CWRU is launching an Institute for the Study of the University in Society to examine how the University has influenced, and in turn been influenced by, the forces at work in society and in this region.

The central tasks of the new institute, to be directed by Richard Baznik, are to research and write an updated history of the University-last issued almost 30 years ago-and to offer courses on CWRU's history and on the emergence and role of research universities in society.

"An institution that does not understand how it has come to its current state is unlikely to be able to move itself to a higher level of performance and impact," the institute's prospectus states. "This University has an opportunity at to examine its development over nearly two centuries in ways that will benefit its current and future initiatives and will also help illuminate the relationships between internal and external factors that have been important to the institution's emergence as a major private research university."

The institute will consider the CWRU's entire history, with special attention to the factors leading up to the 1967 merger that formed the current institution, and will examine changes within the University since then in the context of the cultural, social, economic, demographic and political trends of the period.

"This initiative is consistent with our priority of investing in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as with the widely expressed interest of strengthening the understanding of this institution both internally and externally," said CWRU President Edward M. Hundert. "The University has one of the most fascinating histories in all of higher education, and researching and disseminating it promises to be a rewarding venture for the whole institution."

In addition, the project will look at the institution's impact on its community, on all of higher education and on the larger society. A key outcome of the project should be a more accurate understanding of the University's unique heritage and a more widely shared awareness of its prospects for the future, including a strengthened capacity to achieve its new vision.

Elements of the vision include several items that are consistent with important characteristics of CWRU's history: partnerships, such as affiliations with University Circle institutions; transformation, the merger of two predecessor institutions; experiential learning, long integral to graduate and professional programs; and community, including town-gown relationships.

"The University has a remarkable history, combining tradition with youth and reflecting many of the most notable innovations and debates in society over a period of nearly two centuries," Baznik said. "It is the story of that unusual institutional life that I seek to tell, complete with its connections to events and trends in the larger society."

Along with an updated history, to be published in 2006-07, the institute will create an interactive Web site plus CD/DVD versions of an interactive presentation of the University's updated history, presentations to on- and off-campus groups, and a database on CWRU history and related phenomena, to be developed in collaboration with University Archives.

In addition to working with University Archives on the database, affiliations are already in place with the history department in the College of Arts and Sciences, where Baznik will be appointed a lecturer, and with the Western Reserve Historical Society which, like University Archives, has offered special access to its holdings and services. The Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations also has expressed interest in collaboration.

During his 35 years at CWRU, Baznik has written and edited literally thousands of institutional documents, including policies, plans, presentations of institutional needs and priorities, reports and profiles of CWRU programs. He has served in a succession of administrative roles and has held the rank of vice president since 1987. In the 1970s he was also a lecturer in the English department.

"This is a project that I have been planning for nearly four years and for which I feel I've been preparing for some 35 years," Baznik said. "It's an exciting prospect."

Return to the online edition of the 7-24-03 Campus News.

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