What began with a ceremonial hammer swing at the “wall-breaking” event in 2015 culminated with the reopening of the renovated and expanded Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences in 2018.

The luminous, $9.8 million project features an extended entrance, improved courtyard, new walkways to connect the east and west wings, and added spaces for students to collaborate.

The renovation involved more than half of the building’s 63,594 square feet—including all of the classrooms and the relocation of the school’s social work library—as well as the addition of 3,700 square feet.

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation gave the school a naming gift before the completion of the original building in 1990, and also served as the lead donor for this update of the building.

The foundation’s $4.95 million lead gift was part of an $8 million award made in 2013—one that also endowed the dean’s position. In addition, the Higley Fund of the Cleveland Foundation committed $1.25 million to the renovation.

Also providing significant support for the project were:

• The Cleveland Foundation;
• former CWRU board chair Chuck Fowler and his wife, Char Fowler;
• Lilli and Seth Harris;
• alumna Holly Fowler Martens and her husband, Rob Martens;
• the Donald and Alice Noble Foundation;
• Saint Luke’s Foundation; and
• the John and Margie Wheeler Family Fund of the Cleveland Foundation.