and let them know what the university has to offer.
Our record-breaking enrollment this fall has broad significance. Our excellence is no longer a regional secret; we are gaining recognition of our place among America’s leading research universities. Your support has been essential to our progress, and I want to express my profound appreciation for your continuing contributions.
Cyrus C. Taylor
Dean and Albert A. Michelson Professor in Physics