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Self-Study, Volume I, Chapter I: Introduction
Case Western Reserve University is one of the nation's major independent research universities, with programs that encompass the arts and sciences, engineering, health, law, management, and social work. Its enrollment and resources, distributed among undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, achieve a balance that is distinctive among American universities.
Although its origins date to 1826, the university in its present form is the result of the 1967 federation of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University. The two institutions had shared adjacent campuses since the late nineteenth century, and were involved in cooperative efforts for many years. Rivalry between the schools was strong, however, and the federation was an emotional matter for many faculty and alumni.
Western Reserve College was founded in 1826 in Hudson, a town 26 miles southeast of Cleveland. The college took its name from that of the region which, at the time of the American Revolution, was known as the Western Reserve of Connecticut. In 1882, renamed Western Reserve University and with a medical school in addition to its undergraduate programs, the institution moved to the Cleveland site that later became known as University Circle. There Western Reserve joined Case School of Applied Science, founded in 1880 through the bequest of Leonard Case, Jr., a leading Cleveland citizen. The name Case Institute of Technology was adopted in 1947 to reflect the institution's growing stature.
Today Case Western Reserve is recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship. Through the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Graduate Studies, and professional schools of applied social sciences, dentistry, engineering, law, management, medicine, and nursing, CWRU offers degrees in more than 60 fields of study. The university's 128-acre campus is the heart of University Circle, a 500-acre concentration of parks, gardens, museums, schools, hospitals, churches, and human service institutions. Cooperation among Circle institutions provides students, faculty, and staff with resources beyond those of the university itself.
A basic challenge confronting higher education today is that of accountability. In its preparation for the 1995 North Central Association re-accreditation visit, CWRU has attempted to create a self-study process and structure that can respond both effectively and creatively in this regard. The Steering Committee was chosen by the president to be broadly representative of the constituent units of the university; it includes faculty and academic administrators from the undergraduate and graduate programs, faculty members from the professional schools, a campus leader of the undergraduate student body, and key central administration personnel. The committee is chaired by the university provost, with the vice-chair being the faculty member who is the 1994-95 chair of the Faculty Senate.
The Steering Committee provided oversight and guidance for the four special subcommittees, selected by the provost and the 1993-94 Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate for work on the particular areas identified for emphasis: undergraduate education, continuing education, the research environment, and the electronic learning environment. Each subcommittee was chaired by a faculty member closely identified with that particular area, and each included faculty and administrative representation; the undergraduate education subcommittee also included a student representative. A member of the Steering Committee served as liaison to each of the four subcommittees, to ensure continuous mutual communication; each liaison reported to the Steering Committee on the subcommittee's progress, and in turn reported back the Steering Committee's own reactions and suggestions.
Both the Steering Committee and the four subcommittees met regularly during the 1993'94 academic year and over the summer; when the subcommittee reports were completed and approved the Steering Committee began to incorporate them in its own overall accreditation report. That report, from its earliest stages, was made available in the fall 1994 semester to the entire university community for comments and feedback. This was the first time that a self-study was disseminated in its draft stages, and thus also the first time that the entire university had the opportunity to engage in the process. The feasibility of this action was greatly enhanced by the availability of the electronic network; but the basic incentive for this action was the recognition of the need for accountability, not only to the NCA but also the university community itself.
Case Western Reserve has undergone both organizational and administrative change since its last NCA evaluation. The first example came the year after the visit: after a long and painful debate, the Baxter School of Library Science was closed effective June 30, 1986, a result of declining enrollment and dramatic changes in the field of librarianship.
The administrative structure for undergraduate studies at the university has also changed several times since 1985, as discussed in detail in the report of the undergraduate education subcommittee. Effective July 1, 1987, the management centers of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve College were restructured into one academic and management unit, the Colleges, headed by a dean. The Colleges had a single general faculty, divided for certain purposes into constituent faculties of engineering, mathematics and natural sciences, and humanities and social sciences, each also headed by a dean. The arrangement achieved the goal of consolidating all undergraduate students into a single student body but did not end discussion of alternatives for faculty organization. In 1992, with virtually unanimous support of the faculty and trustees, the university replaced the administrative structure of the Colleges with the Case School of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences.
As significant as these organizational changes was the appointment of Agnar Pytte, former provost of Dartmouth College, as President of the University, effective July 1, 1987. His leadership has helped affirm and enhance the university's position among the nation's leading institutions of higher education. Especially notable are his efforts to improve campus life for students, particularly undergraduates, and initiatives to strengthen the university's base of support among alumni and other constituencies. The vision and direction that President Pytte has brought to the campus are reflected in the many programmatic and physical changes discussed throughout this report.
The 1985 NCA visiting team's most frequent references were to the central administration's relatively indirect role in planning and directing academic programs throughout the institution. In the effort to strengthen collaborative efforts between the central administration and deans, the university has reintroduced the position of Provost, which had been unused since the early 1970s, and has continued to develop and put forth documents in five-year cycles that have faculty and staff input and that are formally adopted by the trustees. Objectives for the University, 1985-1990 was adopted on June 6, 1985, and the next such document, Plan for Case Western Reserve University 1990-1995, was presented in late 1989. Plans are well underway for the sequel document for 1995-2000. The university's mission statement has also been prominently included in the General Bulletin since 1985.
In addition to these overall observations, the visiting team also responded to the five special emphasis topics included in the self-study for the 1985 review:
Undergraduate Education. In recognition of unfulfilled opportunities for excellence in undergraduate education presented by the 1967 federation of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, the university's president appointed in 1984 a Commission on Undergraduate Education - 21 persons drawn from the faculty, staff, student body, alumni, governing boards, and the larger community. The recommendations contained in the report of the commission focused on marshalling the resources of the entire institution in the effort to develop an undergraduate program of distinction and very high quality. These recommendations have been fully supported by two administrations.
As noted above, the administrative structure for undergraduate education underwent a number of changes in the 1980s and early 1990s before arriving at the present organization of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Case School of Engineering. The present program has gained substantial faculty support, since it provides a leadership and governance structure that reflects faculty concerns and priorities while at the same time assigning a special, university-wide faculty structure, the University Undergraduate Faculty, to oversee baccalaureate programs throughout the institution. This approach, in tandem with changes noted below in campus life, has succeeded both in improving student experiences and in attracting larger numbers of qualified students, contrary to current demographic trends.
Plans call for a close examination, on a number of fronts, of the core or general education elements of the undergraduate curriculum in the period ahead, as outlined in the special emphasis report on undergraduate education that is part of this self-study.
Student Affairs (campus life). The report of the 1985 visiting team challenged us to provide a better campus environment for our students - students who were already achieving a high degree of academic success. In recognition of growing demands placed on our students by the curricula and by society, the president's office and other principal administrative offices have devoted increased institutional resources to determining priorities in improving campus life and to achieving them. A few examples include:
Dramatic changes have taken place in the area of campus life during the last nine years. Far from becoming complacent with this progress, the university is now actively seeking to make even more improvements.
Joint Academic Programs with University Circle Institutions. Since 1985 there have been a number of improvements in what were viewed by many to be already good working relationships with many of the other 40 institutions that are the university's neighbors in University Circle. CWRU takes great pride in these links with an impressive array of educational, cultural, arts, health, and scientific institutions.
Some of the most successful of these relationships, such as those in which the university cooperates closely with the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Museum of Art in both undergraduate and graduate programs, have been in place for more than a quarter century. Within the past two years both of these collaborative efforts have been reviewed comprehensively by joint commissions representing the participating institutions, allowing concerns about changing needs and opportunities to be examined in an environment of shared commitment. These concerns can be significant, since the joint programs have important consequences for facilities, staffing, and other dimensions of institutional activity. Other examples of progress include:
University Circle continues to be one of the nation's most remarkable settings for higher education.
University Libraries. The visiting team in 1985 noted that while conditions appeared to be improving in the university's support for the main libraries after a decade of decline, further improvements in support of our programs were needed. The libraries held a central position in the planning processes that were beginning to take place - the structure of undergraduate education and the master plan for the physical plant. It was noted at the time that future directions would be influenced also by the new technologies being developed.
These observations suggested an institution beginning, in a workmanlike manner, to address a neglected aspect of the educational environment. They could not, however, predict that in less than a decade CWRU would hold a leadership position in designing and implementing library and other information resources to meet the evolving needs of the academic community. Central to this effort has been an assumption that library services and information technology together form a continuum of resources to enable students, faculty, and staff to gain access to a wide range of information, both local and remote. In this continuum, dubbed the 'electronic learning environment' and organized around the 'library of the future,' books and electronic information represent complementary resources rather than competing solutions. A few notable milestones:
Perhaps the most ambitious changes at the university in the last 10 years have taken place in the area of information and technology to meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff. Questions about what is adequate support for library collections remain on the agenda, and campus participation in the evolving library and information system is still uneven. A more complete evaluation of the electronic learning environment is included in this self-study as the report of a special emphasis subcommittee.
Financial Management (management systems and financial operations). The last accreditation review criticized a budget system that appeared to be shaping academic policy rather than serving as a vehicle for supporting academic policy. Since 1987, actions by the Board of Trustees, by the senior administration, and by the Faculty Senate have nurtured a new approach to institutional planning and decision-making, and budgeting has come to be seen as subservient to adopted plans.
Examples of strategic investments which were made possible by this revised approach to financial management include, among others, reestablishing an undergraduate program in nursing, reinvigorating the School of Dentistry, construction of the Celeste Biomedical Research Building, and development of CWRUnet and the other aspects of the electronic learning environment.
Next Chapter - Institutional Governance
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