From the board chair
To our alumni and friends:
Growing Case Western Reserve’s research was a top priority when we searched for the university’s next leader three years ago. As you can tell from the cover of this magazine, President Eric W. Kaler is moving rapidly to realize that goal.
Even better, our graduates are enthusiastically embracing his proposal for a new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB).
Leaders of the Case Alumni Association, for example, were so impressed by the concept that they pledged $5 million, the largest single gift in the organization’s nearly 140-year history.
Engineering alumnus Roger Susi and his wife, Kayoko, later committed $25 million to the project. A biomedical engineering major himself, Susi brings firsthand knowledge how combining disciplines can lead to better solutions.
You can learn more about the ISEB and its other early supporters.
This issue also features new professorship and scholarship commitments—as well as a professor’s inspiring example. Paul Tesar (CWR ’03) was already highly accomplished when he considered returning to the university as a junior faculty member. But to build on those breakthroughs, he’d quickly need new funding. Enter: the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation’s scholars program, designed specifically to support early-career researchers.
Thirteen years later, Tesar is internationally renowned for discoveries related to multiple sclerosis and similar diseases. He’s received national and local awards for mentoring students. And now he’s among the leaders of a new Mt. Sinai-supported program—this one aimed at attracting exceptional mid- career faculty to campus.
A single gift helped start all that progress. Just imagine the impact yours could have.
Fred DiSanto
Chair, Board of Trustees
Case Western Reserve University
Features
Embracing interdisciplinarity (cover story)
Alumni and friends give generously to groundbreaking new research facility, the biggest Case Quad project in university history
Generosity multiplied
Alumni gifts for professorships doubled, thanks to anonymous donor
Scholarship and Student Experience
Investing in mental health
A university partnership with community leaders will launch $60 million institute for mental health and well-being
A ‘quest for an education’
Scholarship for immigrant students honors CWRU alumnus
Research
A new era of scholars
Mt. Sinai Foundation’s latest grant aims to bring more medical researchers to CWRU—and more treatments to patients
Working toward a CURE
Family honors loved one’s fight against rare cancer with gift for progressive research
Professorships
International impact
Alumnus and wife establish position to advance the work of CWRU's Immigration Law Clinic
A commitment to cultural understanding
New bioethics professorship honors late alumna’s work across medicine and human rights
Giving highlights
Turning dreams into reality
Alumnus names engineering program as sole beneficiary of his estate
Lasting legacy
Gift from alumna and husband funds innovative cancer research and renovate the historic Mather Memorial Building
A gift for today—and tomorrow
Tax-smart giving allows donor to see impact during his lifetime
Transforming tragedy
Law alumna’s positive approach inspires husband’s scholarship gift
Paving the way for the next generation
Undergraduate Class of 1973 gives back for student scholarships
Training for the future
Impactful gift for law students helps alumna remember her parents
Cooking up a solution
Anonymous gift fuels state-of-the-art teaching kitchen
“You don’t have to wait”
Endowed fellowship allows young alumni to pay it forward
From advisors to ambassadors
After serving as a voice for families of students, parents establish fund to recruit and retain exceptional nursing faculty