|
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It was formed in 1967 by the federation of Case Institute of Technology (founded in 1880 by philanthropist Leonard Case Jr.) and Western Reserve University (founded in 1826 in the area that was once the Connecticut Western Reserve).
Case is the largest independent research university in the state of Ohio. According to US News and World Report 2007 rankings, Case's undergraduate program is ranked #1 in Ohio and #38 among national universities. Case was ranked #37 in the 2006 US News rankings (#35 in 2004 and 2005). It is most highly regarded for its medical school (currently ranked #21 and #22 for primary care and research, respectively, in US News rankings) and engineering, particularly biomedical, which consistently ranks in the top 5 among undergraduate biomedical engineering programs. The University offers many programs of study in Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering, Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Sciences.
The university receives the 12th largest amount of federal research funding among private universities and spends nearly $1 million a day on research.
Campus
The university is approximately five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland in University Circle, a 550 acre (2.2 km²) area containing numerous educational, medical, and cultural institutions. Case has a number of programs taught in conjunction with nearby institutions, including the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), and the Cleveland Play House.
There are two main transportation options for students: For on and near-campus transportation, CWRU has a fleet of shuttle buses better known as "Greenies" For longer trips, students may use the Cleveland RTA buses and rail system. Each student receives an unlimited RTA pass, which is paid for via a mandatory $25 yearly fee.
Case does not own its parking lots, requiring students, faculty, and staff to purchase permits from University Circle Incorporated. The rates vary between approximately $30 and $80 per month, with multi-year waiting lists on the most popular lots.
Organization
The university in its present form consists of 8 schools:
Students
As of 2004, the university had 3,516 undergraduates and 5,579 graduate students and professional students. The undergraduate student body is said to hail from all 50 states and numerous international countries, but despite this approximately 45% of the undergraduates hail from Ohio.
Student life
Unless they are living with a relative within fifty miles of the university, CWRU requires first and second year students to live in on-campus housing. Meal plan participation is also mandatory for freshmen and sophomores with some exceptions made for religious and medical reasons. New housing for underclassmen, along with a "Greek village" bringing all the college's fraternities and sororities together with the other undergraduates, is slated to be constructed within the next ten years.
The dormitories are divided into two areas, one featuring suite-style rooms for upperclassmen and the other featuring shared-style rooms. Both feature gigabit ethernet network access, and a wireless campus network is also available anywhere on campus. Buildings are organized into "colleges", grouping together students of similar ages and creating a sense of ownership and hall pride. New housing was opened in fall 2005 for upperclassmen, which features "apartment-style" dormitories that come with air conditioning, full kitchen area, and full sized beds.
Residence life at Case has a long history of being liberal in its policies, including allowing coed suites (an option offered to upperclassmen, when requested and agreed upon by all occupants of a suite), and a generous guest policy.
Graduate students are not offered housing.
First Year Experience
First year students are grouped into one of four residential colleges that are overseen by First Year Coordinators (FYC). The four residential colleges are made up of several buildings. Mistletoe, Juniper, and Magnolia residential colleges have been in existence for as long as the "First Year Experience" system has been in place. The fourth residential college, Cedar, created in the fall of 2005 due to a large influx of new students. The residential colleges plan events together and are run by college councils that take student input and use it to plan social and community service-oriented activities.
Quality of Life
The student population was ranked 19th unhappiest in 2005 by the editors of USA Today[citation needed]. This ranking is expected to improve with the opening of the Village at 115th, although it is too early to tell what the effects are. Students complaints have included comments about faculty, lack of campus activities, and the lack of dating opportunities on campus. These complaints are admittedly commonplace among students enrolled at major research universities. Case's retention rate for 2004 was 91 percent, which is relatively low for a university of its standing. One possible explanation is a high rate of transfers after the lure of first-year scholarships has worn off.
SAGES Program
The SAGES program for undergraduate students was designed to replace many traditional introductory classes with ones that would facilitate more student-professor contact and dialogue in a seminar setting. The drive behind the program was for two main reasons: an effort to improve the writing skills of students on campus, and to make sure first year students would establish a connection with a professor during their first semester. Although optional for the first few years of the program, SAGES has been a mandatory part of the curriculum for all incoming students since 2005.
There have been many complaints against the SAGES system, such as beliefs that the program is inefficient and understaffed. Several complaints have also been raised about the built-in advisor component of the program: currently a student's first year advisor is his or her SAGES instructor, which has led to instances where students were given inaccurate information regarding what courses they should take. An effort has been made to hire new professors for the departments in charge of administering this program, and many of the program's advocates have pointed out the several positive experiences some of the students have had. There have also been calls for patience from advocates of the program, as many new programs will have deficiencies when they are first implemented.
Greek system
Nearly a third of the campus undergraduates are in a fraternity or sorority. There are 6 sororities and 17 fraternities.
Fraternities
Sororities
Note: Some sororities may officially be referred to as fraternities due to the history of the group.
Events
On October 5, 2004, Case hosted the Vice Presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards.
Nearby Severance Hall was also featured in the 1997 Harrison Ford film, Air Force One. The scene during the opening credits shows a night-time military raid on the presidential palace of the leader of Kazakhstan. Severance Hall was chosen to depict the palace. During the scene, several landmarks of Case Western Reserve University are visible, including the Thwing Center (the student union) and the Dittrick Medical History Center.
Sports, clubs, and traditions
Varsity athletics
Case Western Reserve is a member of the University Athletic Association, which participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division III.
Traditions
The Hudson Relays is an annual tradition at Case that occurs on the last weekend before finals every spring semester. It is a relay race between teams drawn from each class year. The race is a distance of 26 miles. Originally, the race was run from Hudson, Ohio, the original site of Western Reserve University, to the present location of the school in University Circle. Since the mid-1980s, the race has been run entirely in the University Circle area. University tradition is that if a class wins the relay for each of its four years, the team will be rewarded with a champagne and steak dinner with the President of the university. The most recent class to achieve this was the class of 2006. The winning class for each year is carved on a boulder located behind Adelbert Hall.
Springfest is a day-long concert and student group festival which occurs later the same day of Hudson Relays. The University Program Board brings in several bands and a beer garden, student groups set up booths to entertain the student body, and various inflatable carnival-style attractions are brought in to add to the theoretically festive atmosphere. Occasionally, due to Cleveland weather conditions (such as those at Springfest 2005), the festival must be moved indoors, usually to Thwing Center or Adelbert Gym.
Halloween at the Farm is a tradition established in the fall of 2002. Halloween at the Farm takes place at the Squire Valleevue Farm in Hunting Valley, Ohio. Students, their families, and faculty are invited to enjoy games, a bon-fire, an open air concert, and hay rides.
Since 1974, the Film Society of Case Western Reserve University has held the Science Fiction Film Marathon. The film fesitval has a very large crowd that enjoys food and 36 hours of non-stop movies including modern, classic, and surprise science fiction films.
Facts and figures
- Undergraduate Tuition (2005-2006): $31,090
- Undergraduate Classes with <30 Students: 74%
- Undergraduate Classes with <20 Students: 56%
- Nobel Laureates Among Alumni, Faculty, and Researchers: 16
- Full Time Faculty with Ph.D or equivalent: 95%
2005-2006 incoming class statistics
- Applications Received: 7173
- Admitted: 4884
- SAT I (25-75 percentile)
-
- Verbal: 600-700
- Math: 650-750
- Composite: 1280-1430
- 27-32
- 63% in Top 10% of HS Class
- 22% in 2nd 10% of HS Class
Top 10 states for undergraduates
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- New York
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Massachusetts
- California
- Texas
- Maryland
- Connecticut
Diversity
- Caucasian: 59%
- Asian/Pacific Islander: 19%
- African American: 4%
- Hispanic/Latino: 3%
- Native American: <1%
- Other: 3%
Intended academic interests
- Arts and Sciences: 27%
- Engineering: 39%
- Management: 6%
- Nursing: 5%
- Undecided: 23%
Official Colors
Notable students, alumni and faculty
Research
Following is a partial list of major contributions made by faculty, staff, and students at Case:
- Case was the site of the famous Michelson-Morley interferometer experiment, conducted in 1887 by A. A. Michelson of Case Institute of Technology and E. W. Morley of Western Reserve University. This experiment proved the non-existence of ether and gave circumstantial evidence to substantiate Einstein's Theory of Relativity (Profs. Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley, 1887).
- Discovered the atomic weight of oxygen, the basis for calculating the weights of all other elements (Prof. Morley, 1895).
- Performed the first full X-ray of the human body -- on himself (Prof. Dayton C. Miller, 1896).
- Performed the first modern blood transfusion using a coupling device to connect blood vessels (Dr. George W. Crile, 1905).
- Pioneered chlorination of drinking water to eradicate the source of typhoid bacilli (Dr. Roger G. Perkins, 1912).
- Developed simulated milk formula for infants (Dr. Henry J. Gerstenberger,1915).
- Pioneered surgical treatment of coronary artery disease (Dr. Claude S. Beck, 1935).
- Pioneered the materials science of polymers with the creation of first comprehensive polymer science and engineering department at a major U.S. university (Dr. Eric Baer, 1967).
- Developed the first heart-lung machine to be used during open heart surgery (Dr. Frederick S. Cross, 1950s).
- Performed the first successful lifesaving defibrillation of the human heart (Dr. Beck, 1947) and developed the method of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) (Dr. Beck, 1952).
- Developed a test for infants to identify mental retardation within a year after birth (Prof. Joseph F. Fagan, 1987).
- Created the first artificial human chromosomes, opening the door to more detailed study of human genetics and potentially offering a new approach to gene therapy. (Prof. Huntington F. Willard of the School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland, in collaboration with colleagues at Athersys, Inc., 1997).
Today, the university operates several facilities off campus for scientific research. One notable example of this is the Warner and Swasey Observatory at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
Music
WRUW 91.1 FM is the campus radio station of Case Western Reserve University. Its motto, "More Music, Fewer Hits", can be seen adorning the rear bumpers of many vehicles in the area. WRUW broadcasts at a power of 15,000 watts and covers most of Northeast Ohio 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
WRUW is staffed by Case students and community volunteers. The station's format can be classified as non-commercial "variety". For information on what is currently on the station, please visit their website at www.WRUW.org.
Computing
Case had the first ABET accredited program in computer engineering [4].
In 1968, the university formed an innovative private company, Chi Corporation, to provide computer time to both it and other customers. Initially this was on a Univac 1108 (replacing the preceding UNIVAC 1107), 36 bit, one's complement machine[5]. The company was sold in 1977 to Robert G. Benson in Beachwood, Ohio.
Project Logos, under ARPA contract, was begun within the department on a DEC System-10 (later converted to TENEX (BBN) in conjunction with connection to the ARPANET) to develop a computer-aided computer design system. This system consisted in a distributed, networked, graphics environment, a control and data flow designer and logic (both hardware and software) analyser. Graphics and animation became another departmental focus with the acquisition of an Evans and Sutherland LDS-1, which was hosted by the DES System-10, and later with the acquisition of the stand alone LDS-2.
Case was one of the earliest universities to be connected to the ARPANET, predecessor to the Internet. ARPANET went online in 1969; Case was connected in January, 1971 [6].
Case pioneered the early Free-Net computer systems, creating the first Free-net, The Cleveland Free-Net, as well as writing the software that drove a majority of those systems, known as FreePort. The Cleveland Free-Net was shut down in late 1999, as it had become obsolete.
It was the first university to have an all-fiber-optic network, in 1989 [7] [8]. CWRUnet timeline
At the inaugural meeting in October, 1996, Case was one of the thirty-four charter university members of Internet2 [9].
The university was #1 in Yahoo Internet Life's 1999 Most Wired College list [10]. There was a perception that this award was obtained through partially false or inaccurate information submitted for the survey, and the university did not appear at all on the 2000 Most Wired College list (which included 100 institutions); the numbers reported were much lower than those which had been submitted by Ray Neff in 1999. [11] [12] [13] [14] [citation needed] The university had previously placed #13 in the 1997 poll [15].
In August, 2003, Case joined the Internet Streaming Media Alliance, then one of only two university members [16].
In September, 2003, Case opened 1,230 public wireless access points on the Case campus and University Circle [17].
Case was one of the founding members of OneCleveland [18], formed in October, 2003. [19]. OneCleveland is an "ultra broadband" (gigabit speed) fiber optic network. This network is for the use of organizations in education, research, government, healthcare, arts, culture, and the nonprofit sector in Greater Cleveland [20].
Case Western Reserve University is also known for its Virtual Worlds gaming computer lab, opened in 2005. The lab has a large network of Alienware PCs equipped with software such as Torque Game Engine and graphics editors such as Maya. Additionally, it also has a well-equipped music room and console room, which features video game systems such as Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube. This laboratory can be used by any student in the EECS department and is also used for the Game Development course.
External links
|