Dean Cyrus C. Taylor. Photo by Daniel Milner.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of my appointment as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. As we all know, the past decade has been a challenging time for higher education. But for Case Western Reserve and for the college, it has also been a period of exciting change. Many of our proudest achievements have already been celebrated in art/sci. But there is more to be said about some of the developments that have increased the vitality and stature of this institution.

Students. When I became dean in 2006, the university had an undergraduate enrollment of 3,998 students. This past year, we had 5,037. Moreover, our student body is more academically accomplished and more diverse than ever before.

These changes have had a tremendous effect on the atmosphere of our campus. We have reached a critical mass of undergraduates, with a resulting increase in social interaction. Student activities and organizations are flourishing, and with them opportunities for engagement and leadership. All of these factors have greatly enlivened the undergraduate experience.

Faculty. The college has attracted fabulous scholars and researchers, not only during the past decade but over the past 15 years, as an earlier generation of eminent faculty members retired. One crucial result of this process has been a substantial increase in the representation of women in traditionally male-dominated fields.

Identity. The college, which unites the natural sciences and mathematics with the social sciences, arts and humanities, was founded in 1992. Not surprisingly, fashioning a strong collective identity for its historically separate divisions has been a gradual process. But over the past 10 years, I have seen the old boundaries fade; the college, along with the larger university, has embraced its comprehensive mission. The Maltz Performing Arts Center is a testament to that mission, and so is our campus master plan, which calls for construction of a new science and engineering building and for extensive renovations of the landmark structures that house our social science and humanities departments.

As the plan also suggests, however, our work is far from done. Our current facilities are inadequate for the kinds of research we need to be conducting over the next couple of decades. We do not have enough classrooms designed for collaborative teaching and learning. The continued expansion and updating of our physical infrastructure thus remains a top priority.

In terms of programs, we are committed to enhancing graduate education across the college, especially in the humanities. Nor will we rest on our laurels when it comes to undergraduate education. Members of the college faculty have joined a new task force, the Provost’s Commission on the Undergraduate Experience, whose charge is to determine how best to prepare our students for the dynamic world that awaits them.

Finally, my thoughts on this anniversary turn to the people who have influenced me during my career at Case Western Reserve. One of them, Bob Brown, is the subject of a profile in this issue (p. 16); our friendship and mentoring relationship began almost 30 years ago. Let me also pay tribute to two pivotal figures in the university’s history, Pat Kilpatrick and Harvey Buchanan, who died this winter (p. 5). They were both dear friends and important guides to me, and I know they had a lifelong impact on many readers of this magazine. I will continue to keep their example in mind as I, in turn, help nurture the institution they served so magnificently.

Cyrus C. Taylor
Dean and Albert A. Michelsen Professor in Physics