To Case Western Reserve University students, faculty, staff and postdocs:
The beginning of each academic year is a time of great anticipation, fresh routines and new faces. It also marks an exciting transition, especially for our first-year and transfer students, incoming graduate and professional students, and new faculty and staff members. Case Western Reserve University is an institution rich in talent, innovation, and drive to solve the world’s greatest challenges. We should all feel privileged and proud to be among such a dedicated community.
Though we are buoyed by many successes and look forward to a bright future, we also must navigate the impact of national and global events on our campus. Our community is inclusive and dynamic with diverse backgrounds, life experiences, and strong opinions.
This academic year, I challenge each of us to be engaged citizens in our democracy, to listen with compassion, and to speak with respect. Our goal is to uphold our value of freedom of expression while also meeting our core principles and legal obligations of ensuring that all students can live and learn in an environment free from harassment, discrimination and intimidation. Demonstrations, and the observance of our policies and procedures that govern them, can coexist when we all share the responsibility to maintain a climate of mutual respect and intellectual honesty. Let us be the model for the free exchange of ideas and civil discourse that has become so rare in today’s society.
Our sustained work together to advance our priorities—to elevate academic excellence, expand our research enterprise and enhance our engagement with the community—has made us stronger than ever. The university continues to attract high-achieving, high-caliber students across all levels, further enriching the vibrance of our student population each year. Our annual research expenditures have continued to grow. We are amidst our Faculty 100 initiative, which will add at least 100 net new tenure and tenure-track faculty, an increase of 15 percent.
We also have enhanced our spaces to better meet our academic and research needs. Last week, our new residence halls in the south residential village, Mary Chilton Noyes House and John Sykes Fayette House, opened to second-year students. The Department of Biology teaching labs have relocated to a spacious build-out on the ground floor of the Dental Research Building. In early September, we will open the Wade Park Community Engagement Center. And in late October, we will break ground on the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building.
Together, we are moving ahead toward excellence. I wish all of you a successful semester and academic year. May we continue to be guided by a desire to learn, research and discover for a better world.
Sincerely,
Eric W. Kaler
PresidentWelcome to the 2024–25 Academic Yea