About Case Western Reserve University
Turning Point, by Philip Johnson, on
the campus of Case Western Reserve
University
Case Western Reserve University, located in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the nation’s leading independent research universities with programs that encompass the arts and sciences, engineering, the health sciences, law, and management.
Adjacent campuses
Although its origins date to 1826, the university in its present form is the result of the 1967 federation of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University. The two institutions had shared adjacent campuses since the late nineteenth century and were involved in cooperative efforts for
many years.
Western Reserve College was founded in 1826 in Hudson, Ohio, a town 26 miles southeast of Cleveland. The college took its name from that of the region, which at the time of the American Revolution, was known as the Western Reserve of Connecticut. In 1882, renamed Western Reserve University and boasting a medical school in addition to undergraduate programs, the institutions moved to a Cleveland neighborhood that later became known as University Circle.
There it joined the Case School of Applied Science, founded in 1880 through the bequest of Leonard Case Jr., a leading Cleveland citizen. The name Case Institute of Technology was adopted in 1947 to reflect the institution’s growing stature in the sciences and engineering.
Most significant set of scientific measurements
Among the earliest and best known examples of collaboration between the two schools was the Michelson-Morley experiment, performed on the current campus in 1887 by one faculty member from Case School of Applied Science and one from Western Reserve University.
In seeking to ascertain the effect of the speed of light on the earth’s motion around the sun, Case physicist Albert A. Michelson and Western Reserve chemist Edward W. Morley obtained perhaps the most significant set of scientific measurements ever made. Had the results of their experiment been different, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity would not have been regarded as viable, and our present conception of time and space would be altered. The tradition of this experiment lives on in the Michelson-Morley Award for outstanding research.
Distinctive balance
Today, Case Western Reserve’s enrollment and resources, distributed among undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs that encompass the arts and sciences, dental medicine, engineering, law, management, medicine, nursing, and social work, achieve a balance that is distinctive among American universities.
Case holds membership in the Association of American Universities. It is fully accredited at the institutional level by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, as well as by several nationally recognized professional accrediting associations.
Center of the Circle
Case Western Reserve is located in Cleveland’s University Circle, a 550-acre, park-like area with more than 40 cultural, medical, educational, religious, and social service institutions on the eastern edge of the city center.
In addition to Case, which is the largest institution in University Circle, the area includes Severance Hall, home of the world-famous Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Western Reserve Historical Society, and many more, all within walking distance of the university.
Video: Regional Roots, International Impact
Regional Roots, International Impact is a documentary that celebrates the 40th anniversary of the "federation" between Western Reserve College and the Case School of Applied Science. Released in October 2007.