For immediate release: December 12, 2002
For more information, contact Laura M. Massie at 216-368-4442 or lmm25@po.cwru.edu.

 

CLEVELAND—In continuing efforts to build relationships on local, state and national levels, Case Western Reserve University President Edward M. Hundert has created a new office to focus solely on partnerships with the community and government agencies.

Richard E. Baznik has been appointed the University's new vice president for community and government relations and will head the new, free-standing Office of Community and Government Relations.

"I am delighted that Dick Baznik will lead this newly elevated office," Hundert said. "Dick is well prepared to accept this new challenge, which will take full advantage of his decades of experience at Case Western Reserve University and his familiarity with the manifold leadership constituencies in this new role."

According to Hundert, Baznik's new role will include building and strengthening community alliances and lobbying state and federal entities to gain support for CWRU's research, education and service.

"I expect this realignment will produce greater seamlessness in our outreach to neighbors, a more consistent and visible presence in Columbus and Washington and greater success in lobbying for state and federal funding and policies that support higher education," Hundert said.

The creation of this new office comes as the University is preparing for a national colloquium on "Great Universities and Their Cities" on January 30, 2003, as part of Hundert's inauguration as president. The colloquium will feature presentations on best practices in university-city collaboration by university presidents and their civic partners from nine cities around the nation and in Canada. Hundert and Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell are co-hosts for the event.

Baznik has served as vice president for public affairs at CWRU since 1987, having originally joined the University in 1968, and is an officer of the corporation. His prior roles at CWRU have included heading the publications office and University communication, serving as special assistant to the president and teaching in the department of English.

Prior to joining CWRU, Baznik worked as an editor and production manager in the business publishing industry and as a staff member at Cuyahoga Community College.

He is a trustee of the Friends of the Cleveland School of the Arts.

Baznik earned a bachelor's degree in English literature and classics from John Carroll University and has completed the executive program at the University of Virginia's Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business. He lives in Cleveland Heights.

–CWRU–

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