To the Case Western Reserve University Community:
Welcome to the 2022-23 academic year! This is an exciting and important time to be a part of Case Western Reserve.
Our three priorities—to elevate academic excellence, expand our research enterprise and enhance community engagement—will continue to serve as guides on our climb toward institutional excellence. As we move ahead, we’ll be anchored by the values of diversity and inclusivity because there is no path to excellence without them. Though we still have a ways to go, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in the past year and the better view we enjoy today.
This fall, we’ve welcomed 1,550 undergraduate students to Case Western Reserve from a record 38,000 applicants. These young people are academically talented, and they represent our most diverse class of first-year students ever. Nearly half of them identify as people of color: 25 percent identify as underrepresented minorities, and another 24 percent identify as Asian American.
Last year, we invested an additional $23 million in faculty and staff compensation because we know that a great university is only as good as its people. We filled key leadership positions in research, athletics, at our library, in campus planning and at the School of Medicine and Weatherhead School of Management. We’ve made improvements to our infrastructure, recently completing a renovation to the Case Quad and much-needed updates to some of our lab spaces in the College of Arts and Sciences. Our research enterprise has been bolstered by improved efficiencies and streamlined tech transfer processes.
We’ve found additional ways to engage with our neighbors, forming a Neighborhood Advisory Council and developing a Cleveland Population and Urban Health Initiative that works with, rather than on, Cleveland residents to promote a healthier local population.
Today, we are well positioned to continue forward. As we do, both as a university and as individuals, we must maintain a laser focus on our priorities and commit ourselves to measure progress with data.
We must not give way to distractions that do not align with our goals and vision. But at the same time, we should be flexible so that when opportunities arise that support what we want to do and who we want to be, then we pivot necessary resources to engage them.
Achieving excellence is work, but it can also be fun and is surely worthwhile. Let’s keep on together!
I wish all of you health, happiness and a successful year.
Sincerely,
Eric W. Kaler
President