Ellen Mavec receives CWRU’s President’s Award for Visionary Achievement
In 1997, when Ellen Mavec became president of The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation—a philanthropy launched more than 40 years earlier by her grandfather Kelvin Smith (CSAS 1922, HON 1947)—she wanted to be thoughtful and strategic about how she would carry on her family’s legacy. Kelvin Smith had been a co-founder with his brothers Kent (CSAS 1917, HON 1954) and Vincent (LAW 1920) of what would eventually become Lubrizol Corporation, the global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio.
“I wanted to try and make a difference in one particular area,” she explains. “And knowing that my grandparents and our family believed that some of the most coveted institutions in the city are in University Circle, that’s what I decided to focus on.” Her prescient decision to dedicate half of the Smith Foundation’s giving each year was an act that propelled a unified and synergistic effort to enhance University Circle and its many institutions—among them Case Western Reserve University—and to solidify the neighborhood as the thriving cultural and educational hub it is today.
For Mavec’s leadership of The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, her dedicated service to Case Western Reserve as a trustee, and the historic generosity of the Smith family, Mavec received the 2026 President’s Award for Visionary Achievement at the university’s Bicentennial Convocation on Wednesday, May 13. The award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves through exceptional philanthropic service to the university, the world and humanity. Convocation also will include another tie-in Mavec’s ancestors, as Lubrizol CEO Rebecca Liebert will deliver the Class of 2026 Commencement address.
“During our bicentennial year, it is a tremendous honor to recognize Ellen and her commitment to carrying on her family’s legacy at Case Western Reserve. The Smith family and Lubrizol have been a part of—and an important partner to—the university for more than a century,” said President Eric W. Kaler. “Ellen’s faithful support for and service to Case Western Reserve, and importantly, University Circle, is a testament to her deep commitment to the longevity of Northeast Ohio’s leading institutions.”
Today, The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation is among Ohio’s largest private family foundations. Under Mavec’s leadership, the foundation’s philanthropic giving has had a significant impact on Case Western Reserve and on the surrounding University Circle. The foundation has contributed to notable campus projects, including an $8 million gift in 1991 to construct the Kelvin Smith Library, a “library of the future.” In 2011, under Mavec’s leadership, the foundation made a $7 million commitment toward the construction of the Tinkham Veale University Center, which is honored through The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Grand Ballroom. The Smith family and foundation have contributed over $123 million in philanthropic support across the university and more than $100 million to University Circle institutions.
Mavec was invited to join the university’s Board of Trustees in 2013 by CWRU President Emerita Barbara Snyder. When Snyder proposed the development of the Health Education Campus, so too came the opportunity to update the university’s Master Plan. “That was right up my alley because I was fascinated with master plans,” explains Mavec, who also chaired the Board of Trustees’ Campus Planning Committee. “It was an ideal way for me to help because I knew University Circle, its institutions and its leaders so well. All of the sudden, the university was able to have an east-west focus when it had always been north-south.” Mavec was a university trustee until 2022 and then went on to be chair of the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Art Museum from 2022 to 2025.
The Smith family legacy can be seen throughout campus. The family has provided generous support for the Albert W. Smith Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Building, named in honor of Mavec’s great-grandfather Albert W. Smith (CSAS 1887), and the Kent Hale Smith Engineering and Science Building. Its investments in education include the Albert W. Smith Merit Scholarship, the Kent H. Smith Professorships of Engineering, and the Smith Family-Barbara Snyder Distinguished Scholar Fund. Additional Smith Foundation contributions have enabled The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Plaza at the Maltz Performing Arts Center and The Lubrizol Foundation and Kent H. Smith and Kelvin Smith Fabrication Floor in Sears think[box].
“It’s really been wonderful to be a part of creating beautiful buildings and spaces, to support scholarships, to give back to the community and to support excellence—those remain of utmost importance,” says Mavec. “And it’s just so incredible that at Lubrizol, the family’s legacy of giving continues because they believe in supporting students and giving back to the community. I’m proud that those values continue with the foundation and at Lubrizol.”
