college of arts and sciences


realizing our vision


A Message from the Dean

Dean Cyrus C. Taylor
Photo: Vera Tobin

When I speak to our alumni and friends about the college’s aspirations, I often refer to a sentence from Forward Thinking, the strategic plan to which we committed ourselves in the spring of 2008. “Case Western Reserve University is a comprehensive academic institution,” the plan declares, “and will provide the breadth of outstanding programs essential to every great research university.” With its diverse offerings in the sciences, arts and humanities, the college has assumed a critical role in enabling the university to realize this vision.

As many of you know, one of our longstanding hopes has been to acquire a facility that would give our superb programs in music, dance and theater the rehearsal and performance spaces they deserve. In this issue of art/sci, we celebrate a magnificent gift from Milton and Tamar Maltz that brings this hope closer to reality than ever before. Their gift marks the beginning of a campaign that will transform The Temple – Tifereth Israel in University Circle into a vibrant performing arts center.

I am convinced that this center will have a profound impact on the university’s reputation and its role in the larger community. It will make Case Western Reserve a major venue for artistic and cultural events. It will expand opportunities for our students and enhance our collaborations with other University Circle institutions. And it means that the university’s emerging West Campus, anchored by the former Mt. Sinai Medical Center, will be a home to the performing arts as well as to advanced scientific research.

At the March 19 ceremony announcing the university’s partnership with The Temple – Tifereth Israel, I thanked Milton and Tamar Maltz personally for their extraordinary generosity. I would also like to thank President Barbara R. Snyder for her leadership of this important initiative. Finally, I wish to honor the faculty and students who have brought such distinction to our performing arts programs, and whose talent and dedication will find a worthy showcase at long last.

In future issues of art/sci, you will be reading about other parts of our strategic plan coming to fruition. Earlier this spring, the provost funded 12 initiatives related to the university’s four academic alliance areas: energy and environment; human health; culture, creativity and design; and social justice and ethics. In seven of these initiatives, college faculty members will serve as directors or collaborators. Their participation gives us one more reason to take pride in the comprehensiveness and excellence of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cyrus C. Taylor
Dean and Albert A. Michelson Professor in Physics