Joy K. Ward. Photo by Anthony Gray.

This spring, the newest graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences assembled in person to receive their degrees and applaud one another for their success. There were no rows of family members looking on as they walked across the stage; COVID-19 safety protocols prevented the ceremonies from taking place before cheering crowds. Still, these events represented at least a step toward normalcy, and I am thankful that the graduates, who had expressed their wish to celebrate together, were able to do so.

When classes resume in the fall, we have every hope that we will reclaim many of the ordinary pleasures and rewards of campus life—impromptu conversations after class, full schedules of public lectures and creative performances, a rich variety of student activities. At the same time, we will continue to deploy the technologies we adopted during the pandemic—technologies that enable us to connect faculty, students and friends of Case Western Reserve from around the world.

I cannot say often enough how much I appreciate the dedication and resilience our college community displayed in response to the challenges of the past year. In this issue, for example, you will meet two recent graduates, Shawn Yoshida (CWR ’21) and Hannah Messenger (CWR ’21), who lost access to the lab of their mentor, physicist Lydia Kisley, during the pandemic. Undeterred, they completed their senior projects by conducting computational simulations and went on to win prizes for their work at Intersections, CWRU’s undergraduate research symposium.

Such stories attest not only to our students’ astonishing talent and resourcefulness, but also to the benefit they derive from working side by side with devoted faculty mentors. We are eager to make such opportunities even more widely available. This is why our new Expanding Horizons Initiative, which provides seed funding for faculty research, scholarship and creative endeavors, allocates a portion of each grant to supporting undergraduate mentees. Our goal is to train a new generation of leaders and innovators who will advance their disciplines and help address the world’s most pressing needs.

Along with students like Shawn and Hannah, this issue honors award winners among our faculty. Biologist Yolanda Fortenberry won a prestigious Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award to support development of a treatment for sickle cell anemia. Classical art historian Maggie Popkin is the first scholar from CWRU ever to receive a Rome Prize, the highest distinction in her field. Sociologist Cassi Pittman Claytor, who combines research and advocacy to combat racism in retail settings, was selected for two coveted fellowships while writing her first book.

Even as we highlight these exceptional faculty members, however, we simultaneously mourn the loss of a remarkable colleague, teacher and friend. This issue pays tribute to Professor Elizabeth Meckes, whose untimely death last December was a terrible loss to the college and to the international community of mathematicians. It was often said of Elizabeth, a double alumna of Case Western Reserve, that her brilliance was exceeded only by her warmth and generosity. She once told an interviewer that her favorite thing about CWRU was the shared commitment of our faculty and staff to serving our students. Elizabeth touched our lives in so many ways. Her example will continue to inspire us, and she will never be forgotten.

Joy K. Ward
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor, Department of Biology