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MANDEL SCHOOL MAKEOVER

Cleveland was struggling with poverty, poor housing and a lack of health care in 1915 when civic leaders committed to taking a new approach to the city's ills.

What emerged was the School of Applied Social Sciences—the first university-affiliated professional graduate school of social work in the United States.

Since then, the school has remained a national leader. It launched the first group-work curriculum in 1924; created one of the first master's degrees in nonprofit management in 1989; and developed the first integrated socioeconomic community database, the Northeast Ohio Community and Neighborhood Data for Organizing, known as NEO CANDO, in 1992.

Today, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve is ranked No. 9 nationally by U.S. News and World Report for its master's degree program and is recognized as an expert in training students to help people diagnosed with substance abuse and mental illness.

As the school celebrates its centennial anniversary, it's launching the next century with a $9.2 million renovation and expansion of its 25-year-old building.

"It is time for us to look back at what we've accomplished, but also time to look at what we are now and challenge ourselves to look to the future," said Grover "Cleve" Gilmore, PhD, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Dean in Applied Social Sciences.

The project was made possible by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation's $4.95 million lead gift—part of an $8 million award made in 2013 that also endowed the dean's position. Among the multitude of project donors was the Higley Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, which committed $1 million earlier this year.

The makeover is designed by architectural firm Westlake Reed Leskosky. It includes upgrades for expanded use of technology-based teaching methods that bridge the gap between students and community practitioners and promote active learning of clinical social work. New technology also is needed to continue to meet increasing demand for the school's online degree program and to upgrade its Lillian and Milford Harris Library.

The renovations cover just over half of the building's 63,594 square feet. The project also includes an addition of 3,700 square feet for an atrium and the conversion of space to create a new Research Commons, which will complete the process of bringing all the school's research centers into Mandel School buildings for the first time.

In addition, the school will have far more open space, which is essential for team-oriented work among students, faculty and researchers. Those areas also will be used for gatherings of alumni and community members.

"That became the theme of the renovation… to create space for people to gather, share, talk and learn," Gilmore said.

—JAMES CORRIGAN