As part of its effort to transform liberal education, Case Western Reserve University has appointed a group of 13 individuals as its inaugural group of SAGES Presidential Fellows.

The Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship (SAGES) is an undergraduate experience designed to establish the foundations for academic inquiry. The program features small seminars and intensive advising and incorporates seminars delivered by eminent scholars and accomplished experts in their fields.

The fellows will lead seminars that contribute to the transformational learning environment Case is creating for its undergraduate student body. In addition, the fellows will be responsible for conveying a sense of responsibility and service to the students.

"The SAGES program being developed by our faculty is truly inspirational," said Case President Edward M. Hundert. "Through the creation of our Presidential Fellows program-funded entirely through alumni support-SAGES becomes not just an undergraduate initiative but a higher education initiative as our undergraduates get the unique experience of intensive, intimate seminars led by our remarkable undergraduate faculty as well as faculty from our professional schools and the greater Cleveland community."

The inaugural class of Presidential Fellows includes: the Rev. Clover Reuter Beal; Nathan A. Berger; Michael Cunningham; John Ferry; Lee Fisher; Sam Fulwood III; Mark Hans; Richard B. Nelson; Wendy Shapiro, Lev Gonick and Roger Bielefeld; Chris Sheridan; and James Simmelink.

The Presidential Fellows feature university faculty, including two from Case's dental school: Hans, associate professor and chair of Case's department of orthodontics in the School of Dentistry, who teaches a seminar called "Face First," and Simmelink, Case's associate professor emeritus of restorative dentistry, who delivers a seminar called "Forensic Sciences: How They Impact Your World."

Case staff members also are represented. Shapiro, Gonick and Bielefeld, director of Case's Instructional Technology and Academic Computing programs, Case's vice president for information technology and director of customer services, respectively, team up to teach a seminar known as "Living in the Symbolic World: Imagery and Information."

Berger, former dean of the Case School of Medicine who now directs Case's Center for Science, Health and Society, teaches a seminar called "From DNA Structure to Social Structure," while Beal, the associate director of the United Protestant Campus Ministries at Case, president of the Inter-Religious Council at Case and dean of the Cleveland Ecumenical Institute for Religious Studies, leads a seminar titled "Prophets, Mystics and Saints: Spiritual Biography and Autobiography."

From Case's University Circle partners, Nelson, a professor and head of music theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music, delivers "Beethoven and the Age of Revolution," while Cunningham, former curator of the Cleveland Museum of Art, leads "Visions of Landscape: East and West in Painting and Literature."

Ferry, former acting president and CEO of University Hospitals of Cleveland, leads "The Impact of Recognition and Reward on Motivation and Success: Can We Go Too Far?" The seminar from Fisher, president and CEO of the Center for Families and Children, is titled "Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Intersection."

Also selected as Presidential Fellows are two members of "The Cleveland Plain Dealer" staff: Sheridan, associate editor of the paper's editorial pages, offers "Sport and American Culture in the 20th Century,"
and Fulwood, author and metro columnist, offers "Media Literacy, Racial Images,
Pop Culture and Public Policy, Private Choices."

or more information on the SAGES program, the Presidential Fellows or their seminars, visit http://www.case.edu/sages/fellows.htm.

Return to the online edition of the 10-30-03 Campus News.